My First Hen House Hop post...

Many of you know that our farmgirl friend Deb of Deborah Jean's Dandelion House is hosting her second annual Hen House Hop right now.  Last year I enjoyed reading every post.  A few posts were fantastic fun bragging about the exploits of some spunky hens and there were some really informative ones too for newbies. I did not have any chickens last year so I couldn't really participate, but now I do.  Yippee!

My chicks are only four weeks old right now but they're my darlings.  This is what they looked like the week I brought them home to Casa Gonzales...  This curious little girl is called Penguin.  She's a Silver Laced Wyandotte.

They were a few days old in these pictures.  They were mostly downy cotton and a few little feathers were starting to come in at the base of their wings.

We used scrap for the brooder box, please ignore the scribble.  My hubby does math calculations on lumber as he builds.  It''s a good thing really.  He rarely makes mistakes this way.

On the third day, we almost lost little Princess.  She's the buff Orpington in the center of the picture above.  You can see that her GI tract was not cooperating, but we nursed her through it and I am happy to report that she's healthy and happy today.  There she is in the picture below, on the right side....

This picture was taken this week.  They are four weeks old now and my have they grown.  My Americaunas are camera hogs and very photogenic.  Don't you think?  They sure are interesting to listen to... They talk the most.

 I have a pair or more of several breeds including Americaunas, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Plymouth Rocks, Black Austrolorps, Salmon Favorelles, and Rhode Island Reds.   This is Mama's baby Queenie.  I named her because of her behavior.  She's always the first to greet me and she takes the highest roost, even if it's the top of the water tower.  She wants to be held every time she sees me.  She walks with her chest puffed out like a peacock.  Seemed like royalty to me.   She's so people friendly.

They are straight run chicks, 90% likely hens, but as it turns out, "Queenie" turns out to be a boy.  I have to think of a new name for Queenie so my family will stop laughing at me when I say her his name...

Well, that's my little brood.  I sure do love em.  They really can steal your heart.  They're outgrowing the brooder box so Papa is hard at work on their new Hen House.

It's a re-purposed garden shed/carport.  I'll post progress on that soon.  Have a great day and thanks for reading.

Thank you Deb for hosting such a wonderful hop and for giving us all the opportunity to share our chick babies with our farmgirl friends.