Chick Days – 4 weeks old

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I mentioned at the end of my post last week that I was getting ready to move the chicks into a larger brooder because they continue to grow, and that’s exactly what I did last Sunday evening.

We also continue to have the chicken wire on top, since they are big enough to jump out of the box now.

Here is an up close picture I took of the chicks Monday morning before I left for Virginia Beach.

I show you this picture because I couldn’t believe my eyes when I got home from my work trip on Friday. I think my chicks nearly tripled in size while I was gone!

Those two pictures were taken just 5 days apart. When they get to growing they don’t kid around. They’re so big that it works better for a picture for me to just let her sit on my hand instead of hold her in my hands.

Week 4 chick

For comparison sake, here is a picture of me holing one of the chicks at week 2:

Week 2 chick

Pretty big difference over 2 weeks time, huh? Barry did more work on the chicken coop while I was gone and we are getting close to having it ready for the chickens. Good thing, because they will soon be ready to move outside! He put latches on the nesting box door (where we will collect eggs) and on the small coop door (where chickens will enter/exit the run area):

Hank thinks he can fit inside the chicken coop through the hatch door, but I don’t think that he does….

He is probably also making plans for how he will get inside to eat the chickens when they move out here. Little does he know, he will not be able to access this door (and hopefully predators won’t, either) once we get the chicken run area finished.

So far Barry has cut the large bushes with a chainsaw, so that they will fit under the overhead covering we will put on to protect the chickens from hawks. He has also gotten all of the posts in for the run area.

Later this week, we will work on getting the chain link wrapped around the posts. We also have to put a new roof on the coop, as the current one leaks. Luckily we had a new metal roof put on our house two weeks ago, and we have leftover materials that we are going to use for the coop.

Can you believe how much the chicks have grown??

14 thoughts on “Chick Days – 4 weeks old”

  1. So cute! I love chickens so much! I am sure your dogs will learn to protect the chicks eventually. I have friends that have chickens and dogs that co-exist happily. Actually one of the chickens got attacked by a neighbor’s dog and then their dog felt guilty for a while that he had not done his job to protect the chickens 😦 Look at how big your yard is! So much room, I am jealous.

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    1. I hope they eventually learn to get along and/or feel protective of the chickens. That’s sad about your friend’s chicken and how the dog felt about it! A guilty dog is so sad looking :-/ I hope the chicken was okay!

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  5. I was first impressed by how mature they got, in just 5 days! It’s like you left middle schoolers, and came back to seniors in high school or something. All those grown up feathers!But I’m secondarily impressed by your (and your husband’s) handy work. I am quite confident I could handle the animal part of owning chickens (what else would a biologist do?), but I’m less confident I could be their architect, construction labor, and interior designer, as you folks are. Kudos.

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