Nature is the wonder of the world. Today, Maria moved the chickens into the parlor, by a window and under a heat lamp and in a big plastic tub that softens the photographs.

They are different every day. Their wings are becoming defined, their sight sharper, their awareness keener. They are starting to look like chickens.

We need to keep them contained for at least another month. Bud wants to eat them, so do many predators, including the older hens.

Maria’s exquisite taste is apparent in this movie. No more smelly cardboard boxes, just a tub for them to see out of, a bright light to keep them warm, a woven piece of carpet to lie above them, painted coasters to keep the lid down.

You can’t do much better than be Maria’s chicks. I am having much fun with them, singing to them, holding mealworms in my hands, even touching them on the heads, which they seem to like.

It is fascinating to watch the beautiful way in which nature does its work.

I think Kittie and Annie and I will be friends.