One Week Old...and some Food Stuffs...

What a busy day yesterday was!  The girls are a week old now!  Well, since they were 2-3 days old when I got them, they're just over a week old, but since I don't know the "exact" hatch date, I figure it's easier to go with the day I got them.  Yesterday the temp got lowered in the brooder, it's now 91 degrees (though at the moment, it's registering at 94)...next week I'll lower it to around 85. :)

Yesterday the girls got a few "treats" for the occasion, besides the lowered heat!  First, they got a little diced up egg (even a little white)...this I shared from my lunch of Egg Salad.  I took a little video of them getting the bits of egg, I even chopped up the smallest amount of a Cilantro stems...something them won't get as adults because it'll make the eggs taste "off", lol.

Don't mind me talking in the background...Gertrude really likes to grab hold of the healing blood blister on my index finger and see if she can pull it off!  Once I got Gerty moved to the side of my finger that isn't injured (or at least where she can't see anything like a freckle...), things went much smoother!  They only got about 1/4 of an egg, probably less, but they took their time finishing it so I think it was just the right amount!  Somewhere around 1:05, Clyde cleans her beak on the paper towel...I don't know why, but this always amuses the heck out of me!



(L-R) Clyde, Henrietta, & Gertrude!



Last night, I also rearranged their brooder a little.  They've started "flying" around the brooder!  Mostly they just flap their wings really hard and get an inch or two off the ground, but it's so dang cute!  So, I added a roost of sorts for them to play on too.  I went out to the leftover pile of Sumac branches (left by the guy I sold them to) and pulled out a piece that's about an inch thick and short enough to fit inside the brooder box.  They were terrified of it at first, as chickens will be of "new" things, but this morning they were playing all over it!  It's only a half an inch or so above the pine shavings, but they are having a lot of fun playing "Queen of the hill" on it, lol.  They actually knock each other off of it so that they are the only one on it!  The branch is close to 2 feet long, but they all want the same spot, lol.



Henri!



Gerty!



They've all "caught up" growth wise...Henrietta is still a little smaller than the other two, but I'm not as worried about it anymore.  Everyone is growing in wing and tail feathers!

This morning I was able to grab a little video of the girls doing their daily routine...which is pretty much "eat, sleep, poop" still.  But, they have added in flying lessons which are a blast to watch!  I also caught a little "poopy dance" (0:08)!  I was talking about it yesterday at my basket weaving class...all three of them do a little dance when they poo, I don't know if other chickens do it, but mine do!  They hold their wings out a little, fluff them up a bit, and do this little backwards shuffle until the poo comes out!  Then they go back to whatever they were doing prior.  I laugh every time I see them do it!  It also has made things easier to spot who was having the runs...turned out to be nothing to worry about though.  The one I caught in the video isn't nearly as elaborate as they usually are, but funny to see none the less!  Towards the end (1:42 or so), Clyde got in a good "flight", she went from one end of the brooder to the other, crashing into the feeder!  I guess I'm going to have to set up a larger play pen for them somehow, lol.

A low carb lunch for 1!  On Wednesday's I have to eat my lunch a little early because I leave for my class when I normally eat.  Egg Salad sounded so good yesterday, so I made a little.  This time around, I used a little Mayo, a little Yellow Mustard, Salt & Pepper, and I added in a little Cilantro (I have a bunch that's starting to turn on me).  It turned out pretty tasty!  I piled my salad mix into a couple of Romaine leaves, which I pulled the ribs off of.  To make little "pockets", I held the tails of the lettuce together with some clothes pins (plastic ones would work better)...it's what I had handy!  To go with the Salad, I had a Milk Chocolate Atkins Shake and one piece each of the Sugar Free York Peppermint Patties and Sugar Free Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!  The whole meal was a whopping 3.5g Net Carbs and I even "snuck in" some Foundation Veggies!

More Veggies at dinner time, but not as many as I could have had...I made Hot Dogs for dinner (Ball Park for my other half and Nathan's for me...both brands are 1g Carb per dog).  To go with mine, I made a fresh Guacamole!  I know it sounds weird, but I discovered this gem of a combo last year (while not low-carbing)!  I had planned on Guacamole Burgers, only to discover we had no hamburgers!  So, I made hot dogs and didn't want to "waste" the Guacamole I had already made.  For the low-carber in me...these will be awesome this Summer on Oopsie Hot Dog buns (which I have yet to make)!  Last night's Guac (as all Guac's in my house turn out a little different) was 1/2 a Haas Avocado, roughly 1/4 c of small diced Roma Tomato, a little Garlic (I buy the big tub of minced at Costco and just reached in for a finger full), Salt & Pepper, more Cilantro (it's going bad, remember?), and a good squirt of Lime juice (maybe 1 teaspoon)!  I mashed it pretty well, so no large chunks of Avocado in this one...I knew I would be using it as a dip rather than a topping.  The picture I took of it was over 30 minutes after I had made it!  Actually, now that I think about it, it sat uncovered in the fridge for more than 30 minutes...  But, it was still a bright green color!  I am now sold on using Lime as opposed to Lemon juice in my Guacamole!  The other half of the avocado is still not browning in my fridge this morning!  No more Lemon in this girl's Guac, that's for sure!

In my basket weaving class yesterday, we started our third basket.  It's pretty, using round reed and Sea grass, but it is taking forever to make!  Good thing we have another week to work on it, lol.  I brought home a little extra material so I could work on it, but I didn't bring home nearly enough to finish it!  I'll take pictures when it's done...I really like the shape of this one...my list of items to buy is getting longer at every class, lol.  I think I may forgo the $40 savings on the microscope for now and get basket making supplies...I really want to get a few baskets done by mid-April!

I need to run to the store again today...we're out of cream and I need some for two dinners this week (Bacon & Pea Carbonara & Mac & Cheese), as well as the morning coffee!  I also want to go to Home Depot and pick up a 50 pound sack of play sand for the chicks...to dust bathe in as well as to start  working on a sandbox for them in the chicken run.  As it is now, the floor of the run is all River Rock...not good for chickens to take a dust bath in!  I'm considering just getting one of those turtle shaped kid's sandboxes...Sears has a little one on their website (not sold in Spokane or surrounding areas) for $24!  It holds 150 pounds of sand...that would be 3 bags (sold at Home Depot for under $4 a bag), that would be a fairly cheap "fix"... and it has a lid so I could cover up the sand when the wind gets to really blowing!  I also need a Staple Gun and staples for the Chicken run...almost time to get the wire mesh up!