Chicks, Buddy Bean, and Fall Gardening

 I've started seedlings for the fall garden, and they are coming along:

This week, I plan to plant some radishes and carrots in the ground.

Buddy Bean is pretty adorable.

Lydia plays with him every day.  He loves to hop around the deck and explore.  

She's teaching him to sit still on the bench, so one day she can show him in rabbit competitions.

Lastly, we moved the rest of the chicks outside.  They all seem to be doing great.  They forage well.  I've seen several catch worms, and they enjoy the clover I planted for them.  (They ate all the first planting, but I replanted, and you can see the green popping up in the picture.)

Moving Out

 Malachi and I spent an hour yesterday reinforcing the chicken wire in the smallest yard, and then Lydia and Malachi moved the meat chicks out to it.

We put Mama Hen in that yard, too, since she has been really picked on by the rooster and other hens.

She seems to be getting along pretty well with her new flockmates.  The regular chicks are still in the shed.  They are quite small still, but we plan to move them out with the rest in another week.

Around the garden, I am very happy to see my pumpkins growing:

And here are the Aztec Sun flowers, which are the yellow counterpart to my orange Mexican Torch sunflowers.  As you can see, the butterflies like them, too.

I haven't seen any hummingbirds on the yellow ones, but they do love the orange ones.

Animal Updates

 The chicks are all growing quite quickly, but it is easy to see the difference between the regular chicks and the meat birds!

Lydia posed these two again, but the two below I just happened to catch next to each other in picture mode!

And Buddy Bean is doing very well:

He is adjusting to being picked up, but once he's in your lap or arms, he is quite content.  

In gardening, I have a cushaw growing below.  Can you spot it?

The front berms didn't turn out exactly as planned, but they are doing ok.  Next year will be better!  I plan on planting a lot of bulbs for spring flowers.  

Introducing Buddy Bean

Lydia is one happy girl.  She got her bunny. 

She named him Buddy Bean, and he's so soft and cuddly.

He's a Holland Lop.  They are a very small breed.  She is excited to show him when rabbit club starts up again.

 

Chicken Photo Shoot

 I needed a current picture of me, so I asked Lydia to take one, and then I turned the camera over to her.  She did get some of me, but she got many more of chicks:

She did also get a couple of me and Panther, and then I turned the camera on her!

Farm Yard Fun

 On Saturday, we went to a nearby farm and were the only ones on the playground.

Yes, that's Malachi on the bars.  He asked for a haircut a few days ago, and now it is buzzed.

Back at home, we had an issue with one chick.  It is having trouble walking, perhaps due to a leg problem.  The other chicks were picking on it, and Lydia and Malachi wanted to quarantine it to see if it will heal.  And so, we bring you chicken quarantine: 

Overall, the chicks are doing very well.  They are growing.  Below, you see some on the brick pecking sand.  It serves as grit to digest their food.  

They Grow So Fast

 The chicks hatched (and were mailed) Monday afternoon.  They arrived Wednesday morning, and we have loved watching them ever since.  They are already getting little wing tip feathers.

On a side note - I harvested 14 ears of corn from the garden, and it is so dellicious!

Ok, back to chicks:

Lydia loves that this kind look a bit like penguins right now.

We also threw some red clover buds into the brooder, and we were treated to a game of chicken football.  They would take the bud and run, and the other chicks joined the chase.  It was so funny.

Chicken photo shoot:

Chicks are so much fun.  Go buy a few, or forty.