April 5

Baby chicks are starting to flutter across the box.  Soon, probably by Monday, we'll need to put a cover of some sort on it. They've got the beginning of pin feathers at their shoulders and the down at their tails is sticking up at odd angles leading me to believe that there may be some tail feathers soon as well.  They are curious little things.

9 days old and they've got feathers!

Heading out to the car, Jedi looked at the box but readily came when called.  Coming back from school he looked at the box but had moved on before I had everything out of the car.  I let him outside to run around while I changed the chicks water and he did come and scratch at the garage door once but stopped immediately with a reprimand.  Did some training with him in the garage...he was definitely hungry, he was a little rough taking his treats, my response to that is a slight delay before the next command...well that let him get distracted about the box.  He took a couple steps towards it but was easily redirected.  He also looked towards it during one down/stay but otherwise was quite focused on me.  We did down/stay, sit/stay, jump over arm, touch, weave through legs, walk across a downed ladder, back up, stand, paws up, and shake. 

8pm  Jedi got his first good look at the chicks today.  We want to handle them more so that they become really friendly.  We brought his crate over next to the kitchen and stuffed his kongs with yummy stuff like turkey meat balls and cheese.  He went into the crate readily enough. 

Jedi watching the chicks with Caleb

Brought the chicks into the kitchen and sat on the floor with them.  They did pretty well.  Didn't try to run or fly away.  Scrambled around on our arms and legs and mostly just looked around.  When it gets warmer I want to take them outside where they can do a little exploring in a more chicken interesting environment.

Baby chicks perched on Caleb

Jedi got super excited when the chicks came in.  He sat up in his cage, his ears came forward and he started shaking and whining and scratching at the bars.  He didn't bark or lung at the bars or start chewing at the bars like he has when he was younger and excited.  Talking to him from three feet away, while holding chicks wasn't enough to calm him and his kongs no longer held any interest for him.  So I had Caleb take all three chicks for handling and I went and sat next to Jedi's crate and talked to him.  He laid down in his crate but still showed anxiety behaviors like yawning and licking his lips. His whines got quieter and finally quit and when he licked at his kong once I traded with Caleb and I held the chicks again.  He got excited again, sat up and restarted his whining but not his pawing at the crate.  I stayed with the chicks for a couple of minutes until his whining settled a little bit but he was still sitting up and focused on me and the chicks rather than Caleb and the cheese.  Then we switched again and once I had Jedi lying down and not whining and watching me instead of the chicks (would take pieces of cheese from my hands but still wouldn't touch the kongs) I had Caleb put the chicks away.  It took Jedi about 2-3 more minutes before he calmed completely down and turned his attention to the kongs.

They're so cute!

Let's just say, chickens are definitely very exciting for Jedi and we certainly have our work cut out for us before he'll be calm and safe around them.  But I think we're doing the right things...making sure both Jedi and the chicks are safe at all times and just doing lots of short sessions and trying to end them all positively so that we build up to good behaviors.  Sunday is box cleaning day again...we'll see if this experience makes it harder for Jedi to stay away from the chick box on the hearth or if he does as well again.  And we'll do more handling of the chicks on the floor where he can see them so that he gets used to them and calms down.

The chicks didn't seem to be too concerned about Jedi except when his whining got especially loud and agitated.  The rest of the time they mostly ignored him.