glen campbell blog: Watch Them Grow

The baby chicks are in a brooder box just outside the back door on the covered patio. Yes, they could be located in the barn, but I would miss so much! They have become our entertainment.....scurrying here and there......scratching the shavings.....then backing up to see what they have scratched.

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At 7 days old they no longer look like cotton balls with legs.....they have long necks now and you can see the tips of their wings beginning to grow.

They are eating and drinking more and spending more time away from their heat lamp.

They are very alert.......pecking the shavings and looking for bugs!

At 7 days old they are beginning to get wings and change their colors.

Here they are this chilly morning under the heat lamp......14 days old. They have doubled in size in the last week! They all have beautiful spotted feathers. There are 3 different breeds: Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington. They will all begin laying big, brown, beautiful eggs at 5 months of age.

While I watch the chicks grow I can also keep an eye on the State Fair Zinnia seeds planted in the kitchen garden window 2 weeks ago. The seeds were planted, watered and covered up.........I peeked under the cover on the 4th day and the seedlings were nearly 3 inches tall. Wow! I have never had anything germinate that quickly!

The tallest seedlings are 5 inches tall, with more pushing through the dirt each day. I have to start them indoors......or the birds will eat all the seeds before they can sprout!

State Fair Zinnias are BIG.......3 feet tall with a bloom nearly 5 inches across. They are prolific bloomers and I am enjoying the blooms well into October each year. They are hearty, very easy to grow and need very little care.

Gunnr is 2 years old.......and we have been watching him grow too. He loves water. His favorite part of the morning is helping fill up the baby chicks waterer.

He loves the hose and leaps into the air to try and catch the stream of water.