July 18th "Due Date"! Anyone else?

[ForgePondFarm]

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I ordered from Welp in Iowa. I am pretty sure however that my chicks came from new Mexico or Minnesota. I ordered 60. Received 61 with one casualty. They mixed up the count bit with the breeds but I was just happy that with them arriving during the heat wave 99% made it after about 36 hours of travel

 

[GardenState38]

We've all had fairly good luck on this thread, despite the heat wave.

It's hard for me to believe my chicks will already be 1 week old tomorrow!

I don't want them to grow out of this cute, fuzzy stage! Already the wing feathers are coming in gangbusters, and they've begun to try them out. The cutest thing is how the little tail feathers are sprouting!
My Faverolle seems to be lagging behind the rest in terms of her feathers coming in, but I've heard that they tend to develop more slowly, and she had a rougher start than the rest. She's really come along, though. Everyone who sees the chicks seems to like her best--she's a yellow fuzz-ball among the other 4 dark/black chicks.

I'm happy to see that they all seem to get along--there are a few little power struggles, but no real pecking or constant picking on one or the other. That may change, but they seem to be a pretty cohesive group.
I've begun to try to tame them by letting them eat feed from my hand and giving them a few mealworms here and there. They still don't like to be picked up, but I think they have already come to associate my hand with something good to eat.

This will be my final week of vacation, and then I'll have to start leaving them to go to work

Luckily, I work fairly close-by, so that I can check up on the babies during my lunch hour. It will be very hard getting back to work!

 

[Pebbles]

I lost one of my babies today She was OK this morning and then in the heat of the day she just became weak and then died. Everyone else seems fine. I am worried about the heat here. I have them in our feed room. No light on during the day because temps are in the 90's. I turn the light on about 8:30 PM to keep the temp in their area around 92 degrees under the light and about 82 away from the light. This seems to make them happy, about 4 or 5 stay under the light and the others are at varying distances away from the light. I know you usually loose one or two but I always feel like a bad mom when I loose one. So sad.

 

[Gerry2011]

I am so sorry. It just doesn't seem fair somehow.

 

[Wildflower_VA]

I found one of my buff orps dead yesterday morning. I think it was smothered. The chicks had spent a lot of time the day before digging a hole in one spot in the shavings, and this chick was way down in the hole. Other than the one dead in the box upon arrival, this is my frist dead chick. I raised six to adulthood (got my first egg yesterday) in the spring without incident, and was hoping my luck would hold. With 33 chicks, I guess it could be expected, but it still really makes me sad.

 

[GardenState38]

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I'm so sorry! It makes you feel helpless and guilty-because you feel like you have these little lives in your hands, but we never can know why some chicks fail to thrive. Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done for them. There may have been something inherently wrong that weakened her. You gave her every comfort you could.

 

[GardenState38]

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That is so sad! I'm sorry

so tenuous, their little lives...I went out this morning and found that my Faverolle was pasted up. I never seem to be able to stop worrying about her

On a happier note, congrats on your first egg!! That must have been a thrill!

 

[Lady Chickadee]

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Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss

. I got my first egg today, it was very tasty. I lost another chick yesterday night(one of my porcelain d'Uccles, I have 6 porcelain now and 20 chicks total.20 is what we ordered but we got two extra porcelain d'Uccles). S/he was very weak, she seemed like she was doing better then all of a sudden got really really worse. All the others are active and healthy. Were still using the paper towels as bedding (they arrived on Friday). We clean it out every day but I was wondering when we could start using the pine shavings?I'm just afraid that the little bantams will sink right into the pine shavings or get squished by the bigger ones if they do lol. What do you all think I should do?

 

[Wildflower_VA]

I can't believe how fast the first week of life went by for our new little chicks! They have grown sooo much. I had to upgrade to a gallon waterer and the big feeder today, when I cleaned the brooder. I was filling the chick feeder and two quart waterers several times a day. I am hoping to make this brooder set-up last a few more days, but the Cornish crosses are getting really big and heavy and the smaller breeds object quite loudly to being sat upon by the big guys! Here are some pictures and a video.

Watch what happens when I decide to narrate near the end of the video! Hilarious!
YouTube Video


Thanks for looking!

 

[GardenState38]

LOL! That was quite a dramatic reaction!! So funny! Had me in stitches!

Funny thing--my dog heard the peeping in your video and thought it was our babies! She got very nervous and worried, and started whining to go into the garage to check on them

I think she thinks they're her babies!