Hi, I am a new mamma to 3 chicks

[den10hens]

I am so excited to find this forum! I have wanted chickens for years and it finally happened!

My husband and my two boys(9 & 5) and I went and picked up supplies at the feed store two weeks ago, our chicks arrived at the store on Thursday and we just picked them up on Friday. They are Rhode Island Reds. We live in town so we can only have 3.

Fate must have been on our side, we knew we had about a month that they must be inside and we must build a coop. We found one for free on Craig's List, and wouldn't you know, it was less than 3 blocks from our house! Now we are working on a yard for them.

So these three chicks will get a field trip to Den 10's cubscout meeting tomorrow, (thus my login) and the 10 3rd graders will get to learn about chickens, Pretty cool for city kids!

BTW, how old are sexed chicks when they are sent to a store? I forgot to ask when we got them.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Hatcheries send out day old chicks. They will probably be 3 days old by the time you get them, at most. You might consider letting the 'den' look but not touch as the chicks will be really stressed from the trip. Have you read the 'raising chickens 101' from the BYC homepage? It has some great info.

Welcome to BYC, and congrats on your new chicks!

 

[den10hens]

Yes, I have read the 101 and the boys will not touch.

I will take the whole set up including their heat lamp to the meeting place and much earlier than the boys will be there and they will be left alone for the most part, as they will be in a side room. The boys will be observing them and writing about what they see. then they will get to observe them as they grow up.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Congratulations and welcome!

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Quote:
That sounds like a great project for the boys. How wonderful that they'll be able to see them grow. I betcha they'll be beside themselves with anticipation of the first egg!

 

[chickbea]

Marvelous!
Too many people think that "educating" a kid about animals means giving them one and letting the kid do whatever he wants. I'm glad you will be teaching these boys that the little critters they will be observing are living creatures, and that the best way to learn about them is to BE QUIET AND WATCH. Nice work!!!!!

 

[den10hens]

Todays project will actually be to build a Cricket Habitat to raise crickets for the chickens. (I have a background in 4-H entomology)

The boys will be able to touch the crickets

 

[den10hens]

Here are Annie, Clarabel, and Beatrice

 

[chickbea]

Adorable!
As you can tell from my screen name, I greatly approve of the name Beatrice

.

 

[bayouchica]

Hi there & welcome to BYC! Cute peeps ya got there.

Miriam