Bucka Roo got to meet his little babies this week. It was pretty cool. We borrowed a dog crate for a little while from the friends up the road and we wanted to give the little Bucka Roo 5 a chance to get to see what the outside is like, but in baby steps. I read somewhere that it’s nice to give them a week to sort of learn about the outside without just plopping them out without much to do. Like hardening them off, like veggies or flowers!

We’ve taken them outside a couple times but this was the first time. We brought them out in a carrier and then pulled up lawn chairs to watch. Of course, Bucka and his posse came running over to see what was up. They wanted treats first, of course, but then were puzzled… what the heck was in the little cage? Maggie told me that she’s never seen a chicken think so hard! Haha… she’s right. Bucka walked around and looked and looked, his head cocked this way and that way like he was at the chicken zoo. He didn’t attack them or act to oddly, just watched and observed them with a slightly puzzled look. He then turned back to us with this sort of weird look… “Am I supposed to watch them too?” He just wasn’t sure.

The odd thing, is that two of the ladies most likely to be their mothers due to their proficiency in laying eggs, strolled right up and were checking out the chicks. They too, did a lot of thinking. Watching and touching beaks with the babies that were brave enough. Maggie asked me if they knew they were their babies. I don’t know. Probably not. Did they know they were babies? Just any babies? Yeah, I think so. I think most animals recognize the young of their species even if they haven’t seen many. The ladies were gentle with the babies, and I know if they had been full grown hens, there would have been some squawking and pecking and all that going on. So, yeah, I think they know they are babies, someone’s babies.

Of course, if you are out in our middle yard, you will be visited by sheep. The ewe gang will not let an opportunity for scratches and treats go unchecked. Lilly was the first over, imagine that, and she walked right over to the chick pen to check it out. Poor little chicks, they took one look at the HUGE thing and went to the farthest corner of the pen! Sheep are BIG when you’re six inches tall. Of course, Lilly snuffled them a bit, looked at us with this, “what more?” look and then proceeded to demand massage from Maggie.

“Oh I come from Alabama with a sheep ewe on my knee!!!!!”

Okay, but the funniest moment was when the sheep had moved off to graze nearby and Maggie was laying in the grass looking at clouds and I was sitting and watching the little chicks peck at grass and walk around funny, trying to look for bugs. All the sudden I hear Maggie giggling and I turn to find Lilly standing right over her, staring down at her face and her giggling, trying to figure out why the HECK this human was laying on the ground, her ground. I so wish I had my camera ready, it was so funny. Lilac was nearby as well and they were just so puzzled. I tried to get the shot but they froliced off too quickly! It was funny though, Maggie said they had cracker breath!

Speaking of sheep treats… we scored big at the bread store outlet! 50 loaves for $5. They call it bird bread, but in reality, it’s just bread that has expired. That day. And they pull it off the racks and slice the bag with a little knife and give it to you, 10 loaves for a dollar. Fancy bread, too. Some of it is pretty smashed and well, just plain old bread. We use it for the chickens and the sheep as treats and well, hey, to supplement and stretch our fancy feed. But I always go through and pick out the really fancy expensive loaves of wheat and oat and potato bread, pop a piece of tape on the little slash and into the freezer it goes. We got 7 really nice loaves for us and 43 for the farm critters. Why not?

We’re hoping to get the little chicks out to the barn in another week or so. We’ll see how it all goes! We moved the meat chicks out to the little coop this week as well… but that’s another story!!!