Chicks sleeping butt up...

[chrispbrown27]

Well, the coop and run are done and tonight is the first night the birds will spend in it. They have been spending most of their days outside happily pecking in the grass and playing in the water (which the ducklings have decided is for them alone and the chickens and guineas have to sneak in to get a drink). I have been trying to determine the breeds of the unidentified chicks and so far can only identify two of them. One is definitely a Speckled Sussex, which I am glad of because the two sussex's I had specifically bought had died, and one that I thought was a Wyandotte is actually a Australorp, I guess I can live with that. The third bird is still unidentified. It is a beautiful young bird that at one time was the bully that had to be separated from the younger birds. She has a chestnut colored head with two darker colored dots on the side of her head and a mixture of black, white and brown colored feathers over much of her body. She also seems to be longer legged than the other chicks, standing very tall and proud when she walks around. I have looked through every website I can find showing pictures of chicks and have yet to see one that looks like her. She has recently began to enjoy being held and readily comes to my hand to see if I have any food (before she stayed away from me as much as possible). She also has a very loud voice....almost the sound of a song bird at this point...nothing like the other chicks voices. I will try to get a good picture of her tomorrow and post it up, but with the info given anyone wanna venture a guess on the breed?

 

[Classroom Chick]

I used a red heat lamp and that seemed to stop everyone from picking on one weak chick. I also mix a tiny bit of Gatorade into the weak chicks water after separating it from the others for 24 hours. That chick is doing fine after 24 hrs of personal space and a bit of TLC.

 

[shellyjimrye]

my coop is fully insulated however I am in Canada where the temperatures can be VERY chilly. I think that a well insulated and sealed coop is far better for chickens for they dont get damp or chilled. I havent ever heard of someone saying to NOT insulate as long as you cover it up and the birds cant get into it.