Well, the fat little chicks are now 3 weeks old, well 23 days to be exact! And they look HUGE! I was a bit late in weighing them. Should have done it Friday on their 3 week birthday!! lol . They were over their ideal weights for the past 2 weeks, but today they are spot on!

The record sheet says they should be between 190 and 210 gms, and all the ones I weighed are exactly that. The majority being dead on 200gms! They have lovely white wing feathers and tail feathers now (unless someone pecks the tails off, which they are still doing a bit, but not as bad as before!!!) and today I noticed that most of them have white downy bits on their heads too. I hang their lettuces onto garden canes jammed from one side of the shed to the other, and although the canes are over 2ft from the ground, they are using them as perches, but once you get 10 200gm chicks on a cane, it bends so much they all fall off!!!!! Everytime I open the shed door, the canes are on the floor! I don't want to hang too much from the ceiling in case it collapses!

In about 2 weeks time, they will outgrow their brooder sheds, so we will have to move them and now there are 297 instead of the 125 I was going to have, they will have to go into the big shed where I have my ex battery hens. Therefore sadly, I am re-homing the ex batts. I advertised on freecycle, hoping that I wouldn't get someone who was going to try to eat them, as they haven't any meat on them. Luckily I have been contacted by some lovely ladies. One came on Friday and collected 8 of them. She also keeps ex battery hens plus 4 pure breeds, and the girls are settling down nicely, apart from one who was quite thin when we caught her, but Jax said she will be okay with a bit more TLC!

Then another lady is coming tomorrow for 20 or so. She has a farmhouse where they do holidays for people with disabilities etc and keeps other ducks and rabbits. So they will have loads of room to wander with her too!

Then hubby has to extend the big house to accomodate all the chicks. That'll be interesting! Well, I'd better go and tuck them up for the night. Will add more news on Wednesday!