Well, our chicks are doing just fine at the 2 week old mark. In all actuality, they are 17 days old since they were in the mail for 2 days. Nathaniel is planning on ordering the same type later on in the year after the brooder is freed up. The layers are feathering out pretty well and starting to look less like fuzz balls and more like chickens. This is sort of the "ugly stage" when they look half naked. They also are running around all the time, scurrying about, scratching up the litter.
From the brooder, they will be heading to the chicken tractor we used a few years ago. I don't need to build them their own coop, as most of them are replacements for the 3 year old layers that we got from the egg farm. I will, later in the spring, build an addition to the coop for the bantams, as Virginia will be tending them as her own chore. The bantams will be our mothers, hatching eggs and being more like pets than livestock.
The logistics of an addition are my next puzzle to solve. I would like the bantams to be able to free range, but would also be able to have private space when they want to hatch and raise chicks. They may run in the normal population usually, and then be set aside when we want chicks. Things to think about later, I guess.
That is the latest. I will post later about plans with the kids. Busy, busy, busy!
Mark
