This week marks 1/4th of the project through, big achievement. It was a “normal” week, but the fact that we are taking care of another person’s dog, makes it difficult to let the chickens roam free. I had a few minutes this weekend to enjoy the chickens and see them interact with Hughey.

The Chickens

My heart was filled with bitter sweet joy yesterday. I opened up the pen to release Consuelo, Valentina and Dolores… and I came face-to-face with three chickens, not three chicks. I was so proud of how they turned into beautiful chickens, but I miss them being little chicks.

Dolores isn’t a fan of being picked up, but she’s not complaining as much either. Dean and I are almost sure she’s a Brown Hyline and not an Easter Egger. She now clucks instead of doing the little chick chirping that they used to and was so identifiable.

Valentina is just beautiful and bold. Still lighter than Dolores, but just as pretty. She is definitely the alpha chicken.

Consuelo, who started out being the one that wanted to be around us the most, it the one that does everything to not be picked up. A simple example of this is, when I pick up Valentina to get her away from the pen and interact with the rest of the backyard, Consuelo flies right behind me so she doesn’t have to be carried. I still picked her up and gave her a few cuddles.

But this time, we had Hughey as part of the picture. We need him to familiarize himself with them in order to make sure he’ll protect them and not think they are food when he grows up. So we let them “play” together yesterday. Consuelo and Dolores are still a little scared of him and Valentina is just bothered by his curiosity. They were face-to-face a few times and Hughey ended up getting a peck on the snout for him to learn who’s the boss around the backyard. It was just a peck to frighten him away, as he didn’t whimper or blood came out. He understood the message.

Photos

To see the 52 Weeks of Chickens – 2nd Generation project, click here.