Teenager Phase

In the first few days after they arrived, we lost two more Big Reds, a Pearl White, and a Maran.  In the last few days there have been no mortalities so we may be past the worst of it.  In past years, we have had a much lower percentage of mortalities and few losses after the first week.

Our chicks are starting to feather out.  When they are newly-hatched, they look like cotton-ball art projects and they bounce off things they bump into.  Sometimes they will stop walking, fall asleep, and fall over.  It is pretty cute.

Their wing feathers start coming in, almost immediately.  After a week, or two, other feathers follow, particularly their tail feathers.  Soon, they take on an awkward half-fuzzy/half-feathered covering and their behavior changes.  They start to make short run-jump-and-flap attempts which often result in collisions with other chicks, the feeders, waterers, etc.  Also, the young roosters start chest bumping each other and trying to stand taller than the others nearby.  It reminds me of the barber chair scene in “The Great Dictator.”

Melissa and I call this “teenager phase.”  They aren’t so cute anymore, but they aren’t feathered enough to look like young chickens, either.  Sadly, they are the middle-schoolers of the poultry world.