Blizzard!  The chickens went outside only in short bursts today, then when the wind blew, in they went.  We have about a foot of snow so far and lots of wind but as long as the power stays on,

the chickens will be warm. 

 Good news, the hens decided to leave Trouble's feet alone (long story, they were picking on his feet).  I think between using vetwrap and their new interest in snow made the difference.

Inside, the Sunshine and the chicks are nice and warm, and growing!  Here's Lulu and mom.

And here's Sunny and mom.  Yes, Sunny is a lot bigger than Lulu, we're thinking Sunny might be a little rooster.  They are both getting more feathers every day, they have nice wings now and love to play on Sunshine's back and run and flap their wings.  Their songs are so pretty!

The chicks are doing great!  They're so cute!  Sunshine taught them both to eat and drink and they are now roaming the brooding box with mom, then diving under her for a quick nap. 

Lulu discovered it's so much fun to climb on mom!  Lulu is tiny, she (or he, then the name will become Louie) came out of the smaller egg and was the first to hatch.  She looks like a Buff Silkie chick.  It's hard to tell by the pictures, but Sunshine is a very small bantam hen, Lulu's body is about the size of a walnut.

 

They BOTH HATCHED!!!  They are soooo cute!!! 

 

Here's Chick #2, it hatched during the night.  They are both dry and fluffy and peeking out of momma's feathers every now and then.  Momma Sunshine makes a noise and out they come peeping back.  So cute!  They look like Buff and Partridge Silkie chicks.

 

Sunshine is a MOM!!!  The first egg was pipping at 6 pm and hatched out by 9:30 pm.  We moved Sunshine, her chick and egg into the house to the brooder box tonight when we got home from church.  The little chick is so tiny it looks like a baby bird!  Sunshine is a buff orpington bantam, and she's a small one, the eggs weren't very big either.  The other egg is pipping and peeping now at 11:30 pm and we're hoping to see a second chick by morning. 

The little chick is hard to see beside her, but it looks like it'll have the silkie dark skin (our rooster is a silkie) and has tannish fuzz with a speckle on it's head.  It's very adventurous already and it's so cute to hear Sunshine talking to it! 

Sunshine's Eggs are on DAY 18 and THEY ARE PEEPING!!!  She was out of the box eating and mom heard peeping and discovered the eggs were peeping!  Once Sunshine heard them, she went right back and layed on them.  We are about 1-3 days away from hatching!! 

Trouble (Mr. Rooster) got injured yesterday.  He had scrapes on his feet and had some foot feathers pulled out or broken off.  So, like chickens do, the rest were pecking at him.  We brought him in, cleaned him up, put good stuff on his feet and sent him back out.  But, the hens wouldn't leave him alone, so we brought him back in, cleaned him up again and now he's in a dog kennel in the coop until his feet heal.  Poor rooster . . .