Everybody's doing great! I decided on Geronimo for our little boy's name. He just has that cannon-ball attitude. 

We've been doing more field trips/putting them in the outside brooder during the day, which they like. The grass has really been helpful for Una's balance. She's a pretty confident walker now. Also, something interesting I found yesterday when I was checking them over for mites: they have wing claws. Like dinosaurs. Hmm. Never had that happen before -you learn something new every day, I guess.

Anyway, pictures say it the best, so here:

The only reason they still fit in one hand is because Una's so chill.

She jumped up all by herself! (Less impressive for Geronimo. I can already tell I'll have to clip his wings to keep him from visiting the neighbors.)

Balance is good enough to perch on my hand. Solves my worries about roosting at night, if she ever feels the need to do that.

I thought you might be interested in a foot picture. This is the "top" of the "foot," with 3 toes (2 are fused together). The other side has a sort of heel which is where it rests on the ground. Her "palm" is weird, has neither scales nor feathers and is a slick dark green color. We haven't had any problems with it seeming to hurt, which I've been concerned about as she grows.

Finally, a video:

All is well in Chickenville, lol. Maybe not the human side as I've been sick the last couple days, but the chicks are doing fine.

The toes on her little stump foot do not move. They don't seem to have joints at all. As for the wing claws, I'd show you a pic, but they're too tiny! They are on what's called the alula, a sort of vestigial thumb that flying birds use to make sharp turns and steep dives. Google "alula on bird wing" images and you'll see what I'm talking about. Bird nerd lecture aside, they won't interfere with the wing trimming. 

The doggy door idea is hilarious! Unfortunately, it's not in Una's future. She will be an outdoor chicken, as in my experience chickens are always happier and healthier outside where there's bugs and grass (and fewer choking hazards). If she could go in and out as she pleased, that would be ideal, but I have concerns about her ability to stay safe from local predators: coyotes, owls, and my neighbors' enormous outside cat with a violent criminal record. (That cat would kill my toy poodle given the chance.)

Una will probably be housed with my two silkies. They are also vulnerable (can't fly, & the fluff partly blocks their vision), so they have an all-enclosed coop. Silkies also have a reputation for being quite tolerant of differences/disabilities in chickens, and Una's part bantam, so she'll be more their size than my giant Buff Orpington ladies.

Alright, I'll quit ranting now and show you some pics. 

This is the outside brooder, it's actually a repurposed compost bin. They much prefer it to the cardboard box inside, because of the grass and the windows. It has a lid to keep the cat out (and Geronimo in). 

I actually got Geronimo to stand still long enough for a picture. He was off the table before I could take another, though.

Here's our lovely Una. She tends to droop her wing a little more on that side, and uses it for balance. The feathers on her back are coming in quite dark, and her breast feathers are mostly white. So far she looks more like her two aunts than her mum. Her hopping has become quite strategic. Sometimes I can see her thinking, gauging if she can make a certain jump or figuring out a route to get across the yard with rest points. If you look close you can see Geronimo's foot above her as he's mid-jump. 

Snuggling. I have worried about them establishing a pecking order lately, because I've been letting them out in the yard while supervised. With chickens, any time you let young ones into a large space than before, there's usually a bit of fighting and jockeying to see who gets to be the boss of that space. Geronimo being a young roo with a very active personality, I worried he'd be aggressive towards Una, but he hasn't. Actually, the only time he sits down is to snuggle with her, and he never even seems to notice that she's different. It's very sweet.

Una is very mellow, gentle, and curious. Geronimo is curious on a more hyperactive level. Both of them are major snugglers and their favorite thing is being held. They are also very smart, friendly, and of course gorgeous. (Ok, I may be a little biased.)

Sorry for the long post. This is turning out to be my way of tracking their progress, and also I have never taken notes on myself raising chicks before. I always learn the most from the special-needs ones, but never so much as this time, I think. So glad we kept her.

ADVANCE WARNING: super long post. I keep apologizing and then they get longer. 

Oh heck yes, Jerry! Haven't had time to read that whole study, but everything I've skimmed, I definitely agree with. They hit the nail on the head when they said, "Unlike many other birds, chickens are categorized as a commodity, devoid of authenticity as a real animal..." Chickens are the joke of the animal world, to humans.

My boss told me about a bunch of teenage roosters they adopted once. She couldn't get them to eat. They'd been raised in the house, so they'd walk in if you left the door open. One day, my boss had a pizza box sitting on the counter, and they made a beeline for it. Sure enough, every time she had pizza the chickens would head for the box to scavenge the leftovers. So she tried to feed them chicken food in a pizza box, and the chickens were horribly offended by that trick.

And I know of a hen that went blind that was free ranged in a large field and had trouble finding the water, food, roost, etc. So the owner put everything the hen needed in one corner and strung wires about a foot off the ground, radiating outward like sun rays from that corner. The chicken quickly learned with no training that if she followed one of the wires, it would lead her to the food and water. She never had problems after that.

Even with Geronimo and Una you can see their personalities. For example, Geronimo likes neck scratchies while Una definitely prefers being stroked on the head. Geronimo likes high spots while Una likes nooks she can nestle into. While they both like sitting on my lap, Geronimo likes being grabbed and squished while Una would rather choose her own spot to settle. And they are very smart -especially Una. She can't scratch herself, so she'll watch Geronimo doing it and dart in to get bugs and goodies before he sees them.

Sorry for the essay...you just found one of my fav subjects and I've been told far too often that it's "just a dumb chicken." 

Anyway, we had some great adventures today. They are in the "explorer stage" as I like to call it. Una's mobility is improving by leaps and bounds. In fact, I was trying to take a picture of her on a table, but she didn't like the surface, so she jumped onto my arm. Then she jumped off and landed 4-5 feet away and DID NOT FALL, then ran back over for cuddles. I was very impressed. 

Almost too big to hold in one hand. Their head feathers come in next, so they won't look like babies for long. And their eyes have turned green, the intermediate from black to orange.

I'm annoyed that it cut her head off in this one, but it's a neat look at her leg. She tends to turn it inwards for balance.

Field trip to an empty garden bed. Una let Geronimo do the scratching and then grabbed tidbits before he saw them. Still all-white feathers on that boy. I'm expecting him to have some black and gray marks like one of our old roos from the same father did, but either way he's gonna be a handsome fella. Una looks like her grandmother. I'm always curious as to how mutt babies will turn out.

For all their adventuring, they are still babies and like to be cuddled up somewhere safe. Under my knee does the trick.

Finally, a new video: