Clucks and Quacks: Big Girls Meet Little Girls

It's hard to believe that this time 2 years ago we were anxiously and excitedly waiting for the hatching of our first clutch of incubating eggs. Out of 4 eggs, only 2 were fertilized and 1 of those chicks didn't make it. Cheeper, our first chicken to hatch was also our first chicken to pass on in October of an impaction. She still holds a special place in our hearts as she began our chicken keeping journey and was an animated, friendly hen.

Then just a few weeks later our 2nd clutch of chickens hatched. Chee couldn't be an only-and-lonely chicken, right? Out of 16 eggs, only 10 were fertilized and all 10 made it. In November of that year we rehomed Feathers, Ugly and Ewok, our roos, who most definitely needed a larger flock to commune with. :wink: They also are fondly remembered, especially Ewok who loved swinging with Sam and was King Roo.

Last March we brought home Olive and Opal, our Pekin ducks. We were planning on getting ducklings, but our friend couldn't give up the ducklings she helped to hatch and offered this laying pair. They're definitely BFFs!

Ava joined the hens this March.

And now our 3 lil' Welly chicks will be joining the big girls in a couple of months, sooner if possible. (Having 3 half-grown chickens in the diningroom gets a little smelly and dusty. Trust me!) But before integration, the big girls and little girls need to spend some supervised "playtime" together.

So, today we dragged out the huge metal dog crate, assembled it, removed the sliding tray at the bottom, and placed it in the middle of the yard. Nutmeg, Butterfly and Amber were placed inside with food and water. It was also the first time the Wellies could enjoy some green grass grazing and did they ever enjoy that!

The big girls were very curious and instantly "ran" over to investigate. But I think they were more interested in getting to the chick feed. :wink: Soon, everyone was pecking at grass and going about their foraging business.