Chilly again and a new chicken field trip

Today I find myself again wearing long underwear under my jeans and a layering of shirts to keep the chill away. Why is it so damn cold?! As I sit here, more than a little grouchy, waiting and wishing for the springlike weather to return, I thought I'd post a few pictures from a softer, warmer, sunnier time: last week. Here, a few pictures of my girls enjoying their first journey into the grass...
Aerial shot (with mole hill):

Here I am being given "the eye". As in, why are you out there and we are in here:

Pretty much here, too:

But then they started to venture out a bit and explore:

I climbed in and sat down with them and they seemed to enjoy hanging out on my knees. This is Lacey the Barred Rock:

This is Pippi (short for Pip-Squeak (formerly Spot), named by my girlfriend's daughter, Sophia). Pippi is a White-Crested Black Polish:

And my girl, Sparrow, formerly an Araucana (per the feed store), now an Ameraucana (per me, as she has tail feathers):

Sparrow looks like she's about to do a somersault, but really she's just paying close attention to her personal hygiene:

This is one of the Rhode Island Red girls, Ruby. She's assuming the crouch position for a potential hawk attack. It turned out to be a bi-plane way up in the sky:

Please refrain from commenting on the red hat and purple tank combo I've got going on. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Let's focus, instead, on the cute little boids climbing on me:

Roxy, my pup, was very intent on watching the little ladies. I'm hoping she will become more of a "herder" as time goes on, and less of a "lunger". The chicks don't much care for the lunging:

This is our current transportation method to and from the brooder box. It's neither graceful nor pretty, but it works:


My girls turned 5 weeks old yesterday! Hopefully, by the end of this weekend, they will make the transition to their new coop outside.