Big girls getting ready to fly the coop!

It's just a week since the last photo posted of the baby chicks, and they no longer look like babies. It is quite amazing to see how much they've grown in just the past few days.

Since the weather has been quite warm up here, I think we are going to move them outside this weekend. The problem will be integrating them into the rest of the flock. I think we will have to keep them in their little dog crate at night to keep them safe from predators, and at least in a fenced area during the day to keep them safe from their 1-year-old sistas and roo.

I can't wait to see the roo dance when he finally sees them for the first time. As ornery and obnoxious as he is, he is quite comical as well. That's the only thing keeping him from becoming dinner—he still makes me laugh. Well that, and the fact that neither one of us is capable of "making him dinner".

The gray one in the front on both photos is the one I am calling Brave One. She is always first to come see me when I open the door, and just recently will jump onto my hand and come out to sit with me. The only other one who has a name is Blondie, one of the red girls who had a very blonde head, but now that they're all almost redheads, I can barely pick her out.

UPDATE Saturday, 3/17: My Brave One was a little too brave today. After only one happy day outside in the sun, when I let the dogs out this afternoon, Lester immediately got to barking at the crate full of chicks. They went into a frenzy, and in the second that the Brave One poked her head through the crate, Lester got her. She is gone. I don't know how this integration of the babies into the flock is going to go. The other girls and Roo came out to see the chicks today and didn't seem to care, but I fear further issues will arise. And then there was that hawk circling above today...