Chicken Run

It is just crazy how fast these chickens are growing! Their fuzz is all gone and they are all feathers. They still cheep occasionally but they're starting to cluck and squawk. They've been doing really well in their coop. It's kind of hard to see in these pictures but they have a little hen house that Mark made from an old shed, and he made a fenced in area for them to run around and they have that little door with a ramp so they can go in and out as they like. The really cool thing about the ramp is it folds up and we can latch it closed so the chickens are safe at night. Since there's not much in the way of shade, we draped a tarp over one corner of the fence so they have a cooler place during the middle of the day. Give them feed and water and some table scraps and they're happy. And they're finally getting used to us. With the exception of the white ones (I call them the Foofy chickens), they're all starting to run up to the gate when they see someone coming because they know it means they're about to get a treat. The Foofy chickens are still pretty skittish but they're getting better.

Although a couple weekends ago I was in the front yard with Mira and heard a ton of squawking coming from the back yard. I thought that was suspicious so I ran back to see what was going on, thinking maybe the dogs or some stray cats were harassing the chickens. When I got back there, I saw one chicken clawing and flapping her way up the chain link fence, and another one standing on the roof of the hen house. I shooed them back into the pen and counted... 7 chickens. I got so scared for a minute. Where did the 8th one go?? Did we lose another one somehow?? I didn't see any feathers or a carcass in the back yard. I looked over the fence into our neighbor's back yard, and what do I see but one of the Foofy chickens strutting around all by herself! That was interesting to knock on the neighbor's door and say, "Ummm, I need to go into your back yard, one of our chickens escaped back there." I'm sure that was a new one for them. Anyway they were nice about it and I chased the chicken around back there but she was able to slip out into the front yard so I had to chase her around there, then she got back into the neighbor's back yard again, and finally I was able to corner her and tackle her. She did not appreciate that but I made some modifications to the pen and we haven't had any more escaped chickens. Yet, anyway. Mark of course wasn't at home when this happened and when I told him about it afterwards he responded with, "I thought chickens were supposed to be stupid!"

Here are some pictures of the chickens.

The crazy thing is in the couple of weeks or so since I've taken these pictures the chickens have gotten even bigger - it's like watching Mira grow up but even faster, if such a thing is possible! We still let the chickens out to wander in the whole back yard every so often and they still haven't figured out how to do something individually - they always go as a group.

Mira is growing like a weed! I've been wondering if she's been going through another growth spurt because she's tired all the time and constantly hungry and waking up hungry in the middle of the night again. Oh yeah, and those damn molars are still trying to work their way through. Yesterday she had her 15 month checkup (our pediatrician does things a little differently, instead of a 9-month and 12-month checkup he does 12 and 15 months to space out the immunizations a little bit) and in the 2 1/2 months since her last one she's grown 2 inches (up to 32 inches) and put on almost 3 more pounds (22 pounds 14 oz). Yikes! She's 51st percentile for weight and a whopping 91st percentile for length. Maybe that's why she's been so cranky, her bones hurt because they're stretching so fast! Her OFC is 17.7 inches, which puts her in the 25th percentile. So she's been holding steady as a tall, exactly average weight girl with a tiny head. Mark and I both have small heads so that's not surprising - and that part really was helpful when she was being born. :) She got more immunizations and of course she screamed while they were stabbing her but as soon as I picked her up and hugged her she was fine. And now unless something comes up she doesn't have to see the doctor again until she turns 2 or even 3 if I want to put it off that long. There's one booster she needs in there somewhere but we've got awhile before she needs to go in again. After the next one there's not another checkup until she starts school. That's so crazy, for the first year or so you're constantly bringing your baby in for checkups and immunizations and then all of a sudden you don't need to go in at all. At least the hard stuff gets done when they're too little to remember it. I think for that reason I'll take her in at 2 just to get that one booster done as soon as possible. And - no ear infection this time! Woohoo for a healthy baby again! I mentioned to the doctor that I'm always paranoid that something's wrong because of where I work. He reassured me that she was doing everything a kid her age should be doing - she's walking, she's active, she's jabbering, she's social and she's very curious, all good signs. I knew everything was fine, I just get worried and need to hear it from someone else.

As I mentioned, it's been getting pretty warm out here lately, highs in the 80s or even 90s a few times. Mira is getting a nice little farmer's tan going on because she LOVES going outside. One nice thing about living in a desert is it hardly ever rains so it is possible to take Mira outside pretty much every day without getting rained out. With summer around the corner - and since I'm always trying to find ways to keep this busy little girl occupied for some extended length of time - I got her a little wading pool. Luckily she likes this better than either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, especially if I leave the water out for awhile before I put her in it so it's not freezing cold.

Have toys and water, will play.

She also really likes to play with the garden hose. I'm not sure why but that's okay because our lawn has some dry patches so I just place the hose where it's dry and let her have fun.

She has a tendency to spray water in her face but she doesn't even cry about it. She gasps really big like she's surprised, then laughs. Hardly anything makes this girl sad! Everyone who meets her comments on how social and happy she is and asks if she's always like this, which she is.

Finally, some videos of her playing with the garden hose.