16 Days Old

Our chicks are 16 days old now and growing feathers quickly.  I can't believe how fast they change.  They are eating their chick chow well and drinking plenty of water every day.  They are not nearly as hard to care of as I thought they would be.  We've been making it a point to pick them up and pet them for a while every evening and most mornings.  One of them really seems to enjoy this time, but the other isn't as comfortable with it.  They are very attached though.  When we take one out of the brooder, the other cries this pitiful chirp that clearly indicates concern.

We are going to start building our new coop this weekend.  See, we already have the three lovely ladies, but that little coop we bought from mypetchicken.com is no where near large enough for five hens.  Considering how fast these chicks are growing, I think we'd better get going on a new place to house them.  We have decided on building The Garden Coop along the back fence in our yard.  We are going to lengthen it by an extra section to make sure there is room for ten hens.  Ten is the Colorado Springs limit, so we figure we might as well have room for as many as we're allowed in case we ever decide to add on to our flock.  We plan to do most of the construction over Thanksgiving Break and move these girls in right around Christmas.

As for the other girls, they are doing very well.  We are still getting about a dozen eggs a week, which is excellent.  The eggs have started to get darker the past couple days, but I have no idea why.  They are beautiful, large brown eggs with thick orange yolks.  Yum!

All three big girls are becoming less skittish around us though they still want nothing to do with us.  Yadi has even started to come towards me when I bring down a treat for them.  She keeps her distance until I leave, but she has figured out that I mean something good is about to happen.  Basically, they no longer run in fear, but they are no where near letting us pet them.  I'll have to take some more pictures of the big girls this weekend.

Here are a few pictures I took tonight with my cell phone.  The quality isn't that great, but you can see how much they have grown.  The one facing the camera is Lola, and she is definitely the head chick.  Omelette is the other girl, and she is the one who enjoys being held.  

Our dog Cooper is very interested is these two new creatures living in her house.