Chantecler Thread!

[RogerChicken]

Has he been pecked? See how it all changes as more feathers come in.
Nice chicks!
Mary

As far as I can tell, no one is pecking anyone else or otherwise any bullying going on, but yeah, I'll just keep an eye on them and see how it goes.

In other news, I'm starting to see some feathers come in on their chests.

And they figured out the new feeder pretty quickly, to no great surprise.

 

[bruceha2000]

Chickens are pretty smart when it comes to food

 

[RogerChicken]

30 April 2023 -- Week Four. Everyone's doing well. The heaviest of them (366 grams) is twice as heavy as the lightest (at 184 grams), with most of them coming in around 225 grams / one-half-pound.

Every once in a while a couple of them decide to get into a chest-bumping / neck-stretching act, but it's all pretty friendly so far.

Their bodies are feathering in pretty well; still looking fluffy on head, neck, wing-armpits, etc. It's nicely warm during the days here but there's still overnight lows of +6 C / 43 F which is a bit more than I feel like putting them into at this point.

 

[RogerChicken]

Quick update: had to buy another sack of medicated starter feed. The label says they should be on it for 42 days.

 

[Folly's place]

Chicks need amprolium medicated feed until two or three weeks after they are on your ground and in your coop, if there's a problem with coccidiosis at your coop. We are feeding it to our chicks this year, because (two years ago) our last batch of chicks did have issues with this parasite.
Mary

 

[RogerChicken]

Yeah, that's pretty much the plan. Thanks for your insight!

 

[RogerChicken]

7 May 2023 -- Week five. Moving day! Outside!!

Weather over the next two weeks is expected to be highs between 15C-27C and lows between 5C-12C. They've feathered in pretty well. And I moved over the heating pad for them.

Took them a couple hours to settle in, but they seem to be enjoying it now.

I expect to keep them enclosed in the coop for another week, and then out into the run after that.

I also banded them, which was a bit of an adventure, but it all worked out.

 

[RogerChicken]

Whew -- they all made it through their first night! A bit nerve-wracking, but this morning they were all huddled up, standing on their heating pad box, and seemed happy.

Possibly it's just the better light, but it looks like some of them are having some red colouring come into their tiny little combs. And every once in a while among all the chirps I'll hear something more like a cluck.

When the light hits some of them just right, a couple of them seem to have blue-grey eye colouring. Maybe they'll grow out of that too.

One of them is already up to 1 pound 3 ounces (538 grams) which seems like quite a lot at five weeks! So they're eating well.

Then it rained all day today, but it looks like the coop stayed dry, so I'm happy about that.

 

[RogerChicken]

Got the run finished up and opened the door between the coop and the run.

Turns out there's a good reason why they're not synonymous with bravery.

But eventually after a few hours a few of the bravest ones wandered out, and now it's been a couple days and they're all out there pretty regularly. Moving their food out there surely helped.

 

[bruceha2000]

Looks great.