I was fortunate enough to have the day off when the chicks arrived in at the Bayview Farm and Garden on Whidbey. I hadn't had any plan to buy any of them, I was just going to take a good look, but you know how it goes. It quickly occurred to me that it wouldn't take much money or work to set up a little cardboard box brooder for a few chicks. What really won me over was that the store was giving away five chicks for each $25 you spent there. I spend that much on feed etc anyway, so it seemed almost wasteful to not go ahead and get them.
I zipped back home and prepared their brooder and got back in time to snag the ones I wanted before the rest of the world was off work. I brought home:
2 black australorps
2 rhode island reds
2 dominiques
2 buff orpingtons
2 light brahmas
What sweeties!!! I hadn't seen newly hatched chicks since I was tiny and was in love instantly. They were very noisy on the way home but settled almost instantly once they got to the food and water.
It took some experimentation watching them react to the heat lamp to get it positioned right so that it was high enough up to be the right temp. I didn't have a thermometer so I just had to judge by their behavior. It seems like it worked out well because when I did put the thermometer in there last night, I was only 5 degrees off what it ought to be.
Anyone who's had chicks even once in their life knows what I did next. I went right back to the store and got more.
I picked up :
2 silver-laced wyandottes
2 ameracaunas
So far, not much trouble with pasty butt. I check them each twice a day. I installed a roost on the third day because they were roosting (and pooping) on their feeder. It took a full day for them to figure out what that stick was doing there besides getting in their way.
Now lets see if I can figure out how to get pics on here!
I zipped back home and prepared their brooder and got back in time to snag the ones I wanted before the rest of the world was off work. I brought home:
2 black australorps
2 rhode island reds
2 dominiques
2 buff orpingtons
2 light brahmas
What sweeties!!! I hadn't seen newly hatched chicks since I was tiny and was in love instantly. They were very noisy on the way home but settled almost instantly once they got to the food and water.
It took some experimentation watching them react to the heat lamp to get it positioned right so that it was high enough up to be the right temp. I didn't have a thermometer so I just had to judge by their behavior. It seems like it worked out well because when I did put the thermometer in there last night, I was only 5 degrees off what it ought to be.
Anyone who's had chicks even once in their life knows what I did next. I went right back to the store and got more.
2 silver-laced wyandottes
2 ameracaunas
So far, not much trouble with pasty butt. I check them each twice a day. I installed a roost on the third day because they were roosting (and pooping) on their feeder. It took a full day for them to figure out what that stick was doing there besides getting in their way.
Now lets see if I can figure out how to get pics on here!
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