The chicks are getting BIG!

The chicks are getting big and are almost covered with their adult feathers.  

(Sorry for the red tone to the photo but their red heat light was in when I took their picture this morning.) They always seem to look like they have been through a wringer when their feathers are coming in with patches of down, patches of real feathers, and patches of skin showing under pin feather sprouts.  Poor things.  The coop we made for the original flock is not going to be big enough since we are doubling the amount of birds housed in it with the addition of the new hens.  We don't want to have any territory disputes or overcrowding so it's time for us to start deciding on a larger coop design and to start building it.  I would really like it if we could design it in such a way that it would allow us to keep their feed and scratch cans inside it, be big enough for us to walk inside it, and allow the girls lots of room to flap their wings.  We live across the highway from national forest so in order to keep raccoons and opossums out of the chicken feed we use large aluminum trash cans to hold it.  All bets are off if a bear tries to break into the cans.  I'm sure they can open the cans and I'm sure I will not get in their way.  It would absolutely be safer to have the cans in an enclosed building rather than on my back porch.  I recently saw a black bear along the side of the road on the way to drop my son off at school.  The bear had been hit by a truck.  The area we live in is known to be where they pass through occasionally.  Odd thing to see regardless.

A craft project and an over acheiver...

So, just to see if I could make one, and to see what it's like to use them, I found a couple free patterns online for a cloth diaper cover to sew in order to try out using cloth diapers on my 4 month old.  I took a bit of instruction from both to sew the diaper cover I made.  The base pattern came from here which shows how to sew a fitted diaper with absorbent layers built in.  This one is what I used to cut the fabric with, mostly because it used velcro and has little tabs to fold over the clingy edges before it goes through the washer so it doesn't snag on everything.  I didn't want to spend the money on a snap applicator tool if I wasn't going to be making very many of these hence the velcro.  One still needs a waterproof outerlayer over the diaper this pattern makes.  I did not sew in the absorbent layers as I intended to use old fashioned flat cloth diaper squares that need to be folded to fit the baby.  I also visited a craft blog here that shows how to sew the basic cover I was looking for with a waterproof inner layer and a soft outerlayer.  Her design uses snaps to give the covers an adjustible fit which I did not do.  Here is my end result.

It is a bit big through the legs for our baby right now but I put a cloth flat diaper on her with this cover over it to try it out.  She wet in it within five minutes while sitting on my husband.  The good news is it didn't leak and was super cute on her.  Not sure if I want to go through the time and energy to make more but the option is always there.  At least I know I can make them.

Our adult hens went through a very harsh molt last summer and their egg laying slowed significantly through the fall and winter months to the point we were getting about 4 eggs a month.  We normally get between four and six a day.  Well, within the last week they have started to lay again.  Alot.  Somehow, in two days, we got fourteen eggs from six chickens.  Someone is an over-acheiver.

Adding to our flock.

We have been keeping a small backyard flock of 6 easter egger hens for almost 2 years.  We originally started with 7 hens but one got sick and had to be put down.  This year we have decided to expand the flock by adding six rhode island red chicks.  These are all suppose to be pullets.  They always come with a 90% accurate guarantee for what sex the chicks are.  It will become apparent later if there is a rooster.  Their feathers will come in differently, their temperment is different, they develop spurs on their legs, different combs, and, the biggest clue of all, will start to crow sometime by 6 months of age.  Our easter egger hens lay blue, green, and olive tone eggs almost one a day.  Rhode islands lay brown eggs and are suppose to be prolific producers.  I hope these little babies mix well with the rest of our girls when its time to integrate them into the flock.  We have them in their own enclosure separated from out adult birds for now.  They sure are cute right now, little poofs with legs...