New Zealand Life

Gemstones

Ever since I’ve seen chickens, I’ve loved them. I would admire, hold and pet any chickens I could. So, for my 14th birthday, my parents got me five chicks and a two-story, two-suite hen apartment for my birthday present (see video link page). My mom and I picked up my gold- and silver-laced Wyandotte chicks the day before my birthday. I decided to name them after gems and granted them the names Citron, Tanzanite, Amethyst, Pearl, and Jasper.

July 17, 2012
When we picked the chicks up, they were already five days old (they were born on July 13th, 2012), and I got a certificate with all their information on it. We brought them home and immediately put them in the sun, and placed a hot water bottle wrapped in a cloth into their black box. All the animals were very interested in the new fuzzy family members. Jaynee gave the little balls of fluff kisses and Jess regarded them distantly (probably afraid they’d start following her around like my ducklings had), and Callie thought we’d brought her home new, living tows for her to destroy!

July 18, 2012
Everyone is all settled in. The chicks have a non-stop routine: eat & drink, poop & prune, sleep, eat & drink… etc. Callie sits nest to their box nearly the whole day like a sentinel. She’s tried to climb on the box’s lid a couple of times which scares my chicks nearly to death. Jess has already lost complete interest in the little chirping bird in the house, and Jaynee is mildly interested in the new animals in the house.

July 23, 2012
Today, my chickettes got some treats—a worm and some bread! They were hilarious when they got the worm. At first, they were all running away from it like it had a plague, and then one got it in its beak and starting running around with it in its mouth like Chicken Little, when he’s screaming “The sky is falling!” All four other chicks then started pecking at Tanzanite (who had the worm) and made such a loud commotion that mom thought Callie had gotten in the box! Then, later on, they did the same with the bread! I held out a piece of bread and they all starting pecking at it. Then, Citron got a big piece and ran around with it as if he was screaming to the world that he’d won the Lottery.

~ Juli@ ~