Today's Bird, Dixie, Our Rhode Island Red

Curious and on the move. Dixie is one of our 7 egg layers. An interesting fact about Rhode Island Reds: they can produce up to 250 to 300 large, light brown eggs per year. When free ranged, (like Dixie) their first year eggs can be too large to fit comfortably in a standard egg carton. Rhode Island Reds are also the Rhode Island State Bird

Chickens Take Flight

Permanent Residence

Finally, the permanent chicken residence! The coop will open into the pen so that the chicks will have "Free Range" but still be protected from hawks and other predators that want to have Cordon Bleu for dinner.

They Just Keep Growing

I returned from 6 days away and the chickens are twice the size. The joke is that they are "single serving" birds now. They love being in their coop in the day but they still go back to the brooder at night. Soon they will live outside full time.

Chick's first time ouside

Today was the chicks first time outside. They loved it. We did not have to do anything, before we knew it the chicks were eating gnat's and fly's out of the air and pecking the worms out of the ground. We also figured out that they can really fly. The bantam with the black feathers on her feet flew up and was perching on the top of the cage we kept them in.

Dad's Favorite

This bird is one of our bantams. Bantams grow to 1/4 of a full chicken's size. When we picked this bird out, it looked just like the rest of the chicks. Each day we noticed the feathers growing in were curled. We found out it's official type is a Bantam White Frizzle Cochin.

The Coupe de Ville of Chicken Coops

Building the chicken coop was a family affair. The chickens will be living is style when they get hardy enough to reside outside. There will be a pen surrounding the coop to protect them from other animals when the time comes.

One of the Bantams tries to break free!

This girl is the newest addition, the Top Hat. Check out her funky hair do. Kevin is jealous of the mowhawk!













All the chicks got some "alone time" today when I was cleaning the brooder. They are all switching from fur to feathers. This girl is the Red Cross.

Rhode Island Red