Moving Day

Today was moving day.

Yesterday, my incubator chicks turned 3 weeks old, and it became time for them to live life without supplemental heat in 90 degree weather.

My set-up is this.  There's a coop, attached to a run (fenced in yard for chickens).  The chickens have a little pop door that allows them to enter the run from the back of the coop.  Only, the adult chickens don't use the run anymore.  They use the front door and the wide outdoors. So, for little chicks to get accustomed to coop life and the like, i place a wire cage in the coop, with it's door facing the coop's pop door.  This way the little guys and girls can sleep inside the coop, but be protected from very large bully chickens, and they can go directly outside from their little pen.  It works very well.

So once i got the setup set up, i had to move the chicks from the brooder to the coop.

Before i show you this picture, i would like to assure you that no chicks were harmed in the production of this blog post.

O.k.  it was apparently a mistake to use a cage with holes that big, but i'm telling you that there was room in there for them.  But for some reason, they all piled to one side and started sticking their heads out the holes.

Thankfully, it was a short trip to their new home.  (Don't worry!  Their coop cage is much much much larger than their travel cage.  I promise!)

Here they are scoping out the yard from the pop door.

Here they are being brave enough to huddle under the pallet in fear.

The poor things are scared of everything.  I'm afraid i've sheltered them much too much.  To be fair, they did run around the run and scratch and eat as long as they didn't see me.  If they saw me coming, they would all run to the other side of the run.

Then, when it got dark, they all huddled next to the run's gate to sleep instead of going inside. Don't worry.  They are all safely tucked away inside the coop now.  I'm hoping they get the message about where home is.  It might take a few days.

One more picture.  

This is the adult chickens checking out their old home.  They just can't leave it alone.  Silly chickens.

One more thing, unrelated to my chickens (i know.  shocker.).

Tomorrow is Patriot Day.  The 9th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country and the horrifying deaths of thousands of Americans.

I have to admit that sometimes it's easy to become apathetic about 9/11.  I get tired of the repeated reminders every year.   I'm just being honest.  Maybe i have never really gotten past the shock.  My point is that even though 9/11/2001 had a lot of impact on my life and the lives of my fellow Americans, i still don't have anything intelligent to say about it.  But when i think about how that day felt for me - and how much worse it felt for so many others - i still feel a whirlwind of emotions i can't really put in words.

Thankfully, my friend, Kris, has put together a very nice memorial over on her blog, Kris Simply Living.  It's beautiful actually, and it moved me.  It helped me remember and inspired me to pray.  I hope you'll check it out.  And let this anniversary be a reminder to pray for our country.  That God would have His way in our nation.