Bigern26's chick journal ***Chicks are here update

[bruceha2000]

Looks like the ones that made it through are doing well!

I wonder what crosses Meyer uses to make their EEs. 2 of mine are pretty similar, the third is distinctly NOT similar. Your 3 look all different and they are different from mine. Here are some pictures I took today, they are 24 days old, hatched on June 8th.

There is part of a Black Australorp in the first picture




and part of a White Rock in this picture.



They don't stand still for pictures very well.

 

[bigern26]

2 of my EE's are the same, the dark brown ones with the tufts under the eyes. The third is totally different. That is the one my daughter names Guido LOL.

 

[bigern26]

Chicks are growing well. Here are some more pics.
In 2 days they will be 4 weeks.

My little camera hog Hennrietta

Tamma Lamma is really dark compared to the other 2 RIR'S

Here is Guido

Matilda

Poopy Butt

 

[bruceha2000]

Been 2 weeks since your last update, how are the chicks doing? My (couple of days older) chicks are doing well though I don't think Zorra and the "aunties" who are raising them taught them a useful lesson today. They were all out when it started to drizzle, then it started to rain hard. Instead of heading to the barn when it started they were hiding under a big spruce behind the house and the picnic table near it. Not smart enough to get out of the rain.

I don't know where the phrase "madder than a wet hen" came from. I had 3 wet hens and 7 wet 6 week old chicks but they didn't seem mad.

On the plus side a woodchuck decided to come out of it's hole before the rain got hard. Zorra and one of the other hens took after it and flogged it good as it ran back to its hole.

 

[bigern26]

Sorry its been a while, been busy with the coop and work. Thanks for the reminder.

To start off here are some pics of the coop from start to where i am now. I do still have to get more windows and figure out some more venting.
Started off as a garage. I split it and half is coop the other have will be rabbits and feed storage.

 

[bigern26]

 

[bigern26]

I put in the two windows toward the run and i made a cable system so they open and close from the outside of the building. The pop doors open by cable from the inside.

Here are some pics of the girls. These ones are form about a week ago.

Here are some pics from yesterday and today

 

[bruceha2000]

Looking good Ern! And you even have an aquarium so the chickens have "TV"

Are those white ones the meaties? Some SERIOUS legs on one of them.

I hope you have nice rock free ground. Those post hole diggers are great, until they hit the smallest of rocks. We had to do something about our mailbox this past weekend. It and the neighbors' (across the street) are side by side and are posts in old rusting (but painted!) milk cans. Came with the house don't ya know. Anyway, every time they grade the road they end up shoving them back some and they tilt back some more. And they add stone now and then. So our box was about 10" lower and a foot back from the road than the mail carrier said it should be. The neighbor's was worse. Since my wife is a post office clerk (not our town) she's pretty sure once they give you a fix-it notice, no mail will be put in the box after the "fix by date" (which is today). So to the point - She thought maybe we should break out the post hole digger (like yours) and replace the can with a "post and braced support" thing which is typical. In the immortal phrase from "Tool Time" I don't THINK so Tim! (though her name is Janet). NO WAY I'm going to try to post hole dig in that stuff. Might as well just get a PO box and spend the next 10 years going to the PO every day or three. We thought about putting a post on the other side of the driveway since the ground before it is pretty flat (the carrier won't drop a wheel or 2 like they could in the current location) but I gather the other thing the PO doesn't like is "extra stops" so unless my neighbor moved his to the same place, the PO might get testy about that. So we dug out our can and shoved some of the road in the hole and put the can in the "right" place. I also raised the box on the post with a REAL 2x6 so it is now the right height. Called the neighbor to see if he wanted us to do his as well. He is a really nice guy but loves his privacy and has a dog I once drove to near attack by just going up the driveway so I'm not going over. The neighbor has serious shoulder issues and he shouldn't be messing with heavy stuff like this. But I didn't hear back so I only "kinda" messed with his box. It is still low and a foot too far from the road but at least it is level. Having only one box moved actually makes the carrier's job harder since our box comes first and now he has to reach even farther to get to my neighbor's box.

 

[bigern26]

Yes the white ones are the meaties. All the birds will be 6 weeks on Wednesday.
Those Cornish X's really grow fast.

I know what you mean about digging in rocks, I have had to before. The worst part about my yard is all the clay. It becomes a pain to dig through that.