chicks arrived last week

25 healthy baby birds are now running around in this amazingly cool brooder that built:

they’re darling.

Here’s a little brown auracauna, who will grow up to look like the hen in my icon:

and an assortment of black stars and barred rocks:

the green stuff is an electrolyte hydration compound called Gro-Gel that is supposed to be quite helpful. certainly the birds like it.

and our borrowed goats have entirely solved the problem of the dog being lonely & barking at night. in spite of lots of ruminant cuteness–and obstinacy–this weekend, i failed to take any more photos, so you get the wednesday night arrival goat photo: