Baby Chicks Arrived!

[Enchanted1s]

The babies are 9 weeks old today! And they are still sleeping in my grow room. I am getting closer on their coop / run, but it is still getting down in the 20's and teens at night.

This week their weights were all very, Very close to the same. All three seem happy and healthy.

Gracey - 28.5 oz.


Little Bit - 28.3 oz.


Buffey - 28.0 oz.

 

[ben0125]

peep peep

 

[Elmochook]

I think they will end up as house chickens. Lol no need to finish a coop that way .

 

[Enchanted1s]

I think they will end up as house chickens. Lol no need to finish a coop that way .

LOL - NOT! I need my grow room back! I haven't sprouted a seed in over a year - it's time. But, even when I do get the coop finished - it is still going to be below freezing at night

 

[Enchanted1s]

I think they will end up as house chickens. Lol no need to finish a coop that way .

Well... we did it! They are outside tonight - for their first night!

I decided the coop we are building is really big for three baby birds, so I built a removable wall to divide the coop into two sections. Remove the divider and it is one big coop. Tonight, they are in the back coop. It is supposed to be 32 degrees in the morning.

We don't have the roof on the building yet, so I temporarily covered the coop section with a piece of Solar Swimming pool cover. We didn't put them in until it was almost dark, so I didn't get a picture with the babies in the coop, but here is where they are tonight .

 

[Elmochook]

YAYYY!!! mine all still sleep in a pile on the floor under their nest boxes lol.

Yalls coop does look great though!

 

[April Barta]

That looks great!

 

[Enchanted1s]

They made it!! They are all three alive! It was 27 degrees this morning when we went to check on the babies and let the flock out. I don't think either of us humans slept much, but they seemed fine this morning. It is still pretty cold, so we gave them a bit of food and water inside the coop for now - we will let them out once it is above freezing.

Feel free to check out my other thread on the building of the coop - lots of pics of our slow progress... https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...p-me-do-it-right.1212953/page-6#post-19499896

 

[Enchanted1s]

I almost forgot - 10 weeks today! I did not get to weigh them, because I forgot until we came inside for the night. The babies are spending their third night outside! It has been a very mild week! Up to the 70's and lows in the low 30's. I still don't have a roof on the coop, but have it temporarily covered. We are trying to let them be chickens and be with the older ones, but we worry that they might hurt them! We have been letting them all be together when we are there to supervise. Rudy has some deadly looking spurs! He has never brought blood with any of them before, but he did chase Little Bit - twice. We were there with squirt bottle in hand. Here's their 10 week picture - this morning in their coop.

 

[Enchanted1s]

Well - I guess I should stop calling them babies now? I have been having much complications trying to figure out how to build their ramp / access to their new coop - after rebuilding it yesterday they were able to navigate it and go to their new coop by themselves tonight. The floor of the coop is 3 foot off of the ground - the wall of the building is only 3 feet from the door to the back coop. The first attempt was too steep. They were able to do it, but they had to be very cautious.

The building is still not done, but I have the nest boxes framed into the south wall. I added the roost or step bar across the front of what will be their nest boxes. They have to jump to their, but it leads to the now much less steep ramp to their back coop - they have to make a second leap to the ramp but it seems to be working for them.

They seem to already know that this is their home We did lock them in their pen today. We were gone all day. Still are not leaving them unsupervised with the older ones. Rudy, the rooster, hurt his leg or foot or something and has been hopping around on one leg. We locked him up in a separate cage for the day so he could try to rest it, but that is a whole new thread!

So - are we kicked off the Raising Baby Chicks area now?