My First Chickens!

[3KillerBs]

My daughter visited her boyfriend yesterday and took new phone pictures of the chicks for me (his mother is raising them). They are so incredibly cute -- grey and white fuzzballs and yellow fuzzballs. Unfortunately, since we don't have smartphones I can't upload the pictures.

She was particularly enamored with one that was dark grey on top with a lot of white on the belly. The picture wasn't good enough for me to compare to the pictures on the internet and figure out which it was.

 

[3KillerBs]

They are coming home to me tomorrow!

I just put a coat of paint on what DH is calling The Chicken Palace and I'm calling Fort Clux. I told him he could use lighter wood for framing something that small, but over-building is a family tradition.

I can't wait to see them in person for the first time!

 

[Araucana16]

That's awesome!

Why did you get 4 extras?

 

[CStulceSmith]

I cant wait to hear more and hopefully see some pix.

 

[3KillerBs]

That's awesome!

Why did you get 4 extras?

We don't know.

It was quite warm when they were shipped to North Carolina in mid-June so we were surprised that Ideal put the extra males in the box.

 

[3KillerBs]

I brought home a wormy ear of corn and a wilting tomato for them. I don't want to overdo the veggies when they need protein to grow well.

I intend to collect the wormy tips of the sweet corn when I'm shucking and bagging at my produce stand job. I have never seen such fat earworms as I have this year. (Even before working at a produce stand I always considered earworms in the tips just proof that I wasn't eating too much pesticide).

 

[3KillerBs]

Here are pictures of The Chicken Palace:



The run will go on this end as soon as its finished. The carrying 2x4's will be removed before then.




Instead of just digging into the ground to level it, DH decided to use some block we had to create an armored perimeter.




I know that there are too many nestboxes for 4 hens. DH's best friend accidentally cut the panel that was supposed to be on this side so DH found it easier to make 3 boxes out of the pieced together scraps than to fork out the money for another sheet of T-111.




All ready for them to move in. I have the waterer filled and will be picking up their feed along with them this evening.




Perch and ventilation. I tossed a few handfuls of leaf litter in to seed the bedding with good bacteria for the deep-litter. There will be NO rain getting in through those roof vents and no chance of our vicious, southern, summer heat building up.

 

[3KillerBs]

All 12 safely home and tucked up in their coop for the night.

I'll check them first thing in the morning before I go to work then try to get pictures in the afternoon once I'm home.

 

[3KillerBs]

And they made it through the night happily. They were standing there cheeping at me and exploring the feeder when I checked them just now.

 

[3KillerBs]

Pictures!
















There are 5 of the red packing peanuts and only one light brahma. But she's a beautiful thing -- the second biggest after the biggest packing peanut.
The Langshan is very small. I thought Langshans were one of the larger breeds?