Champagne with Chicken(s)

Sorry for the delay in getting the next post out, but I have been very  busy being a chicken mom (AKA 'The Mother Hen')

Here's the update on 'The Girls.'  They are two weeks old today and have grown tremendously in that time.  They arrived as tiny little balls of reddish brown down punctuated with a beak, two little black beady eyes on the top and 2 chicken feet sticking out the bottom.  Oh yeah, and a poop shoot out the back.
This last mentioned body part is very important and is where we concentrate most of our energy.
(Spoiler alert: This will be the subject of my next post).

The 'Girls' are doing great and seem to be getting bigger by the hour! No kidding, they seem to change overnight.  We will 'tuck' them in around 8PM (they go to sleep when the sun goes down) and when we check on them in the morning they will have a new set of feathers that weren't there the night before.  One morning it is wing feathers, another it's back feathers and yet another it is tail feathers.  This morning's surprise, besides more poop, is that their faces now resemble tiny pterodactyls. I don't recall reading that in any of my 'What to expect when you become a Mother Hen' book. You think someone might have mentioned that my cute fuzzy little baby's were going to go through 'The Jurassic' era stage.  But as their adoptive Mother I still think my babies are cute.  Isn't that what ALL mothers say about their babies?  Maybe it's just a phase their going through. I went through an awkward phase too, it started about the age of 12 and ended about....come to think of it I think, I'm still in it :)  But I'm sure my 'Girls' will become beautiful chickens one day soon.

For the past two weeks they have been very happy peeping, pecking and pooping....but mostly pooping.
I guess I forgot that new parents have to deal with a lot of poop.  Alas, a Mother Hen's work is never done.

The Girls are very entertaining to watch.  One moment they will be sound asleep and then one will wake up and RUN to the feeder as if to check to make sure the source of all their food wasn't just in her little chicken dreams.  Once one wakes up they all wake up and run to the feeder as well.  Then they all just stand there as if they forgot why they had ran over to the feeder in the first place.  I can imagine what is going on in their little chicken minds...'Now why did I just run over to the feeder?  Maybe if I RUN back over to the other side I'll remember why I came over here in the first place.' And with that thought they all RUN back over to the other side of the brooder box.  This little scene repeats itself numerous times throughout the day and never ceases to cause my husband an I endless laughter....which then sounds them scurrying back to the opposite of the box!

'The Girls' sleeping

And then there is the sleeping thing.  Chicks have a limited number of activities; eating, sleeping, pecking and pooping, but sleeping is one of my favorites.  They will be standing looking around thinking about why they are standing and looking around and then...sleep!  They just sit down, or fall over, and go to sleep as if someone just flipped the switch from on to off.  The first time you see this happen you think they may have had a little chicken heart attack and just collapsed where they were.   This can be disconcerting the first day, but rest assured they really are sleeping, they just look like their dead. 

If you want a constant stream if entertaining antics in your home I highly recommend getting a few chicks.
Watching them is way better then any TV show.  Come to think of it maybe cable TV should have 'The Poultry' channel.  That's it! I can see it now, twenty four hours a day of little peeps running around peeping, pecking and pooping.  How much fun would that be?  I could even be the commentator....giving a blow by blow of all the chicken antics.  This could become more popular then ESPN.
I think I'll call our cable provider tomorrow and request this.

I will digress once again. I had mentioned in my previous post that my social life was in desperate need of a makeover.  In case any of you were concerned for my mental well being, I want to put your mind at ease.  I was not aware that once you get chickens your popularity goes WAY up.  It's true.  Since "The Girls' have arrived my sister came and spent the entire weekend (she has never done that previously or B.C. - Before Chickens).  And my girlfriend Lisa, was so concerned about my lack of social interaction that she came to our house for dinner a couple of days after "The Girls' arrived.  I'm sure they both wanted to spend time with me, but somehow I secretly think they are using me just to get a 'chicken fix.'

They don't get any cuter than this!

The night 'The Girls' first arrived, our neighbors from across the street came to meet our babies and brought over a bottle of champagne to celebrate their arrival.  And in case you were wondering...I did NOT serve chicken for dinner that night!  Actually our neighbors just came over to toast (not roast) our new arrivals.  We love our neighbors.  They always know just the right way to celebrate.  And so we had champagne with chickens.