Chickens, start of week 3

It's been 2 weeks since the mob hatched so they have entered their third week of life.  It's ASTOUNDING how much they've grown this past week.  The growth explosion has led to what I expect will be their entire life mission over the next few weeks:  eating, sleeping and pooping.  And whenever possible, it seems they try to combine these activities; their new favorite trick is to knock their feeder off its little perch so they can lay down next to it and eat.  It's quite amusing when they fall asleep with their head literally in the trough. 

At the beginning of the week we were seeing a bit more activity as they tested out their wings and tried to fly.  We had one especially industrious fellow who liked to get a running start (albeit a small running start), jump in the air and flap his wings furiously in a futile effort to get over the small fence around their enclosure.  I hate to tell him that by the time he's coordinated enough and strong enough for this flying thing he'll weigh too much to accomplish the feat, but I guess it's good to have goals.  We're still seeing some of the male posturing and chest bumping as well as an effort to perch on the tallest part of the litter in a poultry game of king of the mountain.  The chicks we guess are females like to roost on the feeder or dig holes in the litter in which to nest.

Husband has almost finished the framing for the chicken tractor.  We're hoping to finish it this weekend and potentially move the chicks outside sometime next week.  They're getting big enough that they are starting to get a little confined in the garage enclosure, and I worry someone will get injured when they spook and start careening around the edges of the chicken wire.  It's not uncommon for some poor sleeping soul to get trampled in the panic.  The tractor measures 12'x5' and will seem palatial after the garage nursery.


I finally was able to get a firm count and it's official, we have 35 chicks (started with 39).  Our last death was last Wednesday and was of an unknown cause that completely caught us off-guard.  With the previous three deaths it was obvious something was up , but this one was a complete mystery.  We have one chick now that show signs of a potential leg injury, probably as a result of carousing around the pen, but then again it might just be s/he is getting chunky enough that its leg falls asleep when it lays down for too long.  Overall, we're very pleased with how the flock is doing and are especially satisfied with Jenks Hatchery.