the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Yippee, a tray of mud!

Our French Copper Black Marans, successfully hatched from eBay eggs, are now nearly a month old. They've been living outside for a week now, and have settled in well.

We just wish they would learn to go to bed - they come down their ladder in the morning, and can often be found upstairs having a siesta in the afternoon, but when night falls they all huddle together downstairs shivering! They're very tame and queue up to be lifted into the top of their ark, but it's a pain in the backside.

Last weekend R gave them a dust bath - a seed tray full of earth - and this is how they reacted:

Chicks dust bathing from asmallholder on Vimeo.

They love it! It's amazing what an instinct they have for dust-bathing and scratching and how quickly they display it when even only a few weeks old.