I ordered 25 Dark Cornish male chicks from Ideal hatchery last week. I'll use them to cross with my Buffs for meat chickens. They hatched and shipped out this Wednesday, Oct. 10 with an anticipated delivery date of today, Friday, Oct. 12. Last night, the temps here dipped down into the low 40's. Not wanting the babies to get chilled any more than they had to, at 5:00 AM this morning I went to the post office and picked them up!
After a rather bad experience earlier this year with another hatchery, I really expected to find at least one dead chick in the bunch. But, there wasn't!! Ideal sent 26 chicks and I am proud to say that they are ALL very much ALIVE!!!!!!!! As are most any baby chicks, they are cute as a button!! They are extremely healthy looking, very active, and very loud!!
I made sure that each one got a good drink of water as I counted them and put them in the brooder box. Immediately afterward, each one got an extra drink or two! It was only a few seconds before the first ones found the feed and began pecking at it! The rest soon followed suit! I just checked on them and they are eating, drinking, peeping, running, and playing all over the brooder box!!!!
Can you tell that I'm excited??? I'm worse than a young child who has just found out that Santa has left everything that he asked for!!!
Here's some pics of them:
26 healthy, hungry babies:
My dog, Skipper trying to figure out how such little guys could make soooo much racket!! He makes a pretty good "Moma" for all our animals. Shhhh... don't anyone tell him that he's a male!!
While they are out of town for a few days, we are babysitting my Mom & Dad's dog Brandy. He decides to come over and see if he can help Skipper figure out what all the ruckus is about!
Happy babies in their new home with its corn cob floor:
"Belly up to the bar, boys.... drinks are on me!!
If you notice, the therm says it's 100 degrees. I did that just until the new guys had a chance to get good and warm. The temp is now back down to 90 degrees like it should be, and everyone is happy as a lark!! Also, if you look close, you can see two chicks that are darker and are much smaller than the Cornish. Those are my two Mille Fleurs that hatched out on Monday! Though half the size of them, they seem to hold their own pretty well with the Cornish... tough little buggers!
Alright, I've bored everyone enough with my "proud papa" pics. I think I'll go take a nap (not accustomed to getting up so early)! Then, spend the rest of the day watching and playing with my new chicks!!
Robert
After a rather bad experience earlier this year with another hatchery, I really expected to find at least one dead chick in the bunch. But, there wasn't!! Ideal sent 26 chicks and I am proud to say that they are ALL very much ALIVE!!!!!!!! As are most any baby chicks, they are cute as a button!! They are extremely healthy looking, very active, and very loud!!
I made sure that each one got a good drink of water as I counted them and put them in the brooder box. Immediately afterward, each one got an extra drink or two! It was only a few seconds before the first ones found the feed and began pecking at it! The rest soon followed suit! I just checked on them and they are eating, drinking, peeping, running, and playing all over the brooder box!!!!
Can you tell that I'm excited??? I'm worse than a young child who has just found out that Santa has left everything that he asked for!!!
Here's some pics of them:
26 healthy, hungry babies:
My dog, Skipper trying to figure out how such little guys could make soooo much racket!! He makes a pretty good "Moma" for all our animals. Shhhh... don't anyone tell him that he's a male!!
While they are out of town for a few days, we are babysitting my Mom & Dad's dog Brandy. He decides to come over and see if he can help Skipper figure out what all the ruckus is about!
Happy babies in their new home with its corn cob floor:
"Belly up to the bar, boys.... drinks are on me!!
If you notice, the therm says it's 100 degrees. I did that just until the new guys had a chance to get good and warm. The temp is now back down to 90 degrees like it should be, and everyone is happy as a lark!! Also, if you look close, you can see two chicks that are darker and are much smaller than the Cornish. Those are my two Mille Fleurs that hatched out on Monday! Though half the size of them, they seem to hold their own pretty well with the Cornish... tough little buggers!
Alright, I've bored everyone enough with my "proud papa" pics. I think I'll go take a nap (not accustomed to getting up so early)! Then, spend the rest of the day watching and playing with my new chicks!!
Robert
