Update: New Chicks

The chicks are growing! They are adorable.

The mother hen isn't too pleased when I get close, but she's not as defensive as some hens we've had. I'm guessing it's because Quin helped raise her as a chick when he was only 2.

This is a photo from 19 July. It's usually much harder to get close to a hen that has chicks!

Another photo from 19 July. I love going out to the barn and hearing their peeping!

I took a few more photos on 26 July. They are starting to get more feathers, but they are still cheeping. They aren't very hard to catch, either. Mama hen doesn't like it, but she doesn't come after me when I pick them up.

One of our sweet neighbors decided that they really didn't have time to have turkeys right now so they gave them to us. The hen has been laying eggs in the horse feeder almost every day.
Another one of my favorite sounds is listening to the turkeys gobble. These two aren't as friendly as the last batch that we had, but they are getting used to us and know we're the ones that set out the feed, so they don't run away quite as fast as they used to.

Three of our neighbors have lost birds this year. The neighbor to the south lost all four of her hens. Both neighbors across the street have lost four or more hens each. And a neighbor to the north has lost hens.

We lost one of the turkeys, two ducks, and three ducklings.

One neighbor suspects a family of raccoons is living nearby in one of the unused barns. They must not like the smell of our dogs so we haven't lost any birds (so far) that are housed inside the chicken pen, or inside the barn.

I'm hoping it stays that way!