The natives are restless!

Yesterday, our chicks were three weeks old. It is hard to believe that these gawky, 3/4 feather, 1/4 fluff little guys were tiny balls of pure fluff only three weeks ago. They are still in the pen in the dining area of my small downstairs. They still cheep like babies, which is endearing. Many have them have taken to perching on the walls of the cardboard pen. Occasionally one falls off on the wrong side and ends up on the floor outside of the pen, either squawking hysterically and wandering dumbly about as if in a daze. Either way, it freaks them out. The world is still too big for them. Staring out at it from the safety of the pen wall seems to be about all that they can handle. Now. By this time next week, they'll probably be nesting on the dining room chairs and leaving little poopy surprises in our shoes.

And yes, the house does carry a hint of eau de chicken coop about it. Except for yesterday, when it smelled enchantingly of boeuf bourguignon. But still, as rabid as I am about cleaning out the pen, one can't deny that there are 20 chickens living in my house. I am not complaining though. Marc has been helping a dear friend who is alone and really needs the help, fixing her water pump in her little house and making sure she has what she needs. It has been a longer job than he thought it would, but it has given him an opportunity to spend time talking to her, and she has really needed the encouragement that he brings. I so love the fact that he does this kind of thing. He truly is a man after my own heart. The coop will get done when the coop gets done and in the meantime, we get to enjoy the novelty of the chicks and keep the windows open at all times.

I am grateful that the rest of the animals seem to pose no threat to the chicks when one of them unwittingly escapes. The kittens just watch them from afar. I suspect there was a bit of swatting a chick around at some point, but the sheer hysteria that resulted proved to be a deterrent. Mini, the dog, just sighs, rolls her eyes and goes upstairs. The last thing that she is interested in is another small, stupid creature that she has to keep from becoming hawk food. Bunny, should he ever be in contact with a chick, will no doubt try to get lucky.

Sadly, the only creatures about that we really need to be concerned about will be the other chickens. I hear there is a whole procedure to introducing new chickens into the flock. Otherwise, it can get rough. Apparently, one way to introduce new hens is the put the hen into the coop at night, while everyone else is asleep. The next morning, when they wake up, they'll just assume the new girl was always there. That's one way to put the chicken's famed lack of brain power to good use. Wonder if they'd notice 20 new chickens...?