They grow up so fast!

Our little boy is growing up - well, to some degree anyway.

Now that Fizz has gone through his first moult, his feathers have grown back even more abundantly than before.  He also seems to have put on weight, so his little body is bulkier than it was.  But it's more than that.   He seems to have an authority about him that simply didn't exist earlier in the year. 

For instance when I let the chickens out the other morning, Punk and Pom-Pom had a lie in.  Nothing unusual there, they usually do.   But Fizz checked out the girls in the run, realised he was two short, and went back inside the coop.  First he chased Punk out, then he went back and unceremoniously made Pom-Pom get up too.   Neither of them were terribly impressed, but they did as they were told.  

Last week Fizz finally realised that Pom-Pom has taken to sleeping on the cage door at dusk (we have to physically put her inside the coop every single night).   That put him in a quandary.  He has a responsibility for all his chickens, but he can't be everywhere at once.   So he has taken to sleeping on the roof of the coop occasionally, because he can keep an eye on Pom-Pom from there.   Mostly, though, he sleeps inside.

In fact sometimes he leads the way in!  One day last week it rained nearly all the time.   The flock spent a miserable day sheltering in the cage area, keeping nice and dry - but bored to tears.   When I sloshed down in the late afternoon, I couldn't see Fizz anywhere, which was a bit worrying.   Finally, I checked inside the coop and there he was, fast asleep.   Well I suppose all that responsibility must be very tiring!

A different view of the world!