HoneyButterChickenBiscuit
Chirping
Hello BYC!
I have decades of experience working with animals, but I am new to chickens. I decided to take on three chicks incubated in a classroom at the school district I work for. They were hatched around the 28th of October.
These chickens are "mutts." One appears to be barred rock, one might be part Araucana, and the last one is ?? I welcome input from the community!
I don't know at the moment for certain if they are all pullets, fingers crossed at least two are. I won't be able to keep them in my neighborhood backyard, but I have a place the cockerel(s) can go if necessary.
They have had an exciting life already. A couple of weeks ago I started to put them outside in a wire cage on my lawn for 30-60 minutes to get them used to it and give them some exercise out of the brooder. One day I look out and see a Cooper's hawk on the fence and commented to my spouse "Oh there's a hawk stalking our babies."
I looked down to the cage a second later and immediately ran outside. I could see one of the chicks, "Butter," was in crisis. Her little wings were pulled through the wire at the *bottom* of this cage! She had a couple of shallow punctures, but luckily the wire was small enough that the hawk couldn't get a good grip.
We did some first aid and put her in isolation. She was terribly bruised but there wasn't much bleeding and it didn't look like there was any internal bleeding.
When I checked on her in the morning her two sisters had busted into the infirmary to be near her, ate all her food, spilled her water, and someone pooped on her back. All three were as happy as could be.
She has proven to be the smartest of the flock so far, and I hope she has a long (hawk-free) life ahead of her. And don't worry, the regular coop has much better hardware cloth.
Here's Butter (white), Chicken (barred), and Biscuit (black.)
(Our cat is named Honey, so you can clearly see the theme here.)
I have decades of experience working with animals, but I am new to chickens. I decided to take on three chicks incubated in a classroom at the school district I work for. They were hatched around the 28th of October.
These chickens are "mutts." One appears to be barred rock, one might be part Araucana, and the last one is ?? I welcome input from the community!
I don't know at the moment for certain if they are all pullets, fingers crossed at least two are. I won't be able to keep them in my neighborhood backyard, but I have a place the cockerel(s) can go if necessary.
They have had an exciting life already. A couple of weeks ago I started to put them outside in a wire cage on my lawn for 30-60 minutes to get them used to it and give them some exercise out of the brooder. One day I look out and see a Cooper's hawk on the fence and commented to my spouse "Oh there's a hawk stalking our babies."
I looked down to the cage a second later and immediately ran outside. I could see one of the chicks, "Butter," was in crisis. Her little wings were pulled through the wire at the *bottom* of this cage! She had a couple of shallow punctures, but luckily the wire was small enough that the hawk couldn't get a good grip.
We did some first aid and put her in isolation. She was terribly bruised but there wasn't much bleeding and it didn't look like there was any internal bleeding.
When I checked on her in the morning her two sisters had busted into the infirmary to be near her, ate all her food, spilled her water, and someone pooped on her back. All three were as happy as could be.
She has proven to be the smartest of the flock so far, and I hope she has a long (hawk-free) life ahead of her. And don't worry, the regular coop has much better hardware cloth.
Here's Butter (white), Chicken (barred), and Biscuit (black.)
(Our cat is named Honey, so you can clearly see the theme here.)
Love your photo!
We're so happy you've decided to join us 
Not to good on breeds, others I'm sure could help.
Chicks are such targets for hawks even in a cage. I have seen hawks dive onto the side of the run and cling to the hardware cloth to get at chicks. (Another reason to never use chicken wire on external areas of run and coop) I am glad the chick is ok.
We are glad you joined our flock!
