MPC Chicks 3 wks old update *PICS*

[hannah9]

Chicks are growing like weeds! I have them on pine shavings. They love to kick those shavings into their water about five times a day!

This is my favorite one, a Dom I call "Angelina." She is such a sweetheart and LOVES to be held. Probably the only one I'll name. She sprouted tail feathers at one week.

All of them seem to eat constantly. Here is one of the SS. So far the SS have been more shy of being held than the BRs and Dom.

The SS when she was four days old:

Here is one of the two BRs:

And here's a photo where you can see some of the SS feathers (sorry for the fuzzy photo):

Last night, we had a freak out when four of the chicks developed mysterious tumors on their chest. If I thought I could keep from getting too attached to the chicks, last night showed me that's impossible. Thanks to the helpful BYC forum, I found out this is normal and sure enough those "tumors" (full crops) were gone by this morning! Yay!

 

[gryeyes]

Cute chicks! Great photos! Especially that 4 day old SS!

I am SO grateful for BYC for EVERYTHING - from information about chickens and chicken-keeping to allaying my fears & worries about things I just didn't know about... like those "chest tumors."

Wait until you find them all "dead" and they're just sleeping any old which way. But they look SO dead, due to the way they just crash when falling asleep.

Or having seizures, and it's just them doing their dust bath thing. They do it even in the brooder!!!

Try putting the waterer up on a brick, so they can still reach it, but it's above the shavings when they kick them around. OR, make the transition to a nipple waterer. Young chicks learn to use those right away, and then there's NO mess, the water stays clean, they can't poop in it, and the bedding stays dry!

 

[hannah9]

What a dream!

Thank you for that suggestion!!! I've got to get a water nipple asap. When I have to go to work, I worry about the waterer getting so filled with shavings that they can't drink. The water nipple would solve that! Is it basically the same type of bottle people use for hamsters and rabbits?

 

[donnavee]

Very cute! We got six chicks from MPC that are 6wks old. Interesting about your Dominique, because ours - we named her Monique - was and still is the tamest from the beginning. She loves to sit in DH's lap. We got a SS too who is much shyer - have to play a game of catch to pet her. Now I wish we had gotten a few more Dominiques; never knew they were so friendly. I'm hoping she stays that way.

 

[hannah9]

Quote:
I only got one Dominique from MPC and also wish I would have ordered a couple more! We only have room for five birds so it looks like one Dom will have to do for now. Both SSs are hand shy, gonna be hard to catch those once they go outside.

 

[Toi-toi]

OMG, they are soooo cute!!!

I have 6 SS and they are 3weeks old also.
Once they get used to you, they will just jump on you and won't leave you.
I'm having hard time to put them back in the brooder because they keep coming back to me.