EGGCITED!! Ordered my babies yesterday!

[realsis]

Hi friends! I am so excited I feel like a expectant mother!! I got my babies ordered yesterday!! SADLY my order is so small (5) I have a hatch date of April 11th. For the birds safety I have to wait. I only PRAYERS they all arrive healthy and Alive!! I'm embarking on a NEW adventure with these little ones as I've ONLY raised and have silkies. This time around I ordered 5 Barred Rock females. ( MY hubby's favorite breed).If anyone of you have barred rocks what are their personality like? are they friendly? gentle? calm? Silkies are so loving and gentle I hope these are too!!I just wanted to share with ya'all about my up coming babies! I even counted back and marked on the calendar when the eggs will be set into the incubator! it's my FIRST time ordering from Murray Hatchery and I hope all goes smoothly. I opted-in on getting them vaccinated for Mareks. only a dollar each! in the past I've vaccinated my own chicks for Mareks by ordering the vaccine. it sure is a lot cheaper having it done!! Anyhow, thanks for letting me share!! I can't hardly wait!!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and congrats on your impending additions! Dunno about breeds as i live in kenya and specific breeds (apart from commercial meat and laying birds) are very hard to come by.

I agree with you totally about paying for vaccines - in fact, I'm looking to expand my flock and did some calculations and concluded that buying 4 week old chicks works out cheaper than buying fertile eggs and vaccinating the chicks!

All the best!

CT

 

[Halloweengirl13]

I know the feeling, I have 3 orders shipping from Ideal on the 8th this month and I can't wait...ducklings, sebrights and d'uccles.... I am getting the brooder set up so it's ready when they get here...

 

[Lukedawg]

I have had 20 barred rocks and they were great!! I ended up taking 15 of them for meat and lost 3 to a dog and the last two were THE BEST DANG ROOSTERS I HAVE EVER HAD!!! Absolutely great at being in charge and being smart wise and they are the type that would sacrafise themselves for the flock!!
Good birds loved them!!!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Congratulations!
I have 2 BR girls. They are like the previous poster stated a "take charge" bird, mine are friendly, chatty and calm. They are not pushovers by any means, so I think you would want to make sure you have a good introductory period if you are going to put them with silkies.
One of mine started laying at 23wks, the other at 25wks. nice brown eggs, and consistent.
I think you will like them.

 

[realsis]

Thank you for the reply. I know they are going to be Twice as big as my little Silkies. My silkies are so calm and docile. I was planning on making the introduction after they are out of the brooder. what I was planning to do was make a separation in the run with chicken wire so they can see each other and get used to each other. At night I was going to put the babies back in the brooder not the Hens house.but have the brooder in the run.DO you think that will work out? I'm so excited I just PRAY it all goes well!! They sure are pretty birds and adorable babies!! They can't get here quick enough for me!!

 

[Blooie]

Since you have an existing flock and new babies coming, might I make a suggestion to make integration go easier? Brood your Littles out in the coop in full sight of the Bigs! Partition off part of the coop (or the run if it's secure and sheltered from winds and rain) and put small doors in a couple of sides of it. @azygous does this with her chicks and it's amazing - I've been brooding chicks outdoors in with the Bigs and I'm unashamedly copying her "portals" in my setup this year. I'll need to see if I can find her photos of the portals and either steal them and post them here or just edit this post with a direct link. As they get older, this makes it so easy to integrate them - just open the doors. They know where "home" is and if they get spooked, they hightail it back in - the Bigs can't follow them in. Until this year, I just wired the door to their pen open just large enough for them to get back in, but not large enough for the Bigs to get in. Using this, I had full integration by the time they were 4 weeks old. It's also good for them, because they learn so much about being chickens from watching the big girls! I won't raise chicks any other way.

Getting your chicks in April should make brooding them outside foolproof, especially in California. I'm in Northern Wyoming and I raise them out in the run even when our temps are in the teens and twenties. I use Mama Heating Pad for brooding.

@Ridgerunner also broods outdoors and he uses a heat lamp rather than a heating pad. As soon as they are dry and he knows they are healthy, his go right from the incubator to the brooder in the coop, again regardless of the weather.

Naturally I'm partial to Mama Heating Pad, but either method is highly successful and just makes integration almost flawless! Good luck with your new babies! Here are a couple of links for you until I find the one of @azygous portals.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

 

[Lukedawg]

Sure that sounds good I just have a small bottomless cage that I move into the run during the day with the hens around it and the babies inside it so there is fencing between them but can still feel free to roam around the cage and inspect without them getting stressed over changing any part of the hens normal routine. Then the more used to them they get I open up the cage and supervise play time till I see no adverse effect and then into the hen house from there with sporadic check ups!

 

[Blooie]

That's sort of along the lines of what we do, but we don't have to move the chicks in and out all of the time. That constant moving can sometimes stress chicks out, and it's kinda a pain in the hiney, so just putting them out there and letting them do what comes naturally is so much easier on the adults, the chicks, and the people!

I did find a link on the Mama Heating Pad thread to the portals. I know there's better ones out there, but I've got so cotton pickin' much going to today I haven't really taken the time to do a search for them. In the middle photo on @azygous 's post, you can see a portal door open to the main coop.

And then I forgot the link. <sigh>

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ooder-picture-heavy-update/1470#post_15759752

 

[realsis]

That's sort of along the lines of what we do, but we don't have to move the chicks in and out all of the time. That constant moving can sometimes stress chicks out, and it's kinda a pain in the hiney, so just putting them out there and letting them do what comes naturally is so much easier on the adults, the chicks, and the people! I did find a link on the Mama Heating Pad thread to the portals. I know there's better ones out there, but I've got so cotton pickin' much going to today I haven't really taken the time to do a search for them. In the middle photo on @azygous 's post, you can see a portal door open to the main coop. And then I forgot the link. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...ooder-picture-heavy-update/1470#post_15759752

That's really Great the set up your have there and the heating pad is AWSOME!!! I just have A traditional tub with a caged top if needed and one of those large metal reflective lights with a very large red heating lamp. This year I bought a adjustable heat lamp stand because it was IMPOSSIBLE to adjust the lamp otherwise where the babies will be started at(the laundry room) May I ask, do you put newly hatched on the heat pad as well? it sure is a lot nicer than fussing with the red heat light trying to get the temp correct. I've raised babies before but they were slightly older, still on the lamp but not just hatched. This is my first go with just hatched chicks. I read it needs to be 90degrees or so on the warm side of the brooder for day 1. ? Maybe I'm worrying too much??