The Worm Experiment

Hello,

Yesterday Daddy built a small chicken run for the chicks.  It is in the living room.  He made it out of wood and screen. (It is about 2.5 feet wide and about 6 feet long.)  The bottom is made of plywood so the chickens don't poop on the carpet.  Mommy put in some dirt for the chickens to scratch.  We put in some colored blocks and some toilet paper rolls and some marbles for them to play with.  Then Daddy got the chicks out and put them in the chicken run.  They started to run around and play.  We put some food in the dirt so they would learn to hunt for their food. 

Then I went outside to get some worms from the garden for them to eat.  I put a lot of dirt with worms in it into a bowl.  Then I brought it inside.  Daddy got a worm out and put it in the chicken run.  The chickens just looked at the worm.  Then Flower pecked at it but she didn't eat it.  Jadzia pecked at it a little but she didn't eat it either. 

Daisy pecked at it, too.  She liked it.  She picked it up and ran around and around and around and around in the chicken run.  She was trying to find a spot to eat it.  She ran to one of the corners then ate the worm.  The other chickens chased her a little but they didn't eat the worm.

Daddy put all the dirt in the pen so the chickens could learn to hunt for worms.  Daisy found another worm and pecked it out of the dirt.  Then she ran around and around in circles again.  We all laughed at her.  Then she ate the worm.  Daddy picked out a worm from the dirt and she ate it right from his fingers!  She LOVES worms. 

But the other chickens didn't eat the worms because they didn't want to.  Maybe Jadzia is too little. 

Mommy put a mirror in the chicken run.  That was funny.  Flower thought there was another chicken.  She wanted to fight it and ran into the mirror.  Then she pecked at the mirror.  Jadzia saw herself and thought it was another baby chick.  She ran over to the mirror so she could cuddle with the baby chick.  She bumped into the mirror.  She is silly. 

Daisy was too busy hunting worms to look at the mirror.  Rhoda just pecked at the mirror a few times then left. 

Today I am going to find more worms for the chickens.  I am going to put a whole bunch in a container.  Maybe we will feed more of them to the chickens. 

That's all I want to say for today.  I want to go get more worms.  Ta-ta.

(As you can see, we had a lot of fun with the chicks yesterday.  I will upload a video we took of Daisy eating worms.  It is not a very good video, but it is a bit humorous. 

Here are the weights and measurements for this morning:

Flower weighs 4.1 ounces and is about 7.25 inches long. 
Rhoda weighs 3.5 ounces and is about 6.75 inches long.
Daisy weighs 2.9 ounces and is about 6.5 inches long (those worms must have triggered a growth spurt!).
Jadzia didn't gain any weight or grow any.  She is still 1.4 ounces and about 4.5 inches long.  Maybe she needs to start eating worms. 

In the past 24 hours they have eaten about 12 ounces of food between the four of them (not including worms) and have drank about 1 pint of water.) 

Here are some pictures we took yesterday:

From left:  Flower, Daisy, Rhoda and Jadzia.  Smile girls!

Mommy and the four girls.

I love worms!

No!  It's MINE!

If I hide here, maybe the others won't take my yummy worm!

WORM!  Yummy!

"If I was a younger dog..."

Growth Chart

Here I will display the chick's growth chart.  I will update it periodically, perhaps once per week. 

Sunday's chicken statistics.

(Today I weighed and measured the chicks again and here are their stats:

Flower weighs 3.8 ounces and is 7.25 inches in length
Rhoda weighs 3.1 ounces and is 6.25 inches in length
Daisy weighs 2.6 ounces and is 5.75 inches in length
And finally, Jadzia weighs in at 1.4 ounces and is 4.5 inches long)

Flower's feet and legs are turning green.  Her feathers are changing colors, too. 

Mommy is holding Flower right now and she pooped on Mommy's hand!  Ewww! Some got on Mommy's hand and some got on the towel.  That was so gross.

Jadzia likes to climb on Mommy's neck and peck at her hair and her neck.  It tickles Mommy's neck when Jadzia pecks at it.  She pecks really fast. 

Daisy is getting her crest. It looks orange. 

One of the chicks pooped on the chair then fell down.  It was gross. 

The chicks like me holding them because they know I love them and take care of them.  Jadzia likes to be held because she likes to be warm.  She is still a very little chick.

I will talk some more tomorrow.  I want to play with the chicks right now. 

From B'eLana Productions

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Then you'll LOVE B'eLana Productions' new movie...

DEATH OF A POTATO BUG!

In a world where all creatures are at the bottom of the food chain, some find themselves lower on that chain than others.  Potato bugs.  Harmless and unassuming.  Until they find themselves confronted by four menacing chicks eager to make them lunch.  This is the story of one such potato bug.  Watch captivated as Flower, Rhoda, Daisy and Jadzia take their turns tormenting this harmless creature as they learn how to peck and scratch for their dinner.  WATCH: Death of a Potato Bug.

This film has not yet been rated.

We clean their bedding

Today is a great day to own chickens.  We cleaned out our chicks bedding and we gave them clean water and food.  This helps keep them healthy and grow up to be big chickens. 

Yesterday our chicks crawled all over mommy.  And they pecked at her freckles.  Some went behind her hair and some didn't.  The ticklish one was Jadzia.  That made me laugh.  Daizy pooped on mommy's shoulder and I had to clean it off. 

One of the chicks got on daddy's hat and we took a picture of it.  That's all I want to talk about today.

(From Daddy:  Here are today's stats on the chicks. 

