The Brass let us non-uniformed folks go home early today, at 1400 hrs! I got some prime chicken time!!
REALLY GOOD THING I GOT HOME when I did!!! My only Buckeye chick (about 10 wks old so I still don't know if it's a pullet or cockerel) had somehow managed to get a foot caught in some of the trailing bird netting along one side of the run, and was stuck there with that foot up in the air. Auuggghhh! I had to BITE the last thread of netting to get it loose. Kinda limpy now, but doing okay. Whew!
And I also discovered a bullied pullet: one of the Salmon Faverolles. Due to the shortened daylight hours, I've only been able to do a half-backsideed head count in the dark every night. Poor little thing (about 10 weeks old) had been pecked BALD, and was huddled under anything she could find. Miserable looking. I brought her into the house and put her in her own "recovery" Rubbermaid bin with water & Pedialyte mixed and some chick starter. Still have 3 very young bantam chicks in a brooder in there, plus the 4 call ducklings in their own brooder. The SF now has a name, Esmerelda, and she was pretty shocky. But she finally drank some, then rested, then drank some more, then started to chow down. Poor thing, thirsty and starved! She'll be in the bathroom/nursery/hospital for a while.
On the plus side: guess what, some of the chickens have missed ME, too! Betsy BR actually got into my lap after I skritched her on the back of her neck, near her tail and in the middle of her back. Then she fell asleep. She has NEVER fallen asleep there before. Luckily chickens take short naps; I still had more chores to do. And boy howdy, did I have a lot of eggs to gather I hadn't seen at night in the beam of light from the bill of that silly baseball cap I bought to gather eggs this time of year. Molly Australorp muttered and mumbled in a diatribe about something or other, following me around. The rescue hen, Red GLW, ALMOST took treats from my hand. She is looking so much better! Comb and wattles all reddened up, scales on legs and feet now laying flat.
I was able to lug the three 50# bags o' feed back to the shed and into their garbage can storage. All the chicks in the ginormous brooder are doing well; I started with 33 and am down to 30. The first week in that brooder out in the shed, I lost two to piling - added a second heat lamp a little bit away from the first one after that - and the third casualty appeared to be "failure to thrive."
Most of those chicks - definitely the LF breeds - will be going outside to grow-out quarters by the time the NYD hatch is ginormous brooder-ready.
I am SO glad the days are getting longer. Finally.