warp & woof: I laughed, I cried...

Well, we had a funny and sad story happen all at once the other morning. Lucia was up by herself downstairs, since Dante, Daddy and Nonno went fishing. I didn't realize no one was up, so I rolled over and went back to sleep.

A while later, I heard loud peeping from downstairs, and went to investigate. Rounding the corner from the stairs into the kitchen, I saw the baby chicks scurrying about underneath the kitchen table. The floor was littered with little blobs of chicken poop. Laughing at this unexpected sight, I escorted the girls back to the laundry room brooder. Discovering that it was empty, I went in search of the older girls. I found them hanging out in the middle of the living room rug, tho they must have just arrived in this room since it was poop-free. I opened the door to the deck and helped the girls figure out that this was the way I wanted them to go. We all walked down the deck stairs and they all were happy to be back on familiar territory. I headed back inside to clean up.

Once I finished, I went back outside to find the big girls because I couldn't see them. They were back behind the big evergreen, sitting on the stone wall. Missing one of their number. It seems that in the 10 minutes that I was wiping up the mess inside, a hawk swooped down and breakfasted on our smaller silkie. I was so upset! Luke's parents took the kids to the movies and he and I worked to finish the moveable pen that is relatively predator safe. And this week, on the way back from the bison farm, we stopped at the chicken lady's house to get another silkie. This one is younger than the first group we had, but since she looks familiar, the bigger girls don't seem to pick on her. She seems to be adjusting nicely. So here, without further ado, are the girls:

Pong seems to be trying to figure out what the deal is with B.B. -- she looks similar, but isn't quite the same as Ping (RIP).

Speck checks out the new silkie, but doesn't peck her because she looks familiar. Unfortunately the BLRWs don't have this advantage, and we hear little squeaks from them throughout the day if they get in the bigger girls' way. Or if they look at them the wrong way. Or if they're just within 4 feet of them... you get the idea. Although it's been almost a week since we put them all together, and the pecking is slowing down considerably.

Rosie, striding with purpose across the pen.

All the chicks were curious about the camera, and Rosie got a little too close -- but I got a nice shot of her chest with it's pretty feathers.

Fly investigates something along the perimeter of the new pen.

Bandit enjoys some thistle seed, while Peepers keeps her distance. Bandit pecks the most.

Peepers jumped up on my arm for a rest.

Tinkerbelle looks around nervously, hearing the approaching thunderstorm.

FuzzyUzzy was freaking out, I think from the storm, so I could only get this shot of her (on the right) with all 4 of the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes (Izzy's the dark one at the top left).