Everyone needs something cheerful on Monday morning.

Let us start with a good portrait of Mad Mel the Magnificent!

He is still wooing the girl chickens, who find him slightly frightening.

Here is wee Merlin, the Old English Game banty, being all friendly. He (all baby chickens are assumed “he” until they lay me an egg) was making googly eyes at me so I offered him my hand to perch on; before I knew it he’d gone right up my arm.

Here’s Galahad, Guenivere, and Arthur sunbathing together:

Steph asked about chicken coops but unfortunately I don’t have great pics of any right now. The big chickens live in a coop that’s about 6′ x 6′ x 15′, covered with 1/4″ x 1/4″ hardware cloth. We plan to build them an extension later this summer. Bantytown is 8′ x 8′ x 16′ and has 1/4″ x 1/4″ hardware cloth for the bottom section, and the rest is covered with chicken wire. With the seven adults in there, it’s big enough for them to separate into two miniflocks. The miniflocks can come together peaceably to eat out of the feeder or drink, but they tend to hang out separately for preening, foraging, and napping. Bantytown is not quite complete, they have a Very Nice House coming, hopefully this week, which we will assemble for them to give them nest boxes, and perches and official digs. It will be outside the run, we plan on framing a “window” in the wire and attaching that to the front of the house. Bantytown also features a pile of former baby pine trees as a sight break/shelter area. There’s 4 roosters in there, and they need space and ways to get away from each other. They currently have a large rubbermaid tub lined with straw for shelter which will go away when the nice house gets here.

I do however have a pic of the grow-out pen! Daniel made this himself from scrap lumber and hardware cloth remnants, figuring it out as he went along. Currently it’s housing a 6 week old Black Copper Marans roo that I’m holding for Christine. Once she picks him up on Wednesday, we’ll move the grow-out pen into Bantytown, and then move the OEGs in there at least during the day. That will give the flock a chance to look at them, and them a chance to look at the flock, without anyone getting beaten up. It will also give the babies a chance to forage in something more interesting than shredded aspen bedding. When the OEGs are big enough to hold their own (chicken social life can be violent) then we’ll remove the grow-out pen and let them integrate with the flock.

Anyhoo, grow-out pen!

And for the finale — we haven’t gotten the roof on Bantytown yet (that’s a project for next weekend I suspect!) so here’s the view if you lie on your back amid the tiny chickens and look up:

Oh my god, you guys. There is nothing cuter than baby chickens first thing int he morning.

Anyway, here we go. Pics!

Baby silkies! I am starting to be able to tell them apart. They will be hilarious balls of floof even as adults. I have decided to name them after the seven demons who were associated with the seven deadly sins: Lucifer, Mammon, Asmodeus, Leviathan, Beelzebub, Amon, and Belphegor.

Here’s a close-up of my favorite, who is actually darker than he appears here (He’s the black one in the above pic):

Here’s the baby Old English Game bantams, who are also in the house right now — I want to give them a little more time to grow up before I stick them outside to deal with the King of Bantytown:

The two brown ones are a color called “partridge” and the other color is called “crele”. It’s really gorgeous, the stripes are grey on his back but brown on his breast. Anyway, the darkest partridge one is Annaham, and the crele one is Merlin.

The adults are outside enjoying Bantytown. First up, the King of Bantytown — when we turned everyone loose, he immediately went and intimidated everyone else into admitting he was top roo.

The King and his Queen, who are Mystery Chickens I bought as a pair. The King is feather-legged and the color pattern doesn’t match anything I’ve read about, and also I forgot to take notes when I bought them. I picked them up because every time I stopped at their cage at the swap, the King made eyes at me. Anyway, we’re pretty sure they are Arthur and Guenivere.

While I was bent over trying to get pics of King Arthur, I felt something on my back…

This is Galahad, a gold-laced Sebright roo. As you can see, he is very friendly and not at all alarmed about human beings.

The girl in front with the stars on her feathers is Morgan le Fay, behind her is Isolde, preening. Morgan is a purebred Serama hen, Isolde is a Sebright/Serama cross.

Percival on the left, Tristan on the right. They’re both young Sebright/Serama crosses.

More chicken pics as weather allows, I need to get some good ones of Mad Mel the Magnificent. But here’s the one I took with my cell phone after picking him up:

Isn’t he fantastic? Mad Mel the Magnificent is a Showgirl roo. Showgirls are a cross between silkies and naked-neck Turkens. I have desperately wanted one since I found out they existed. I may get him a large silkie hen or two later, but for now he’s in with Lorena, Matilda, Bebelina, and Ayinnanku.