I WANT THEM OUTTA MY HOUSE!

The Chicks are almost 8 weeks old, and it is past time for them to get out of my house!

So, why are they still here? The Chicken Tractor needed to be readied so the big girls could be transferred there for the summer. Once the big girls are moved, the coop needs to be cleaned and sanitized for the little girls. It also needs a couple of repairs and revisions.

Step One was finally done yesterday.

The Chicken Tractor was scrubbed down, the new HANGING waterer was installed, security improvements were made to the door of the coop, the top of the coop was blocked so they can no longer slide down the roof and get stuck, and a tarp was put on the front for shade and to protect them from the rain. These actions addressed flaws we noted last year.

Even though we both were already tired from working on the tractor and some garden work, we pushed ourselves to empty the coop of the winter’s worth of deep litter bedding. With Oscar shoveling and me dumping wagonload after wagonload of spent bedding into the compost pile, we were able to get the first task of Step Two completed.

Today I began hosed out the inside of the coop. After it dries for a couple days, I will spread some diatomaceous earth to help clear unwanted germs and creepy crawlies. Then, Oscar will need to install new roosts and we’ll be able to spread a layer of sand. While not all the needed coop work will be done, it will be at that point we will be able to move the little stinkers OUTSIDE.

I really want that to happen by next weekend. I’d prefer it before, but I don’t anticipate Oscar will get the roosts built and installed during the week.

Look how big the Little Girls are – certainly too big for the bathtub.

These are the Cream Legbars.

Betty, on the left, is significantly smaller than everyone else. That’s how she got her name. I first started to call her Itty Bitty, which got shortened into Bitty which morphed into Betty. Oscar wants to call her Professor Peep, but I think the one on the right looks more professorial. Despite my offer to call that one Professor Peep, he was not swayed, and we are at what most people would consider a stalemate.

What will happen? Who will prevail? This occurred with our last batch of chicks, too. I mentioned that the “gray one looks like a storm cloud.” Oscar calls her Cloudy and I call her Stormy. So, I’m betting that’s how this will work out – each will call her what we want to call her and mock glare at each other.

These are the Buff Orpingtons.

The Orpingtons do not have names yet. Each wears a different colored leg bands so that we can tell them apart though so that will help with naming them, eventually. Don’t let the one on the left fool you – she’s acting all shy for her picture, but she is the one that will take every opportunity to escape!

Cross your fingers for me to get these cuties out of the tub SOON please.