Tuesday, June 08, 2010

The Peeps are getting bigger

The chicks have spent the day in the greenhouse a couple of times now. Like little kids, they get excited about little stuff. A dry leaf. A bug. A drop of water on the wall. And like little kids they try to eat these things to see if they're any good.

So far we haven't had any mishaps, thank goodness. I keep worrying that they'll eat something toxic. Do stink bugs just taste bad or will they make a chick sick? What about millipedes, are they okay? Will they eat a centipede, which is poisonous, or will they spit it out? I check on them often and try not to wring my hands and fuss too much. Chickens have been running around loose doing just fine for a long time. Hopefully mine are ones that haven't had all the common sense bred out of them.

One of the silver laced wyandottes looks like it's developing more of a comb than the others. I'm thinking that's going to be a future rooster. Also, Beatrice, the tall yellow one I was hoping was a Buff Orpington, is developing green legs. That's pretty distinctive of the Ameraucana breed, so I guess that's that. She might still be a good mommy, regardless of her breed. I keep hoping. She has a soft, inquisitive nature.

The wyandottes, on the other hand, are brats. They might even all be roosters, the way they leap up and lash at each other with their legs, and walk on sleeping peeps, and chase each other and everyone else. One out of the three is a little more mild-mannered, but I've seen all three of them get into it. They're better in the greenhouse. There's more room and more stuff to do. But in the aquarium, especially after a good night's rest, they are wild children, even meek little Hero (as in Shakespeare's heroine in Much Ado About Nothing.)

It's all very fun. I even took a movie of them playing around in the greenhouse, so I'll remember what it's like to have baby chickens around. They grow up so fast!

(I'll edit this post later to include pics and possibly a little of the movie.)

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