Dead Chickens Aren't Much Fun, No, No, No

They don't come when you call....

Okay, this all happened weeks ago now, but here's the catch-up on chickens:

Crystal's chick disappeared one night when we left them accidentally locked out of the coop while we were at gospel meeting.  By the time I got back, Crystal was childless and forlorn.  I was just annoyed at myself, because chick death is something I've become hardened to lately.

The kids had a funeral for a chick that died in the shell and they opened it up, checked it out then buried it with pomp and circumstance.  They buried it right next to our french drain, which is not done and needs to be deepened and widened.  How convenient!

One nice touch is the little sign they made for a headstone.  It says "babe chic grave" and they put stickers on it to decorate.  One says "thinking of you" and the other says "get well soon".  Ever hopeful.

I went to the feed store and bought two Delaware chicks.

 I got them when Linda and Marilyn were at our house, so they got to play with the chicks, too!

 They definitely are the cutest when tiny!

I thought I'd have to keep them separate from our Rhode Island Red(named Red), who is about 3 weeks older than them.  But it turns out they want her to be their mom and she doesn't mind.  She tolerates them completely.  But she doesn't like me as much anymore!  =)  So she's the scrawny and scruffy looking teenager, while they are two cute little puff balls.

But they still aren't named by me although the kids are batting around things like Rice, Marshmallow and Snowflake.  White names!  So we'll have black Australorps and white Delaware's.  Cool!  If they live.

So that was all a few weeks ago now, and the chicks have all been living outside in the big coop behind the garden that is now IN!:

Look closely and you can see a baby chick.  She's inside the coop above the blue rabbit waterer.  They love the rabbit bottle, who knew?  I like it too, it keeps the water CLEAN!  But they also have access to a regular chicken waterer.  They just scratch dirt in it and ignore it.  =)

The kids keep their camping chairs inside the coop so they can go inside and play with the girls.  It helps keep them tame and handled.  And once the camp chair comes out, so will the detergent and scrubbers.

Our puff balls are feathering out, and Red is all feathered out except her head!  She looks so goofy, but it's still kinda cute, too.  Chicks aren't supposed to be outside at night til they are all feathered out, but it's so HOT, that I took the risk and they are doing fine.  

And that's the update with pictures!