After a year and a half wait, the time is finally here!

I have been reading this form for about a year and a half now just dreaming of the day I could own chickens!

We purchased our home back in May and had all sorts of new home owning drama, we finally are able to start with chickens! We went out and bought 12 little chicks yesterday!

















I'm sure more are in my future but these are going to get us started and then we may buy some other breeds as these guys get a little older

I stalked the peeps on here for awhile before I joined too

AWW! They're so fwuffy!! I need baby chicks so bad....

That's great! What breeds are they?

Nothing better than new babies -- so glad the day has finally come for you!
You may find they kick a lot of bedding into the feed and water station -- one thing that can help with that is to elevate them to where the lip is at chest level for the chicks (and raise it as they grow) - this can be done by using paver stones or other objects that provide a stable base. It can help to move them to the far end of the brooder, too, so that they are in the "cool zone". Have you got a larger brooder you'll be upgrading to? You'll find these little ones will grow surprisingly fast.

It's hard to tell who's more excited about the baby chicks, you or your child. I've been at this ten years, and I still get excited over getting chicks.

As Grey Mare pointed out, chicks grow incredibly fast, doubling in size each week during the first couple months. Your chicks will be demanding a coop and run in four weeks or five weeks. Are you ready?

azygous said:

It's hard to tell who's more excited about the baby chicks, you or your child. I've been at this ten years, and I still get excited over getting chicks.

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LOL - you and me both --- I am oh-so-anxiously chomping at the bit to be able to go buy this year's chicks......

PeepersMama said:

I stalked the peeps on here for awhile before I joined too

AWW! They're so fwuffy!!

I need baby chicks so bad....

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Stalking was the best way to learn!

thlynch3 said:

That's great! What breeds are they?

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That is a great question. I can't tell them apart now and I can't remember a two types but I have but here's the list of what I have:

Laced Wyandottes
Buff Orphingtons
Black Sex link
Barred Rock

I want to say two others were another variety of wyandottes and the other 2 dark babies I can't remember what they were for the life of me.

Ol Grey Mare said:

Nothing better than new babies -- so glad the day has finally come for you!
You may find they kick a lot of bedding into the feed and water station -- one thing that can help with that is to elevate them to where the lip is at chest level for the chicks (and raise it as they grow) - this can be done by using paver stones or other objects that provide a stable base. It can help to move them to the far end of the brooder, too, so that they are in the "cool zone". Have you got a larger brooder you'll be upgrading to? You'll find these little ones will grow surprisingly fast.

Click to expand...

I'm trying to find a good way to raise it now that's stable. I definitely don't want it falling over on anyone, I think I have some thinner paver stones that would work temporarily, I'll have to look tomorrow after work. For now we are just cleaning out the water 3-4 times a day. I did move it to the other side and it has helped significantly

I do have bigger areas they'll be going to. This was actually a temporary fix until I could prep something bigger. A big rabbit cage just happened to be in the garage. I have a few different cages I plan to use including a big 6ftx6ft dog kennel I'll have them in before they go into their coop. The chicks were a little bit of an impulse buy, we had planned to get some this spring just not quite yet and we happened to be near a store and well I'm sure you know the rest

azygous said:

It's hard to tell who's more excited about the baby chicks, you or your child. I've been at this ten years, and I still get excited over getting chicks.

As Grey Mare pointed out, chicks grow incredibly fast, doubling in size each week during the first couple months. Your chicks will be demanding a coop and run in four weeks or five weeks. Are you ready?

Click to expand...

I think I am way more excited, although my oldest son really likes his chickens! I'm hoping at least 1-2 stay super tame because he loves animals

We do have bigger grow out pens ready, this was just our temporary fix until we get the bigger brooders set up. It also keeps them a little easier to manage while they're tiny We actually moved to a house with a HUGE coop and pretty big run. The coop is bigger than some of the rooms in our home LOL! I just need to do a little clearing in the run and put up some better fencing. We have huskies (they stay in our home or fenced in another area of the property but we want to husky proof it just in case) and we saw coyotes in a field near us so I want to make it much sturdier and dig proof

We are actually debating splitting the coop in half depending on how this batch goes.

Hi,
Do have the kids wash their hands every time they hold the chicks. that's a great way to prevent salmonella.
Best,
Karen

MissMonty said:

Stalking was the best way to learn!


That is a great question. I can't tell them apart now and I can't remember a two types but I have but here's the list of what I have:

Laced Wyandottes
Buff Orphingtons
Black Sex link
Barred Rock

I want to say two others were another variety of wyandottes and the other 2 dark babies I can't remember what they were for the life of me.

I'm trying to find a good way to raise it now that's stable. I definitely don't want it falling over on anyone, I think I have some thinner paver stones that would work temporarily, I'll have to look tomorrow after work. For now we are just cleaning out the water 3-4 times a day. I did move it to the other side and it has helped significantly

I do have bigger areas they'll be going to. This was actually a temporary fix until I could prep something bigger. A big rabbit cage just happened to be in the garage. I have a few different cages I plan to use including a big 6ftx6ft dog kennel I'll have them in before they go into their coop. The chicks were a little bit of an impulse buy, we had planned to get some this spring just not quite yet and we happened to be near a store and well I'm sure you know the rest


I think I am way more excited, although my oldest son really likes his chickens! I'm hoping at least 1-2 stay super tame because he loves animals

We do have bigger grow out pens ready, this was just our temporary fix until we get the bigger brooders set up. It also keeps them a little easier to manage while they're tiny We actually moved to a house with a HUGE coop and pretty big run. The coop is bigger than some of the rooms in our home LOL! I just need to do a little clearing in the run and put up some better fencing. We have huskies (they stay in our home or fenced in another area of the property but we want to husky proof it just in case) and we saw coyotes in a field near us so I want to make it much sturdier and dig proof

We are actually debating splitting the coop in half depending on how this batch goes.

Click to expand...

It is!

Hmmm... lemme see... the one in the second pic is a buff orp, the one on the boy's lap is a black sex-link, and the last one is a dotte. I really want to say that there are some red sex-links in the first pic.... the dark ginger-red ones.
You can tell the barred rocks apart from the BSLs by the white head spot. Rocks have it, sex-links don't.

If you want them to be like "super mega ultra tame" put on a big sweatshirt and let them sleep in the sleeve. Me and sis did that when the EE babies got sick (or were just being weird) and now they think that were are their actual mother they all come begging for cuddles every single day, especially if they get pecked

Splitting the coop in half might be a good idea. Depending on where you live, if it gets really cold in the winter, a smaller space is way easier for the chickens to stay warm in.

It seems as if everyone else is handling giving you the great advice so... Congratulations! I remember how excited I was when I got my first chicks! (I was surprised too! I didn't know my 4-H club ordered them to come in so soon!!)

Enjoy the peeps while they're little: they grow up so fast