Diary of Chicks in a College Life

[blueberrychickens]

I don't think anyone needs a reason to be frugal! ( I say this after I've washed off birthday candles so I can reuse them!)

 

[95yj]

hahaha, good luck, i'm already planning on taking a few quail to college when i leave in a few years, not sure how but i honestly can't live without birds, they take up so much of my life...

 

[Coffee4Me]

I agree. I just thought that I missed a link when {reason here} was posted. I try to be frugal too; who needs to spend more on stuff than you have to!

 

[silkiechicken]

Best of luck. Did 18-22 at undergrad and continued raising chickens by enlisting little brother to feed and I just drove home weekends to maintain the flock. Now in grad school 300 miles away, still have little brother enlisted to care for the flock daily. Make a monthly drive back to maintain the flock and bring with a hundred lbs of feed along with started chicks and such. At least you have a back yard! I'm in a condo and remotely manage the birds. There's no reason you can't do it.

 

[grace6691]

good luck! I managed to keep chickens in my life by doing the poultry science major at my college, but I miss my girls at home so much!

 

[4theloveofhens]

It's been awhile....

Alright so - lots of things to update!

I'd like to proudly announce that there are 4 new additions to the family as of this afternoon.

They will be 2 weeks old on Wednesday!! With the help of my love for Disney movies, here are their names and breeds!

Black Bantam Cochin (My little Clydesdale) - Merryweather (Short and stout!!)
Red Sex Link with white stripe on back - Fauna (When first brought home, Fauna was acting a little crazy, and Fauna is sort of the crazy fairy!)
Red Sex Link without - Flora

Sleeping Beauty

Silver Laced Wyandotte (I think!) - Anita (She's sort of the leader and more "mature"

101 Dalmatians

Anyway, so, to break down the cost of everything so far:

$50 at Feed store, that included 4 chicks, Feeder, Starter Chick Feed, Heat Lamp + Bulb, 1 bale of Shavings

$14 at Walmart for hand sanitizer, stuffed animal (Left my other one I bought for $2 at home

), 25 ft extension cord

$10 Goodwill (stuffed animal not in use and AWESOME find of 17 1.5 feet square metal wire cage things - like what makes these things

So, with that in order, I have the girls in their wire cage with heat lamp (although I think they don't need it so much), I have the dog waterer with rocks in it (Yes, they have already pooped in their water), they have plenty of food, they are walking on puppy pads for now until they are gone then we'll move to shavings, they have the "nanny" inside under the lamp, and for now, I used some wire I found around the house to "secure" the wire cage to the plastic bottom until I find some clippie things (any ideas?).

Here is the set up and pics!!

Yes...They are in the bathroom. It's not called college for nothing!

That's my spaniel being the "real live" babysitter.

The yellow one to the left has the white stripe, so she's Fauna

More Later!!

 

[newlyweds]

I am subscribing, you can do this!!! Sounds like you are prepared, don't worry about those naysayers.

Oh they are so cute!! Congrats on your new babies, enjoy them.

 

[4theloveofhens]

Just a little more...

Here is the current update on the girls and GREAT news

Incase you want to remind yourself of the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty, I found the my favorite scene from the movie:

The boyfriend and I had the chicks on our laps (or should I say His... No, I'm not jealous. I'm not...) for the whole entire Shrek movie. They finally got some rest since I think their light situation in their cage wasn't quite right. At first we just took out one girl, but then they all started complaining that they wanted to watch the movie, so we took out all four to watch Shrek.

Updates for the coop - I finally put the roost in since they seem pretty awake and rambunctious - so I used a steak knife and "roughed up" the PVC pipe so it wasn't so slippery. I found sand paper just made it more smooth - Tell me this isn't logical...

Now we have been placing the girls on the roost, and the two yellows are hopping on and off, while the two black are not so sure. I also picked up a bin today ~$7 for their feed. I'm thinking I'll just have the shavings bag outside, a risk for curious neighbors, I know, but what can you do. I hope to take the girls out today for a little bit but I'm worried that once I put them outside, they'll draw attention...

BUT the great news is that the BF today asked me how much it has cost so far (and I replied around $80-$90 for everything), and he said, "Can I split it with you? I want some girls". It was the cutest thing ever. So, he handed me a $50 bill and now he has claimed Fauna and Anita as his "girls". I also warned him that the cost will only go up as we make the coop etc and he said, "thats ok. I just want some of my own girls". AND then, when we were talking about our 2 yr anniversary coming up, I will be out of town for the day, and he was asking if I'd be coming home that night, he said - "Just wondering if I am spending our anniversary alone with the girls instead". Heheheh so cute. He loves them, and what more could you ask for than a boyfriend that supports a college girlfriend with chicks? Oh boy!!

He's a keeper

 

[chickenlady08]

It sounds that you are doing fantastic. One question is if you put them outside then something can surely get inside of that cage. I have one that I used as an injured cage overnite and got something bigger. My fear of my own babies is a snake squeezing its creepy self inside and eating my babies. I keep mine inside of my garage until they are big enough that I would hope a snake won't eat.

If the time comes and you do put them outside I would buy some hardware cloth (wire) and at Lowe's it is like 10.00 for a roll that should cover the cage with a little extra.

We have 2 larger coops and we just bought a dog house/kennel attached and converted it into a broody house and unfortunately it is being a injured house right now.

We bought it for $1000 and we bought hardware cloth to cover the chain link fencing and the door. Put a wooden shelf in to utilize some more room.

Maybe when you and your BF can find a different house you could look into something like that.

Oh and by the way the BF is definitely a keeper if he wants to help with the chicks. That is so sweet.

 

[4theloveofhens]

Quote:
Unfortunately I don't have a garage, but I"ll be sure the cage is animal proof as best I can!!