mommahen10, so cute! I just love chick pics!
maindenwolf, I just use pine shavings, normally, and never had any trouble. The chicks will pick at the shavings and that kind of makes me nervous so this time I put a layer of paper towels on top of the shavings and that made me feel better. It's really not necessary but I say, if it makes you feel better, go for it! I'm actually really liking HEChicken's suggestion about the towels. It seems so much less resource intensive since you can just wash the old bath towels and use them again. I may just try that for the next batch of chicks. I do agree that chicks who go out earlier are hardier. I've kept mine in the brooder way too long just because I enjoy having them up close and personal for a longer period. I honestly think they are healthier when they go out earlier.
I use towels quite often for chicks or ones that need special attention. I have about a half dozen cheap white towels that I just wash and reuse. I bought the lowest price ones I could find and I use those for my animals regardless of what for.
I sure enjoyed having everyone over who came yesterday. It was fun to meet WichitaKidd and Sunflower, along with Sunflower's friend, R. She was just delightful and I'm so glad you brought her, Sunflower. It was great to see the "usual suspects" again also. Hawkeye, your DD is such a treasure. I could tell she had been taught how to handle chicks properly and loved seeing how much she loved the chicks. Danz tested some of Hawkeye's birds and I'd never seen that done before so that was interesting. We picked up some new tips for keeping the humidity up during lockdown. There were also birds being picked up and dropped off, kind of like a mini swap-meet! The food was really yummy (thanks everyone)! Anyway, thanks to everyone for coming. I truly enjoyed it.
That wasn't a typical testing. Silkies are so much harder because of the dark skin and excess feathers. I promise when I do yours it will be much faster.
Danz, I'm so sorry to hear you're having so much discomfort. I hope tomorrow is better than today. That's just not fun.
I'm just old Darn it. I went and got 1200 pounds of feed while ago. Ineed to go shovel it into barrels. Surely that will make the endorphins kick in! Or put me on the ground whichever comes first.
Okay, so I would be remiss if I didn't report that I got two new Seramas yesterday. One from Danz, the other from Josie Chick. Both said the birds needed to get more accustomed to people and I'm happy to say the kids have that well in hand. They quickly named the cockerel Bertram and the hen Lucy. Cute!
DS just got home and came in from gathering eggs and was so thrilled that the new little hen is following him around and allowing herself to be picked up already! That's one smart little hen! He latched onto her last night and made friends with her, holding her quietly and feeding her by hand. She's a quick study and figured out he's going to be a good one to know.
Awesome! I relly like Seramas for that reason. Given a little human attention they become lap chickens.
The little roo isn't quite that easy to win over, as you would expect. Last night, he was sitting docilely in DD's lap in the craft room, faking sleep, when suddenly he took flight! DS went to catch him, with the little hen still tucked under his other arm,but when he reached for the roo, that roo let out a squawk that stunned everyone. DS quickly recovered and caught him, just like that! I'd have been flapping all over the room till today, trying to catch that bird, but not DS! Once DS had returned little roo to DD, everyone cracked up at how loud such a little chicken could be. I had forewarned them but there just isn't anything like experience. Little roo is still squawking at them today, but they'll convince him they're friends, I'm sure. The kids are just so thrilled with the newest chicken family members. Even DH smiled when he walked into the craft room to find the kids loving on the new birds yesterday.
Trish, you know I have a ladder type roost also, but I'm planning to redo mine. Would you mind sharing a picture of how you did yours? My rungs are too narrow, the birds don't really seem to be comfortable although they use it anyway. I read that too narrow a roost can contribute to bumblefoot and I sure don't want to contribute to that. Also, Trish, I really think if you look closely at the Ameraucana's combs you can usually see three tiny vertical rows of bumps on the males and they have just a bit of pink to them. But the feathers are the real giveaway. Pointed hackle and saddle feathers are male, rounded are female. The only thing is sometimes the roos are slow to get their pointed feathers and slow to get their rows of bumps on their combs, so there's no guarantee. EE's are the same way and I was only wrong on one bird out of 25 so I think it works out pretty well. HEChicken, you probably know which bird I'm referring to since it took forever to figure out if Suzette was a girl or boy! She looked so like a cockerel the whole time she was growing up until she quit growing sooner than the cockerels who actually got really large.
Oh my. Medawinks there was something I was going to tell you but I've forgotten already. I guess it wasn't a matter of life or death or surely I would have remembered!
ChicknBaron, I hope he'll be okay too. Sleeping a lot is normal when they first hatch, because it's hard work for them. It does sometimes take quite some time between pip and hatch, 24 hours up to 48 even. You really won't have to stay home because if they hatch properly they will have absorbed the yolk and that will sustain them just fine until you get home from school. They can survive 2 to 3 days after hatch without any food or water because of that. That's how they are able to ship day old chicks all over the country. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!
... Is it normal for the eggs pipping and hatching time to be so spaced out??? i put them all in at the same time... Those two marans eggs haven't even moved, or pipped... i just hope that chick doesn't have to be all by himself much longer... 
