Well, it's only been a month since I started in on my flock. Four of the girls are four weeks old, two of them three. And all of them have about tripled in size. And everything in The Pen has gotten way too small. The waterer. The mason-jar feeder. The roosts. Everything.
Admittedly, I need to buy a new waterer. There's no shortage of water, mind you, but it would be nice to have something a little bit bigger. Maybe something that won't catch every woodchip that flies its way.
And the mason jar feeder? Too small. At least for my six chicks. So, here's what I did...
I bought a two gallon paint bucket with a lid, cut a few holes on the side at the very bottom, and bolted the bottom of the bucket to the lid of a five gallon paint bucket (the Home Depot type). I filled it with Crumble and my girls are good to go! Easy. And cheap. It cost me about $7.00.
And that brings us to the roosts! Initially I made two small roosts: a crossbar with a couple foot-stands. Each about eight inches long. But those are being kicked aside these days. So, I've fashioned two 'I-mean-business' roosts in two of the corners of the chicken pen. Basically, I took 1"x1/2" pine rods and slid them diagonally into place in the corners of The Pen. Different lengths, different heights. And... success! The girls love them. They've been all over them since the roosts went in.
Other than that, everything is business as usual. More feathers are coming in every day. The chicks' coloring is becoming more and more apparent. And the personalities are starting. The bold. The shy. Everything in between. It's pretty great.
Now, only another four weeks until the big move from The Pen to The Coop.
A lot to think about. And a lot more to do. But hey, it's only been a month.
