How it's made:

Cadbury Easter Eggs! :-D

Seriously, with the price of a 55 lbs bag of layer pellets

rising to $12 (from $9.50 two weeks ago!),

maybe I need to get myself a couple randy rabbits for the hens.

Those chocolate easter eggs sell for more than $5 a dozen! LOL!

Les little piranhas!

I finally managed to get the wittle beasties on film this morning!

Yay me! LOL

The silkies are now 5 weeks old 

and the rest of the gang turns 4 weeks old tomorrow -

here they are in their new condo

as they were getting too big for their baby brooder!

Amazing how fast they're growing, eh?

Chicken experts, do you see many roos in there?

I know Tank is a boy (the one who still has a chipmunk head!).

Besides the silkies they are all mutts with the same father,

all hatched from green eggs from different hens -

so there are some Easter Egger genes in there.

One chick is a white leghorn x BLRW, she's white

with a black spot on her shoulder.

I can't keep any roos, technically... :-/

Yikes!

I've been meaning to post a video of the baby chicks (who are growing like weeds, btw, prehistoric weeds!) but I've managed to forget my camera every time I've gone out to the barn.

Holes in the brain, I tell ya.

Video soon, I promise!!

OooOOops!

I've created little monsters!

Good grief! What have I done - LOL!

I decided to try something with these baby chicks to see if I could tame them with food - all other babies I've had before have been terrified of humans approaching them in their condo until they were about three to four months of age, so time to change something!

As soon as they were about five days old, I started putting a bit of freshly sprouted alfalfa in their brooder a couple times a day.

At first they were scared of the stuff, then as soon as one tasted a sprout it was game over - the little piranhas let loose and have been getting greedier with each feeding!

It's hilarious, really.

I need to get a video for you guys!

Now every time I go to the barn and they hear my voice they start peeping like mad, all lined up like little soldiers against the front of their screened condo door, demanding to be fed.

Barely two and three weeks old and they've got me trained well, eh?

Anything I put in my hand that I stick in their condo gets me covered in hysterical, clawing peepers who can't seem to grab and swallow fast enough, LOL!

They've had cooked rice, bits of cooked meat, alfalfa sprouts and whole-wheat bread, which seems to be their favorite.

It makes them go MAD!

Most entertaining, lively, healthy and sweet peepers ever :-D

Public service announcement

Growin' up fast!

It was time to move the peepers to the barn yesterday, oh I was so sad to see them go! The first bunch had been in the brooder since Jan 20th and the second bunch since Jan 26th, so they were strong and healthy enough to make the transition.

Here was there brooder inside the house,

as you can see they were running out of space!

They grow so quickly...

Here they are in their transition condo!

Lots of space to run around, nice and warm,

with bedding to scratch up and nice teddy bear

to climb up on, although they've not gone near it yet.

They are very calm chicks, inquisitive and friendly

and just a pure pleasure to be around.

I miss seeing them every few hours but I try to make it to the barn at least three times a day to give them a cuddle and bring them treats, OK fine I do it for all the chooks but shhhhh don't tell the babies! ;-)

In a few weeks this condo will be too small so they will be moved to a bigger one that's just beneath this one, and then when they've outgrown that one they'll be moved to the silkie pen. I don't know what will happen to the roos yet, I sure hope there aren't that many because parting with any of my babies is terribly difficult.

More pics to come soon! :-)

Tuesday cartoon