New brooder

The girls are growing up fast!  They've already outgrown their original brooder, so we set up our old dog crate to give them more space.  Here's their new setup:

As soon as we put them in the dog crate, the girls immediately started hopping over each other and scratching around, and they made a mess of the place fast!  We came back to check on them and they had kicked half of the bedding out onto the floor.  So my mom put some cardboard up on the sides, which seems to have fixed that problem so far.  The top of the cardboard also made a great spot to prop up a new perch (pruned from our fig tree).  I know they can jump that high, but I have yet to see them jump up to the perch by themselves.  They are some messy girls, so when my mom added the cardboard siding, she also hung up the waterer so they can't kick bedding or poo into the water as easily.  Here's a better picture of their setup from inside:

Last week, I said that Oneita was my favorite, and that's because she would step into my hand by herself and let me hold her for a while.  Well apparently Oneita has developed a superiority complex and now she thinks she's top bird!  She's developing quite a brave and bossy personality!  Many of the chicks scatter when you put your hand in the brooder, but not Oneita.  She stands her ground and stares you right in the face.  For example:

Oneita's not afraid of anything.  When the Silver-laced chicks were still fresh, little poofballs, we weren't sure how we were going to tell them apart as they got older.  But just in the last few days, Oneita and Grace's coloring has changed a lot.  Oneita (above) has a more orange beak, and Grace (below) has a much lighter chest and lighter overall coloring.

Oneita and Grace are starting to look very different, but Bernice and Viola look even more alike now.  With their adult feathers coming in, it's much harder to see the dark spot on Viola's head, if it's even still there.  The only way I can really tell them apart now is by their legs and feet.  Viola (left) has normal orange legs.  Bernice (right) has weird dinosaur legs that are light yellow and are almost scaly looking (no offense, Bernice).

Mary Lou has always been the smallest of our flock, but her adult feathers are coming in and they look really beautiful.

Look at Mary Lou modeling her fuzzy boots!  She's been doing a lot better about socializing with us instead of just running and hiding in the corner.  But I think she just tolerates being held instead of actually enjoying it like Oneita and the Ambers.

Helen keeps to herself a lot, so she hasn't really shown us much of her personality yet.  She was originally one of the most social chicks.  She was one of the first to trust my hand when I put it down into the brooder, she allowed us to pick her up, and she liked to perch on the wall of the brooder.  Hopefully she opens back up to us and we get to know her better as she continues growing.