And then there were none...

No more little peachicks.  I would think the cold and wet got to these last two, but that doesn't explain the deaths of the first three, which were sheltered in the coop.  Ah, well, there's always next year...

And then there were two ...

Out of five peachicks, we have two left.  The raccoons didn't get them, but something about the coop isn't beneficial for peachicks, I guess, because over the course of a week three of them died.  So, today, I opened the door and let them out.

First the peahen looked out; she then got her two chicks to jump up onto the step, and she joined them.  After looking around outside, she flew down; the chicks stayed up on the step, huddled in the doorway, while she checked everything out outside.  After a while, one chick flew down to her, and she helped it find some bugs (I assume) to eat.  I was waiting for the other chick to fly down, when the other peahen and the peacock showed up.  The mother peahen was very protective of her chicks, and chased the peahen away.  The peacock saw this, and stayed away (smart guy!).  Finally the other chick flew down to his mother, and they all started scratching around.  I spent a very enjoyable half hour, watching them.