Got the 200 *update-- day 2 blues*

[tattooedchickenlady]

I got my 200 comets from MT Healthy today! Thank you so much fro the tip--er, coercion--no, I mean, enabling--PC and PP. If you lived closer I would chicken poop bomb your house! JK

They are so cute, I actually got 204 and one was not doing well. I have to go check on him, but I'm pretty sure he won't last through the night. Anyway, it was fun (no, really) taking them all out of boxes and counting and getting them to drink. I wish y'all could've sen them zooming around the brooder, too funny!
I took pictures, but I don't know how to post pictures, sooooo....maybe I can get some help if y'all want to see them.

 

[arlee453]

How on earth did you count those little squirmy cuties!

I got 52 meaties from Meyer this week and thought I'd never get to the end of dipping beaks and counting!

Enjoy your babies!

 

[chickens4jojo]

What fun!!

You are sooooo lucky & will have a lot of people a little, well, envious here on BYC, too!?

Have a great time with them all. Hope that little one does OK, too.

 

[coffeelady3]

FYI......

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=504

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

Thanks coffeelady, I'll try to post pictures, but I'll happily admit, I suck at that sorta thing.

As far as counting and dipping we did it in boxes/batches. I got 3 boxes (each containing 68 birds), each was divided into 4 sections. And each section had 17 babies. So we worked our way through. I lost count several times, my mom was helping-- and not counting, and my 3 yo "assistant" was making demands the whole time

Well, we lost 5 so far, and it's not looking good for at least 4 more. I guess it's not so bad looking at the odds, but it's really sad......we have 3 lights on them, but we are experiencing a cold front, so it's much, much cooler than we expected. My hubby said we could put them in his shed/art studio tomorrow if it stays cool.

other than the losses, they are funny! They are running around the brooder and when we step into it, they run straight at our feet. I had several standing on my feet today, very cute!

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

Well day 2 and it is bad, bad, bad.
We covered the brooder, added 2 lights and I put the boxes that they were shipped in upside down in there. And still we lost about 30 .........they were piled up on each other, and believe it or not several were pulled up out of the muck and they ran around straight to the water.

I feel like a failure. I am disgusted.

 

[Chicabee19]

so sorry to hear this today! ... You are not a failure.

Did they get too cold?

 

[dangerouschicken]

Oh so sorry to hear it. Keep trying! Don't give up! :aww

 

[Jessika]

It happens.....it's a learning experience.

Don't give up!

 

[tattooedchickenlady]

Apparently they did get too cold, but then this afternoon we had 17 more casualties, with at least 5 more not looking good......I bought some thermometers to put in there, since we didn't have that before. I'm not even really sure how cold it was last night, but it was uncharacteristically cold for South Louisiana.
The ones who are doing well a looking really good, but the others......it's so sad to see all these healthy babies running, while other are standing there with their heads on the floor barely cheeping.
It's looking like we won't be trying the meaty bird thing again.......