CHICKS TURNING INTO LITTLE HENS HERE AT THE URBAN FARM

HELLO & welcome to Garden Daddy here at the urban farm! Every day when I go to feed and give fresh water and morning dry oatmeal to the little chicks here at the urban farm I see a difference. Today I realized I almost have little hens now. They are really taking on the characteristics of hens and less and less like little chicks. They are fluttering all over the brooder and I have put a tree limb in the brooder and they are even sitting on it and often taking naps during the day there. They are eating and drinking very well and the feathering is replacing the little down they had at arrival.
I often go out and sit on a bale of hay beside the brooder and "chicky-chicky-chicky" to them and talk to them and tell them to eat well and grow big and fast and that one day soon they will start earning their keep! They enjoy daily dust baths in a tray of sawdust I provide them and today I added a 2nd water fount as I cannot keep the original one filled fast enough for those thirsty "girls".

There is one little pullet by the way, a little Buff Orpington who is really starting to fill out and get some buff colored REAL feathers instead of her little yellow downy ones, who is already acting a little motherly and broody to some of the smaller and younger ones. She often sits close to the heat lamp and then fluffs out her incoming feathers and opens up her little wings and then lets some of the other smaller brood mates come in around her and she tries to drawn them in to her like a real mother hen. This might be good and might be bad in case she is already prone to "go broody" on a regular basis. But the person who I got my newest arrivals from last Saturday, the Cuckoo Marans, has said if I get broody hens in the future she would be happy to provide a few hatching eggs for them to set on. She said they are just as happy with 2 or 3 as they are 12 or thirteen. So that is a possibility for the both of us. I get to resolve future broodiness and she gets some good incubation and chick raising and then I get some future egg layers and she can get the roosters back! Or I might just swap, trade or sell the chicks at one of the poultry club meets of something.

Since I cannot have a rooster along with my little hens here at the urban farm in the City of Jackson, TN. I have added my own version next to the hen house and not only has it added interest but a burst of color as well, just as a live one would in any barnyard. My neighbors are loving the addition and it brings a little light and life to the understory area of my pine trees.

I thought I would add that I completed the planting of the vegetable patch here at the urban farm with the addition of a row of "Black Beauty" eggplant. I purchased seeds this year as none of the plants I saw have been that great and the ones that were good were the Japanese variety that are long and slender and I do not care for those. They are not that great when trying to put on the gas grill outside, in the "Foreman" grill machine or even in a casserole but of course that is strictly this Garden Daddy's opinion.

I will leave you today with our gardening affirmation in mind for your pondering: "URBAN FARMING: ONE EGG AT A TIME!"