Like Real Chickens, Only Smaller

Remember those fuzzy baby chicks? Well, they're just about completely feathered out now at one month old.

They have been out of the house for some time now, but not too far. During the day they are out in a small A-frame coop in the front yard so they can eat grass and bugs and practice all the cool things chickens do, like scratch and peck or dust-bath themselves. I move the pen about three times a day so they always have fresh grass to eat.

At night they go back in their larger pen, on the porch now, under a lamp for warmth. They still behave like little babies when it's time to go to sleep. They lay down flat and pile against each other. They are so cute to see. They are growing bigger every day, though, and pretty soon will be too big for their current digs. Steve has been working on down-sizing our large chicken tractor for their new home. With a chicken tractor, these small birds will be able to be outside 24/7 to more or less free-range but still have protection from all the predators we have out here. He originally built it about 4 years ago with the boys, for our meat birds. The only problem with it for us now is that it is too big and heavy really for one person to move easily. We usually raised nearly 100 birds at a time so the space needed to be big! I believe it was about 12 feet by 8 feet.

Cornish Cross chickens in the chicken tractor 2004

Now with only a handful of hens, it does not need to be so huge. It will need to be moved once a week, probably. It will be about half the size when he is done. Adequate for our purposes, and easier to handle. Hopefully that will all be ready in a week or so.

Hey, have you ever noticed how many of our "sayings" have to do with chickens? I have! I will list:

All cooped up
Flew the coop
Hen pecked
Pecking order
Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Don't count your chicks before they're hatched
Rare as hen's teeth (my personal favorite)
Hunt and peck
Chicken scratch
Happy as a rooster in a hen house
From scratch
Nest egg
Feather your nest
Don't get your hackles up
Walking on eggshells
Something to crow about
Home to roost
Rule the roost

Whew! Why is it that there are so many? Can you think of any I missed? Leave them in my comments if you do think of one. In the meantime I've got to fly and go stuff my baby birds full of worms!!