Chicks and Ducklings

The chicken chicks are doing great. They are growing quickly and are very active and healthy. However, I have a bit of an unforeseen problem. The black chick, Jinxie, is 4-5 days older and due to her breeds, she is much bigger and more athletic than her two Silkie sisters are. Mama chicken likes to perch up on a big stick with the turkeys at night. Her black chick has no problem flying up beside her, but the two Silkies cannot fly and are left cold on the floor by themselves. 

Mama chicken wants to start going outside and Jinxie, her baby is definitely ready to go out with her, but the two Silkies really are not :( They are simply too small and not tough enough yet.

So, what do I do? 

Time for tough decisions.

I hopefully have a male Turkey coming on Saturday, so would love to get mama chicken out of the turkey room. So, I'm thinking of letting mama chicken and her black chick out today so they can start becoming part of the flock. A couple of days they should be able to move into the chicken coop. I'm hoping Jinxie, the black chick will join Fonzi's flock (he's the Frizzle I got earlier in the summer. He only has two girls so could use another). The two Silkie chicks I'm going to move into the huge dog crate and than they can stay in the livingroom like the turkeys did for a month or two, until they are big enough to go with the rest of the flock. Silkie chickens are a bantam breed, which means they are smaller than a normal chicken. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of bantam breeds. I prefer big tough chickens. I really didn't want Silkies, but they were the only ones available nearby when the black chick was born and all alone. My rooster Wally is a Silkie, so I'm hoping he will take them into his flock once they are old enough. One nice thing about Silkies is that they tame very easily, so by moving them into the livingroom, they tame quickly and will be excellent animal ambassadors for the farm.

The Muscovy ducklings are growing quickly. They are almost as big as their moms now! The photo above shows the three ducklings, the two moms and the dad. Rocky, their dad is quite large. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure two of the ducklings are boys, which will have to be sold. So, I ended up with only one more girl Muscovy.

Wishing you all a wonderful day! Hugs and love!