A View From the Chick Tractor

Ok, yes, it's another post about chickens and turkeys.  I hope you aren't getting tired of my poultry posts. ;) I realize scrolling through my blog that they're kind of dominating the scene!  What can I say ~ I guess it's that time of year around here...

We've had some nice weather off and on, and the chicks are getting big enough to peck around the yard when the sun's shining.  So I built a small, simple chicken tractor last week with some help from our homeschooling neighbors.  It was a fun project, and we managed to get it put together pretty fast, using stuff we had lying around the yard - some boards, a few bamboo garden arches that we'd used for pea vines, and a section of black netting.  After a couple hours of hammering and stapling, the chicks were ready to get in and explore!

They're already bigger and more fully feathered than they were when these pictures were taken - I can't believe how fast they grow!  Emma and her friend Ginger spent a lot of time holding them, and named one of the Delawares 'Marshmallow' and the reddest Wyandotte 'Brownie.'  Ginger decided that it should be 'Gluten-Free Brownie' which had me cracking up.  As a kid I had never even heard of gluten, but everybody's talkin' bout it nowadays.  ;)

Here's Marshmallow, looking perfectly fluffy. :)

And what goes better with marshmallows than chocolate?

Enter the chocolate turkey!

Looking more like a dinosaur every day, but I still think it's pretty adorable.  We have two more chocolate poults now, and four bourbon reds, all in the house, soon to transfer out to the garage.  I'm really excited about the heritage turkeys and can't wait to share more pictures with you!