Colorado

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Any one know a feed store in the springs area selling chicks today? Would like to go look at some fluffies.. I swear I wont impulse buy..

x2 Pozees

Not that I know of. Big R doesn't, I know that.

 

[Pozees]

Well we finally got the shed sided. Started getting colder, we know there is a potential "snow event" which is predicted to bring very little precip but lots of cold temps, so we cleaned up and called it a day.

Came in to find the pipped lavender had hatched

There is a porcelain pipped that I'm waiting on, and hoping for more pips still, but now I'm not sure I should move them into a brooder this afternoon, for sure not until the lavender dries off, and I hate to lift the lid if more are in the process but the first hatches are at about 24 hours. I know they can go 48 hours before I move them, and I may just wait until I get home tomorrow afternoon to move them.

Pic of the shed as of this afternoon:

 

[Dnetschke]

    x2 Pozees

Not that I know of.  Big R doesn't, I know that.

X3 it is futile!

 

[Dnetschke]

Well we finally got the shed sided. Started getting colder, we know there is a potential "snow event" which is predicted to bring very little precip but lots of cold temps, so we cleaned up and called it a day. Came in to find the pipped lavender had hatched There is a porcelain pipped that I'm waiting on, and hoping for more pips still, but now I'm not sure I should move them into a brooder this afternoon, for sure not until the lavender dries off, and I hate to lift the lid if more are in the process but the first hatches are at about 24 hours. I know they can go 48 hours before I move them, and I may just wait until I get home tomorrow afternoon to move them. Pic of the shed as of this afternoon:

Looks great!

 

[suncatcher]

I think the hardest part of raising chicks, and even started birds or adults, is that some simply don't make it. It is a reality of poultry keeping. Sometimes we can figure out, or think we have, what happened, and sometimes they just die for reasons we can't determine. I recently had the smallest Speckled Sussex in our laying flock die - just found her dead in the coop one day. We called her Runt, but honestly, by the time they were about 4 months old they were close enough in size that it was hard to tell which was which, except that she had a slightly wry tail. She foraged, dove into her food, competed for apple pieces every afternoon, but a day before I found her dead I picked her up and noticed she felt lighter than her sisters. I made a mental note to pay closer attention to how much she was eating when they all came down the ramp in the morning the next time I was here after sunup, and the next day she was dead. She had no other obvious sign of anything being wrong - I could not detect a stuck egg, no trauma, no parasites, she just died. The others seem fine. This happened before the new chicks arrived, so it wasn't a contamination issue.

I will note I have read elsewhere on this site and others, that there are keepers of many years who say they have never lost birds in this way. Whether this is unusually good fortune, a superior eye for sending less than perfect birds to freezer camp ahead of their natural demise, or the unrevealed exception to the statement, the common experience among poultry keepers is that occasionally we lose chicks and birds, and we don't like it, and sometimes it makes us wonder whether we really want to be poultry keepers after all, and there is no wrong answer to that question. The answer is very specific to the individual and those with whom one shares a home.

I say this now only because we are starting chick season, we have seen losses among those of us who have chicks already, and it's kind of a reality check for some. Whether raised by us or others, some chicks are not going to live to adulthood. It is rarely 100% the fault of the raiser. We do what we can to support healthy growth and hope for the best. New ideas come up here all the time that may make the difference for chicks that are teetering on the edge, but for the most part they are darned stout. Yesterday I picked up a white leghorn chick and the growth she shows in 6 days is phenomenal - and that is typical for most chicks.

So I would like to leave you with this: it is natural to regret losses, and it's fine to go over what you think you did right and wrong, but unless you intentionally failed to supply warmth, food, and water, don't spend time blaming yourself. Learn and move forward. If the losses are more than you can bear, maybe you aren't meant to be a chicken keeper after all, and that's fine too. You have learned something new about yourself.

All of life is learning.

Wise words! And so true

 

[suncatcher]

Thanks. It was the one who looked so happy just drinking her water.
Quote: So sorry! Here;s hoping the rest do well!

 

[suncatcher]

Any one know a feed store in the springs area selling chicks today? Would like to go look at some fluffies.. I swear I wont impulse buy..

Any one know a feed store in the springs area selling chicks today? Would like to go look at some fluffies.. I swear I wont impulse buy.

I can see we may have to do an intervention with Adam soon! Maybe we can get some hollywood producer to film it!

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

I can see we may have to do an intervention with Adam soon!  Maybe we can get some hollywood producer to film it! 

Or just be enablers...

Did I mention I am getting a shipment of chicks in this week?

 

[ktmikal]

Any one know a feed store in the springs area selling chicks today? Would like to go look at some fluffies.. I swear I wont impulse buy..

Big R in Falcon said that they will get some in the first week of March when I was in there about a week ago. My friend told me that a feed store in Monument has some. Circle B maybe?? It might be worth checking out. Good luck!

 

[Pozees]

I am the Great Hemmer and Hawer LOL

I decided I had better move chicks into the brooder in case we get snow tonight, so I bundled the four down there. Snapped a pic, then observed for a while, and decided the lavender was just not ready, and feared I would find a Silkie pancake in the morning, so brought him back up to the incubator. In the pic the two white are together, the blue/splash is behind them, and the lavender is to the left by itself, it is the darkest one. Have another lavender pip in the incubator. Hoping two more chicks hatch from the two pipped, and would be excessively happy if even more hatch or start.