STEP TWO

The baby chicks have moved from the bassinette to the crib, so to speak. (And that exhausts my knowledge of all things baby.)

We had some trouble with cannibalism, which isn't uncommon among chicks. Big John caught most of it early; just one at first, then two. We doctored the affected areas with anti-peck, a molasses looking ointment that tastes awful (not from personal experience!) so the chicks stop pecking at that spot. Then another two or three were pecked. At that point, we started moving the pecked chicks out of the pigeon pen and into a galvanized trough.

Pretty soon, the trough was home to more chicks than the cage, and they were getting crowded. So we've moved to step 2: the chicks have been turned loose into the brood pen!

And they are loving it! They've got enough room to run/jump/fly, which is so funny to watch. They started taking dust baths right away, instinctively. And they aren't bored, so no more pecking. But we're keeping a watchful eye on them, just in case.

The brood pen is heavily reinforced, so they're (fingers crossed) pretty safe from predators. Tribett, Daisy, and Pancho all seem to take turns standing guard ... waiting for one false move and it'll be snack time!

I mentioned to Big John yesterday evening that there sure is a lot of extra room in the brood pen. I'm sure the feed store has 5 or 10 more chicks today, just in time for Easter.

Don't be surprised if our chick population goes up this afternoon!