Man this is addicting. Been watching MANY hours of chicken-TV since Saturday.
We ended up with the following birds:
4 x Faverolles (Salmon) - Born 3/7
1 x Wyandotte (Red/Blue Laced) - Born 3/7
1 x Sussex (Speckled) - Born 3/14
1 x "Easter Egger" - Born 3/7 (The farmer kept using Americana / EE interchangeably while discussing.. But I didn't care which so much because this was high on the kids "must have" list)
1 x Marans (Blue Splash) - Born 3/21
After they all settled in they seem to be doing great. I saw some poo sticking to their rear ends, and being the paranoid type I am I cleaned them up and put a light smear of Vaseline under the vent. They've all been pretty clean since then.
I've tried to give them a few treats, but so far they are totally uninterested.
(Broccoli cooked and raw, cut up raisins, bits of strawberry) They leave them untouched and devour their chick-feed. Which I guess is OK. Perhaps if they had a mom around to lead by example...
We (the farmer and myself) were a little concerned that the Marans might get picked on since she is so young, but so far there have been no issues. The EE seemed a little more aggressive for the first couple of days (not MEAN, but giving the other birds more exploratory pecks than the rest of the flock) but seems to have calmed down now. At first I was calling her the bully, but perhaps she was just a little stressed or something.
I built a small roost, just in case any of the birds decided it was time. And wouldn't you know it, but the baby of the group is the only one to have used it so far.
Started on the coop too. So far it's just a floor made from 2x4s and a sheet of plywood on some concrete peir blocks. Next up is framing the walls.
We ended up with the following birds:
4 x Faverolles (Salmon) - Born 3/7
1 x Wyandotte (Red/Blue Laced) - Born 3/7
1 x Sussex (Speckled) - Born 3/14
1 x "Easter Egger" - Born 3/7 (The farmer kept using Americana / EE interchangeably while discussing.. But I didn't care which so much because this was high on the kids "must have" list)
1 x Marans (Blue Splash) - Born 3/21
After they all settled in they seem to be doing great. I saw some poo sticking to their rear ends, and being the paranoid type I am I cleaned them up and put a light smear of Vaseline under the vent. They've all been pretty clean since then.
I've tried to give them a few treats, but so far they are totally uninterested.
(Broccoli cooked and raw, cut up raisins, bits of strawberry) They leave them untouched and devour their chick-feed. Which I guess is OK. Perhaps if they had a mom around to lead by example...
We (the farmer and myself) were a little concerned that the Marans might get picked on since she is so young, but so far there have been no issues. The EE seemed a little more aggressive for the first couple of days (not MEAN, but giving the other birds more exploratory pecks than the rest of the flock) but seems to have calmed down now. At first I was calling her the bully, but perhaps she was just a little stressed or something.
I built a small roost, just in case any of the birds decided it was time. And wouldn't you know it, but the baby of the group is the only one to have used it so far.
Started on the coop too. So far it's just a floor made from 2x4s and a sheet of plywood on some concrete peir blocks. Next up is framing the walls.
