time for more chick pics

Ameraucana chick

Cuckoo Marans chick

Turken chick

White Wyandotte

Mystery bird

Group shot

Three musketeers

Turken trio

Ameraucana duo

The chicks are getting big. They love to go under the outside overhang, which we have blocked off so the big birds can't beat them up. It'll be at least another 12 weeks before I can blend the group, by which time the babies will be big enough to hold their own against the grownups.

They like scratch grains in small quantities. They love worms. They'll also eat dandelion greens and bugs once they figure out it.

The big birds have picked up with laying again. I'm getting more eggs than we've had in a few months. I'm thrilled with that. They love dandelion greens, worms, old buttermilk, cottage cheese, bread and all kinds of leftovers. They far prefer the goodies to their regular food, just like they'd rather drink out of a mud puddle than drink clear water from the waterer. Go figger.

I'm kinda tired so this will be short but I wanted to get up the pics of the 6-week-old birds before they were older.

Have a blessed week.

Just....ouch.

I cleaned the smaller covered area of the outside chicken coop Monday afternoon and was in the middle of moving the stump we leave there to sit on so we can watch the birds and I slipped in the mud. I landed hard against the stump with my backside and then landed on my butt and my right arm. I sprained that wrist a while back and just bought a brace; I never went and got it checked. It bugs me off and on. My backside, however, is not happy. I have a sideways bruise about 8 inches long and it's probably 2-3 inches wide except in the middle, where it's bigger.

I believe that I at least bruised my tailbone. It HURTS. If it hurts this much to bruise it when I'm on narcotics, what would it have felt like if I wasn't on them? My youngest daughter did hers a few years back but the bruise she got was about 1/4 or less the size of mine.

Instead of sitting or lying around and fussing, though, knowing already that position and activity level really usually doesn't affect the fact that I'm going to hurt whether or not I like it, I did make myself get up yesterday and do some of the things I usually do. It makes no sense to sit around and then get sore from not moving. That just makes it worse.

I did have to take 1/2 a 7.5/750 Lortab Monday night but haven't had one since. I'm going to need one soon, though. I can feel it.

If I sit in a hard chair on a round pillow (my equivalent of a donut cushion) it helps my butt feel better. However, due to my reaction to this dose of Methadone, my feet swell up like dinner rolls rising on a baking sheet. If I put my feet up, my butt hurts.

Hubby was messing with me Monday night - I've become quite the klutz since I started taking more meds than I eat - and he said, "I can't take you anywhere!" I looked back and said, "Well, it looks like you can't leave me here, either."

I'm going to see my doc when I can get in this week. I don't want to and I'm not sure how it's going to feel driving my stick shift car but I need to see her and I'll be careful and drive like a geezer if I need to. After a couple weeks when I can tolerate the manipulation, I'll go to my chiropractor and have her abuse me a bit because I'm pretty sure I'm out of alignment now.

This also made my shoulders tense and my head hurts. It's not the AFP. This is a headache.

Ah, life is wonderful.

4 weeks old

The chicks are 4 weeks old and growing like weeds.

My mystery chick...we think maybe she's a Partridge Rock or a Welsummer


A Marans chick


One of our 15 Turkens


A White Wyandotte


An Ameraucana - I'm not sure if you can see her green legs or not


This is a little group of girls being girls


The babies are going through almost 4 pounds of food a day now. I'd forgotten how much they eat when they're growing. It takes a lot of energy to get so much bigger than the chicks are at birth as well as changing the fluff they are born with for feathers of many colors. At 4 weeks, they are at least halfway feathered out. Another 2-4 weeks and they'll be done with that.

I cleaned the covered over outside area yesterday, swept what the rake wouldn't get up, and this morning I put down a clean flake of hay. It smells a lot better in there now.

Argh...that reminds me that I need to clean the baby coop area. 36 chicks can make a lot of droppings in a week, and that stinks. I guess maybe later today I'll clean that out and replace the litter so they don't smell up the whole yard.

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I added some plus-sized pettipants to my Etsy store. The headcoverings aren't selling, but I think maybe these will because every plus-sized woman who wears dresses with bare legs in the summer will suffer the consequences of chafing, which is very uncomfortable. Abby has already asked me for some. I'm probably making hers today if I get enough sleep in a while to be safe at the machine.

I need to go see my pain doc today, too, so I have to try to take a nap this morning after hubby leaves. I see her at 10:00 and she's about 35 minutes from here. If I sleep till about 8:30 and leave at 9:00 or so just in case I should be fine. Friday I see my psychiatrist. It feels weird to not be seeing either one of them more than every 2 months.

I should get my morning started. Hubby will be up shortly.

Another night with no sleep....~sigh~