Hi, my name is Liz, and I'm a chicken addict.

[Americano Blue]

Hello Liz! So glad you joined BYC!

 

[Eliza1313]

All of the chicks I started with, including the guinea keets, came from the same hatchery, same hatch date/ship date of 3/25. Only difference was I drove to the hatchery to pick up the chicks I ordered instead of having them shipped. The local feed store had them shipped, and it was their first batch of chicks for the year. So they got them the next day, I was there when they opened the boxes.

I did not get the 6 new chicks until the day after the one died. Was planning on going to look anyways (needed to pick up feed for the adult hens). Since I am not sure which hatchery the local TSC stores receive their chicks from, they have been in separate brooders. Do not think it is the same hatchery since TSC receives theirs on Wed., and the hatchery I got the first batch from ships Wed. It does not seem to be anything contagious, all of the chicks have been doing fine since. Like I stated in my original post, I think the one that died would have been DOA had they been shipped. So far I think the odds have been in my favor, only lost 1 out of 30 chicks (38 if you count the keets too).

 

[Eliza1313]

Thanks everyone for all the greetings.

Chicks are doing well, growing fast. You know you have some small breeds when the chicks that are a week younger (about 6 days old) start out-sizing some of the older chicks (about 13 days old). The largest so far are the Barred Hollands and the Guinea Keets, and the smallest are the Cubalayas. The younger ones fall into the middle of the range, although the broilers are not far behind the Hollands size wise. Still have them separated for now, might consider putting them all in the same brooder next weekend. Will depend on feathering of the younger ones, although a lot of the Cubalayas seem to be slow to feather.

Time to focus on the coops now. Plan on keeping them housed where they are currently at by partitioning it off and adding roosts, until coops are finished. Yes I did say coops, plan on keeping the breeds separate, but that plan may change.