Red, Jackie Chan, Wink and Madeline Albright

Woefully misnamed, Madeline Albright turns out to be a rooster. So do Wink and Jackie Chan. They are joining Melissa's flock, recently reduced significantly by a fox or a coyote. So Squirt is now officially the youngest, and only, chick in the flock. She will do OK, but I feel like I did when I sent my daughter off to kindergarten. ("Bye! Things will be OK! Have fun! You'll do fine!")

We sent Red to Melissa's flock as well. She had been relentlessly mean to Blanche - actually pinning her down to pick on her. I've had to squirt her with a garden hose to get her to stop. As Marcy said, "Ever since Peanut died, Red has been a jerk." I had a stronger four-letter word for her, so Marcy said it well, in a G-rated way. I hope she will be happier in a new flock. She's beautiful and I hope she finds a new Peanut.

Twelve to fourteen is the chicken-to-ground ratio my husband says works best for our run. We are now at 13 and it feels right.

The four chicks move outside

This batch of chicks is killing me they are so cute. Wink, Squirt, Jackie Chan and Madeline Albright are one adorable little flock. I won't allow my hens to harm them again, that's for sure.

I have developed a new way to introduce chicks to an established flock. First, I set up a holding zone, which is a puppy fence set up next to the run. This allows the hens and chicks to share food and water and to get used to one another's presence. They see each other every day and the sharing of food happens with a safety zone for the chicks. I will keep them in this holding zone for two or three weeks. The warm weather meant I could move them out earlier than the previous three.

At night, I put them in a plastic shoe box, the kind from Target, which is lined with some aspen bedding. Then I slide them into one of the nesting box slots. This way, they are safe at night and cannot get pecked at by the hens. They have plenty of room to move around, and could get out if they need to or want to.

At night, I have to get out there to get them into their slot right at sundown or they start to panic. Last night, I got out a little late and they were all lined up, looking into the coop and peeping wildly.

Yesterday morning, I went out to put them back into the holding zone and they were already there! They had found their own way in, probably squeezing through the run so they could get into their own area. The cute thing was that it was wide open; I hadn't shut it the whole way the night before. They just knew that was their place, I guess.

Catching up on two or three weeks

A lot has happened in the flock this June. Blanche has finally - finally! - found a direction in life and decided to sit on some hatching eggs. She was so excited about it she stole some of the nonfertile eggs and sat on those, too. She took this job very seriously, bristling up like a linebacker when I'd enter the coop.

In the end, she hatched out 4 of the 7 eggs. She was very protective and patient.

Then Stretchie came along. She apparently got jealous and decided to try to kill the chicks. Luckily, my daughter had been checking on the hatching on an hourly basis. She found two of the four chicks with their eyes pecked at and bleeding. They were in really bad shape, especially being hours old.

I put Stetchie in solitary confinement, outside of the run. I've never been so mad at an animal in all my life. She has a long neck that I really thought about wringing.

It's been about 8 days since the attempted chickicide, and I am happy to report, the chicks are alive and well. Squirt, the one who had both eyes attacked, is healing up nicely. Wink is healing up even better. They were pretty jumpy those first few days and I felt they could use a few more chicks to hang out with. I added a few more from Mary's hatch: Penguin, whom I had renamed Jackie Chan, and a pretty yellow one I decided to name Madeline Albright.