Here is a (rather blurry) chick's-eye view of the brooder. The poor things are getting used to have a huge gray camera suddenly lowered into their world. I wanted to get a view of the nascent wing and tail feathers, but in this photo you can really see the Rhode Island Red I'm a bit concerned about. I know almost nothing about chicks, so it could be this one is just mellow and sleeps a lot, but she is a bit runty and often stands by herself with her eyes closed. It seems to me that she gets shoved out of the way at the feeder by the Buff birds, who are HUGE compared to her, but I've also seen her eat and drink, so perhaps she'll just be a quiet bird. Let's hope, because she is the one bird I've become attached to so far! Lisa - if this one does well, you know her name already!

The thing that looks like a limbo stick running across the picture is a wooden dowel that we've stuck in there for a roost. Nobody has really taken the initiative to hop up there yet, although Dave said he saw a couple of the Buff Orpingtons (see, this is why we need names!) on it when he checked them before bed. Mostly they just jump over it, though I have seen evidence of bird bums having been on the dowel at least for a moment...

You can see them here running willy-nilly to get away from the Big Hand, hopping over the roost, scooting to the corner. This kind of gives a sense of how they move; just imagine little panicked cheeps and you've got it!

Dave was the one who really wanted the Rhode Island Reds and I wanted the Orpingtons, but now we've got them I really am more attached to the little red ones. The feeling does not appear to be mutual, as you can see. I do hope they start liking us soon, they've got to figure out we're the nice guys who give them food, right? I assure them that I won't hurt them but then feel sneaky, because there is that small chance that one of them may end up in a stewpot one day....