10 Week Hatch Day Update: Gerty

Gerty Girl is our chicken who knows how to chicken and when the sun is out she's so relaxed it looks as if her bones have melted away. Aside from sunbathing, this brown hen loves dust bathing and munching down grit to ensure her food it well digested. Her sisters often annoy her when they block her sun or dogpile around her in the adjacent sun, but she's good natured and shares the space (most the time).

Although she's still not sure about the swings, she loves walking up and down the ramp to the hut. The way she pauses and looks for an audience on the patio makes you think she's a model walking the runway. On occasion she also can be seen looking to the sky as if trying to figure out if she can escape, yet is typically one of the last to leave the coop if the door is held open.

Recently she has begun leading the chickie parade up to the hut for sleepy time. She also enjoys free-ranging around the back yard with the other girls, but gets very nervous when separated from them for very long. With the newly installed coop cameras (Chickie Daddy may have a problem) we can watch Gerty organize herself with her sisters, often sleeping in the bedding behind her sisters rather than on the roosting bars.

Gerty weighs in at 1 pounds and 10 ounces, and its been amazing to watch her grow. She was the first to develop a crop and also loves to chow down on anything green we give her (especially Hosta leaves and fresh grass.). While we still can't tell the pecking order its pretty clear she is a leader and not a follower!