Chicks...

Well, the great chick adventure has taken a disappointing turn. On Friday, we were ready to move the chicks outside, and boy was I glad. John set up a temporary coop for them to stay in for a little while - they need to be bigger before they can move in with the older chickens. The weather outside was gorgeous and they now had room to move about and fly a little. We were all very excited.

But, unfortunately, tragedy struck on their first night out. I guess the temporary coop was a little too temporary, and we were perhaps too optimistic about their survival. Some animal was able to break into the coop and caused a little bit of a ruckus. When John went to check on them in the morning, four of the five chicks were just gone. The remaining chick, who we call Top Hat (she's of the "top hat" variety - weren't we clever with the name?) was outside the coop, hunkered down nearby. She's the one you see in the last picture with the funny feathers on her head. We couldn't find the others, but we didn't find any remains either - so maybe another one or two will come wandering back. I'm sure they'll come along any minute, along with Franny... we're holding our breath.