our youngest chicken fan

Jillian, Sam & Angie

Jillian, my niece Angie's daughter, was quite taken with the chickens when she first met them a few months ago.  Even before they were formally introduced, she was obsessed with a video I had posted online.  It was a short clip from the day I brought the chicks home.

Jillian watched it over and over and over again.  2 months after I posted the video, she was still watching it.  Angie wrote, "We just had our nightly chicken viewing. Now as I scroll down looking for the video she says, "chickens where are you?" and after watching the video she says, "bye bye chickens - see you later."

More than 3 months after I had posted the video, Jillian was still charmed by the babies.  Angie sent me a note:  "I wish you had a play count on how many times this video has been watched. We have already watched several times and it's only 7:15 (in the morning!)."  

I would love to know how many times Jillian watched that clip over the past 4 months!!

Recently,  Jillian has shifted her attention from our chicks to her cousin Addison.  Granted, Addison is a beautiful baby, so I understand why poultry might pale in comparison.  Yet, I'm still a little sad that our chicks have lost their biggest fan.  

Here's the clip:

 Here's Addison:  

 I guess I can see why Jillian has moved on!

our cuddly girls

The "babies" are growing fast!  They each weigh about 2 1/2 pounds, and judging by the size of Redder's gigantic feet they still have lots more growing to do!

When we open up the run door each morning, Winnie, Stella & Ray charge out and are ready to start their day while Chirpy & Redder hang out on the ledge of the coop for a while.  It's their favorite time to climb up on our arms and shoulders for a little one-on-one time with us.  They also like to fly onto our shoulders later in the day if we bring them leafy green treats.  The big girls are not always good about sharing, so closer proximity to us helps ensure that the babies get their fair share.  I'm not sure how much longer we'll want to have chickens launching themselves at us, but for now we're loving it!

oh Stella

On Father's Day I tucked a greeting card for Eric in the door of the coop near ground level, as if it were from the chickens.  Stella was NOT pleased about the bright green envelope in HER space.  She paced in front of it and squawked for almost 2 hours until Eric went outside and discovered it.  As soon as he took it out of the door Stella was quiet and went about her business.  It was the funniest thing. 

Stella is always the first to alert us when the waterers or oyster shells need refilling or if she feels that her personal space is being violated.  We've had many visitors over the years and she'll tolerate guests for a while, but when she's had enough she lets us know it.

Here's a story I plucked from our old chicken blog.  This incident happened a few years ago when I actually described Stella as being "mild mannered."  ha!  Read on...

April 15, 2010
Don't fence me in!
A few weeks ago, Eric created a rather large area in the back of the yard for the chickens to romp in.  They've been very happy scratching in the dirt, finding juicy worms and reorganizing the straw.  All was well.  

But...with these amazingly warm spring days, it's time to start thinking about planting our veggie garden.  So, I asked Eric to reduce the chicken playground area to create a space for planting.  When he went out and moved the chicken fence, the girls were visibly upset, especially mild-mannered Stella.  She stood by the fence and squawked VERY loudly for several minutes.  Poor chicken.  How do you explain the situation to a bird with a brain the size of a peanut??