Flower:  Weighs 3.4 ounces and is about 7.0 inches long.
Rhoda:  Weighs 2.8 ounces and is about 6.25 inches long.
Daisy:  Weighs 2.3 ounces and is about 5.25 inches long.
Jadzia:  Weighs 1.2 ounces and is about 4.25 inches long.

We will soon be developing a graph charting their growth using an Excel spreadsheet.  Look for it to be posted here in the next week or so.  We also bought a toy for the chicks to play with; four little plastic balls with bells in them which hangs from their perch.  They are still unsure about it but are definitely interested.  They have circled it many times trying to figure out what it is all about.  Daisy has pecked at it a couple of times.  That is all to report for today.)

Some more pictures

Here are some pictures we have taken of the chicks/pullets.  Please enjoy and feel free to comment. 

The Kitty Kaper

(We had a very interesting day, yesterday, with our chickens.  We call it the Great Kitty Kaper, even though it involved the cat and one of our dogs.  B'eLana wanted me to post the information about it without her input.  She said that it was a horrible experience and didn't want to talk about it. 

Before we get to the great Kitty Kaper, I am going to post yesterday's measurements.  We have decided that these chickens are growing so fast that we need to weigh and measure them every day.  Here are yesterday's stats: 

Flower weighed in at 2.9 ounces and is 6.0 inches long from beak to tail.  I should mention that we are measuring length based on their necks being stretched out as much as I can make happen with one hand measuring from their beak to their tail feathers.  So do not expect the length measurements to be very accurate.

Rhoda weighed 2.2 ounces and measured 5.5 inches long. 
Daisy, the temporary name given to the Barred Rock while Kevin figures out what he wants to call her, weighed 1.8 ounces and measured 4.75 inches in length. 

We have also learned that one does not need to feed chicks "chick grit" if feeding processed chick starter food.  This is good to know.  We have been making sure they have grit every day afraid that they would end up having a fermenting problem and die a horrible drunken death. 

Ok, now on to the Great Kitty Kaper.  Prelude:  We have been experimenting with different light sources and distances from their pen to find the right balance between warmth and cool.  We finally found a setup that we thought would work so we placed our thermometers, put the lid back on, put the pen on a stool so we could check on it periodically and went to watch "Quantum Kitchen" which we had recorded a few days ago.  (Just as an aside, I can't wait to see what he does with chicken!) 

After a while, I went into the kitchen to make some supper when suddenly, there was a crash coming from the dining room.  My daughter was first on the scene.  She was wailing, "The chicks!  Oh, no, the chicks are upside down!"  As I rounded the corner I noticed the cat crouched by the sliding glass door across the room with his tail twitching and ears back.  I turned to see the pen upside down!  I quickly righted the pen to find that there was only ONE chick in the pen.  Suddenly, there was movement in the large pile of pine shaving bedding and Flower emerged shaking her head in indignation to clean off the shavings.  She was followed by Rhoda who was flapping her wings in obvious annoyance.  All the chicks were fine.  Now, we needed to get things cleaned up since their water and food had spilled all over their bedding.  We transferred the chicks to a clean tote while I went outside to empty the pen and wash it out.

When I returned I found that my wife had put all the chicks on the lip of the tote.  They were all doing a fine job of just roosting there, chilling out and keeping an eye on the cat who was still in the corner by the door, tail twitching.  He was obviously trying to figure out what went wrong in his attempt to secure a fresh chicken dinner.  At this point, our big dog, Red, came in to the room to see what everyone was up to.  Noticing the chicks on the tote lip he was curious and began to smell them.  My wife and I thought this was adorable and wanted to take a picture of it.  But, before we could get the camera Red decided he wanted to play with the chicks and proceeded to try to put one in his mouth.  Naturally, chickens being prey and dogs being predators, this was not a situation the chick enjoyed finding herself in and she jumped back before Red could succeed in his attempt.  Additionally, I saw it happening and was able to grab the dog before he could get too close to hurt the chicks. 

Poor chicks, barely two weeks old and already have had two attempts on their lives.  Well, I guess that's what happens when you are at the bottom of the food chain.  If they only knew what is in store for them in about four of five years!

So we decided that it was time to build the chicks a new, more secure pen for the next few weeks of their lives.  

We have an old entertainment center in our living room that my wife's father built many years ago (back when he personally cut the lumber from the Sahara Forrest).  Since we don't have a television small enough to fit in the TV section, I built a very simple removable pen for them to place in there.  Now we have CV; Chickvision!  Notice that we went ahead and bought a new waterer for them.  They just kept fouling up the home made one and I was having to change the water four or five times a day.  This one works much better for them.  I have also put two feeding dishes in for them. 

If you look very carefully at the picture above you will notice another chick in the pen!  Yes, we went and bought a fourth chick, a Polish Banty we named Jadzia.  This name is Polish and also satisfies the Trekkie in us. 

Now for today's measurements and weights:

Flower weighs 3.2 ounces (up .3 ounces from yesterday) and is now about 6.75 inches long.
Rhoda weighs 2.5 ounces (up .3 ounces from yesterday) and is now about 6 inches long.
Daisy weighs 2.2 ounces (up .4 ounces from yesterday) and is now about 5.25 inches long.
Jadzia weighs 1.1 ounces and is about 4 inches long. 

B'eLana holding Jadzia, our newest chick.

B'eLana holding Rhoda

B'eLana holding Daisy

B'eLana struggling to hold her chick, Flower.