Chicks at 2 weeks

The chicks are now 2 weeks old. They are growing fast, and we decided to open up the top level of the chicken coop a few days ago so they would have more room to run.



Today we uncovered the ladder leading downstairs. Twelve of the chickens eventually came down.

Orange Alert

I don't usually talk about work, but I heard something funny last week.

While transcribing dictations, I often hear background noise and announcements over the PA system. On this particular day, I heard the following sequence.

"Code orange on the ground floor. Code orange on the ground floor."

Not knowing exactly what "code orange" was, I did a quick search on the internet and found this definition: Hospital message announced over a hospital's public address system warning the staff of 1. a bomb threat 2. a radioactive spill 3. person with mental issues is loose in the halls of the hospital.

I didn't give it much thought and kept typing.

Then 3 minutes later, "Code orange on the 3rd floor. Code orange on the 3rd floor."

And a few minutes after that, "Code orange on the 7th floor. Code orange on the 7th floor."

Somehow it brought to mind the Keystone Kops.

New Chicks

Here is a picture of the trap left by the Fish and Game Department. It didn't catch anything after a week of being out in the backyard, and now it is gone. But so far we haven't had any more visits by either the cat or the javelinas, and all is well with the 4 chickens that we have left.

So... we decided to start all over again. Here are the new baby chicks - 26 Black Star chickens and 1 exotic chicken, which we think is a Buff Cochin.



They make wonderful little peeping noises all the time without ever opening their beaks. It's so cute.



Sometimes they get pasty butts when they are first born, and this has to be cleaned off. I let Paul do that.