"PEEP!"

that's chick for "HI!"

As wise ol' Hubby pointed out, "PEEP!" is also chick speak for everything else too. :o)

Yesterday we bit the bullet and tried playing God one last time with our Mama chicken, Meringue. We bought 6 Ameraucana chicks from the feed store last night and tried to introduce them to Mama.

She was not pleased.

And how does a chicken let you know she's not pleased? She mouth-breathes...alot. And when you get the chicks anywhere close to her, she pecks at their poor little heads. Her pecks were like a scolding an animal mother would give to her child, but we were too nervous to take any chances, so out she and the Aunties went into the run. They have a new nest and roost out there thanks to Hubbie last weekend. They'll be fine--and now i guess they'll all be Aunties. Poor Mama.


The chicks are out in the coop. There is a straw nest on the floor, under the nesting boxes, and their food and water are out there with them. We put the heat lamp near the nest on the floor, blocked the door to the run with a piece of wire screen, and hopefully everything will be good.

One of the chicks adopted me last night and kept crawling up in my lap. When i left him in the coop, he just kept peep-shrieking at me. I hate that feeling....like you are leaving your baby at preschool for the first time. Is that what it's going to feel like when we take Ri to college for the first time? UGH! Thank God i have 12 years before that happens! Especially when she looks as cute as this It's nice to have chicks again...Ri is more confident with them this time around, so she is willing to pick them up and hold them. She's so gentle with them too, and makes sure she puts them down at the watering hole, just incase they are thristy. :o)

It's funny, but the chicks' markings are kinda like our cat's--the cat is black with white markings down the middle of it's back (that oddly enough look like a cross.)


Since we've been delving into Egyptian culture with Ri lately (getting ready for homeschooling in Sept), the other thing Ri and i noticed about these chicks is that they all look like Cleopatra with that "eyeliner" they have around their eyes. :o) And they do kinda "walk like an Egyptian". ;O) If they keep that look when they are hens, i think we'll have to name one Cleo. :o)

(aren't their little 2 day old feathers on their wings so cute?? those are "big chicken" feathers!)

Here's Meringue...she's finally walking a bit more normally and she's stopped being too broody. She's looking good and Victoria and Lil' Miss have excepted her back into the social structure without too much hen pecking.

So far, so good here this weekend. Just getting ready for company and Summer--in between visits to the coop to make sure the chicks are okay. :o) Hope you have a blessed and wonderfully sunny weekend too!