Sniffly Chicks

Not too much to report today - it was pretty cold and rainy so we spent the morning doing some errands and then organizing the house. We've been here a week and we hadn't even unpacked our suitcases yet! The house is looking more organized now. 

Later in the afternoon we went out to bring the horses in and give them (and the cows) some hay. We went to check the greenhouse and it was nice and warm so we ended up staying in there for a bit and planting some lettuce (a mesclun mustard mix and romaine), arugula and shallot sets that we got today. We checked the weather and it shouldn't go down past 2 degrees tonight so we'll chance it and leave the tomatoes and other potted seedlings in there tonight. 

We got some garden bird netting ($8 for 12' x 12') to use for the top of the chicken runs - hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow so we can finish those and do the rest of the mulching in the orchard (we didn't put enough mulch down the first time...oops!).

The feed store had oxy-tetra (oxytetracycline hydrochloride) antibiotics in stock today for the chicks. About half of them are occasionally snuffly so I think it's better to be proactive before it gets any worse. We'll use if for 5 days or until the symptoms go away. We also got some apple cider vinegar to add to their water (supposed to have a variety of benefits for them). 

One of the little Rhode Island Reds...possibly the cause of all of this snuffling!

Zebra Head is HUGE. Look at her compared to lil' red!

Magpie (...I'm not naming them or anything) is still tiny and agile.

 She always goes up on the platform now. I don't even think the platform would support Zebra Head and the other meat birds...

Zebra Head taking a rest after eating...before eating some more. And then pooping. And then eating some more.

One of the Light Sussex chicks. This one always comes out and sits on my arm.

Brave lil' red.