I have one chick that actually seems to enjoy staying on my lap. Cloud is usually the first one up and the last off.
She really enjoys the mealworms (yup, bribery), but then stays even when the treats are gone.
She attempted being a shoulder chicken, then another chick tried to join her and the result was chaos.
We weighed and re-banded the chicks today. We weighed them first and moved them out to have some outside time. They are all growing nicely!
After having some chill time outside, and a bunch of grass, we worked on rebanding. (I tried to take a picture, but they are so wiggly!) They all needed new bands, some more than others, but I feel better that they all have nice loose bands now. Another plus about their five toes, that fifth toe does a great job holding up the cable tie.
While they were outside, I also cleaned out their inside area. I’m pretty sure half the litter was old food. Messy things. Good thing they are cute.
It took a couple days, but the chicks figured out the new feeder. It is a hanging feeder, but I needed to put a block underneath it to keep it from perpetually spinning.
I gave the chicks more dirt and grass. Here is a chick’s eye view.
Faverolles have five toes on each foot. I have twelve chicks. I did not do the math when I decided to clip their sharp little nails. I did not manage to clip every nail (I was going to file, but the nails are still so little and the toes are kind of floppy), but I did manage to only expose one quick. 1 out of 120 is not bad. I quickly (#punintentional) put some “no-pick” purple goo on it and the chick was fine. And all of them have at least been exposed to the process. Phew.
The chicks enjoyed their second time outside even more than the first! And they were even more excited about the grass and dirt I put in their inside area; not afraid of it at all, quite the opposite.
They are also exploring the perch, so I made them another one using some 2x4s.
Critters and Craft 