5 things I've learned about chickens in 4 days

The chicks are here! 

Our adventure in raising backyard chickens has officially begun.  I've only had them a few days but I have learned a few things already. 

mother hen, oil on canvas.  ©2010 Kristina Wentzell

Want to see more chicken paintings? Check out this fun video I put together.

1. Chicks sure are messy. I read this beforehand, but boy has it proved true. Tiny chicks are impossibly cute balls of peeping fluff that also possess remarkable athletic abilities right from birth.  They scratch and shuffle and peck around in their brooder like little possessed demons scattering pine shavings in a three foot radius in the air and all around their box.

coming home from the feed store!

2. Chicks start their flying lessons early. We learned this quickly, when opening the door to their brooder (in our case, a wire guinea pig cage) and a couple of them came running and flapping towards the opening and actually got a little bit air born.  Luckily, we were able to stop them in their lemming like leap to certain death.

unpacking the little peepers

3. The contended peeping of baby chicks is the best sound.  It lets a person know everything is all right with the world.  I’ve taken to bringing my laptop in their room to work while listening to their happy little cheeps and shuffling noises.

4. There should be a yoga pose called the chick. My chicks do this hilarious stretching exercise of extending one leg waaaaay out straight behind them while simultaneously leaning sharply forward and stretching the same side wing out. There are cat, cow, and cobra poses…why not chicken?

5. A chick can fall asleep like a drop of a hat.  My chicks can fall asleep in about 1.5 seconds. They will stand still, close their eyes, and slowing fall face first into the shavings…staying there sprawled out like a drunken sailor. Once I realized they weren’t dead, it became quite funny.



Do you have your own flock of backyard chickens?  I'd love to hear from you!  Tell me your chicken stories.