- Apr 7, 2015
- 21
- 2
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Hi... I'm really glad to have discovered BYC by Google-ing some of my chick questions...
You guys seem to have all the answers!!! KUDOS!!!
I was raised on a farm and have to admit that I hated all the work, but must have loved it more than I hated it, because hubby and I thought it necessary to provide a smaller farm environment (25 ac) to raise our kids, too! Well our two sons have since flown the coop, and have started families of their own, and though they haven't yet chosen to inject the farm type lifestyle into their routine, GRAMPY and GRAMMIE try to supply some of the gardening and livestock experiences.
When our sons were young we raised all kinds of exotic animals for a petting zoo, besides the typical farm critters like bottle calves, baby geese, and dozens and dozens of guinea fowl to try to rid the place of ticks. The ticks, owls, and coyotes won the war and though they fly up into the trees to roost, our guinea population dwindled to extinction.
Here we are a couple decades later and we're starting again with 8 Buff Orpington chicks...4 pullets, and 4 straight run... hopefully we'll have at least 1 rooster among those. We've had them for 12 days now and they are adorable. I've been trying to handle each of them daily... although I understand this breed is already pretty friendly by nature. Our bonding time has consisted of grooming with a soft toothbrush to sort of comb their downy fluff, poopy butt baths, and today...
...MANICURES!!!
Yep...Day twelve and the little ones each got their feet soaked in a little footbath (gallon icecream pail filled about 1/4 or less) of warm water with a couple drops of antibacterial soap and a teaspoon of bleach. After the hard little poop and feed balls which were stuck like glue to the knobby bottoms of their feet softened a bit, a soft toothbrush (...we save all our worn out ones for cleaning chores...) and a good deal of persistence got their rough little feet and toe nails (claws) clean and each of the chicks seemed to love the massaging experience, and come even more enthusiatically crowding to meet me when I approach them, since we did that this morning. LOL!!! "Grammie PEEP"
I'm NOT so PROUD that they've been scratching for a few days now, and crumpling up/pulling back the opened out napkins that I keep generously layering over their poop every couple of hours. :/ lol Why they think there might be something better at the edges of the coop floor under the paper napkins, I do not know...
But, HOW I do LOVE watching the flying chest bumps and other antics they're engaging in now... ADORBS!!! Won't be long until they start escaping en masse, however. Already had two escapes over the past 3 days and several close calls while I was watching. So cute!
Blessings to you all! I'm going to have a ton of questions... but I'll try to be a good girl and search for the answers that have already been shared... probably multiple times!
MegH
Ozark, MO
You guys seem to have all the answers!!! KUDOS!!!
I was raised on a farm and have to admit that I hated all the work, but must have loved it more than I hated it, because hubby and I thought it necessary to provide a smaller farm environment (25 ac) to raise our kids, too!
Well our two sons have since flown the coop, and have started families of their own, and though they haven't yet chosen to inject the farm type lifestyle into their routine, GRAMPY and GRAMMIE try to supply some of the gardening and livestock experiences. When our sons were young we raised all kinds of exotic animals for a petting zoo, besides the typical farm critters like bottle calves, baby geese, and dozens and dozens of guinea fowl to try to rid the place of ticks. The ticks, owls, and coyotes won the war and though they fly up into the trees to roost, our guinea population dwindled to extinction.
Here we are a couple decades later and we're starting again with 8 Buff Orpington chicks...4 pullets, and 4 straight run... hopefully we'll have at least 1 rooster among those. We've had them for 12 days now and they are adorable. I've been trying to handle each of them daily... although I understand this breed is already pretty friendly by nature. Our bonding time has consisted of grooming with a soft toothbrush to sort of comb their downy fluff, poopy butt baths, and today...
...MANICURES!!!
Yep...Day twelve and the little ones each got their feet soaked in a little footbath (gallon icecream pail filled about 1/4 or less) of warm water with a couple drops of antibacterial soap and a teaspoon of bleach. After the hard little poop and feed balls which were stuck like glue to the knobby bottoms of their feet softened a bit, a soft toothbrush (...we save all our worn out ones for cleaning chores...) and a good deal of persistence got their rough little feet and toe nails (claws) clean and each of the chicks seemed to love the massaging experience, and come even more enthusiatically crowding to meet me when I approach them, since we did that this morning. LOL!!! "Grammie PEEP"
I'm NOT so PROUD that they've been scratching for a few days now, and crumpling up/pulling back the opened out napkins that I keep generously layering over their poop every couple of hours. :/ lol Why they think there might be something better at the edges of the coop floor under the paper napkins, I do not know...
But, HOW I do LOVE watching the flying chest bumps and other antics they're engaging in now... ADORBS!!!
Won't be long until they start escaping en masse, however. Already had two escapes over the past 3 days and several close calls while I was watching. So cute! Blessings to you all! I'm going to have a ton of questions... but I'll try to be a good girl and search for the answers that have already been shared... probably multiple times!
MegH
Ozark, MO
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and Welcome To BYC!
