Salixx
Songster
My newest babes hatched out exactly a week ago today and were shipped from Meyer's Hatchery in Ohio to my little town in Vermont. Things didn't start out awesome - my highly anticipated day old golden laced polish pullet was DOA and one of my silkies was very sick on arrival and died a few hours later. The rest looked good, were active and started eating and drinking right away but I remained guarded until this weekend. Today I decided to take some pictures to share - most of my posts haven't been very positive but who doesn't love little floofs and these guys thus far have been doing awesome.
We'll start with little Toe Biter, the only one currently named because he/she is the only standout... and also easy to ID being the only (I think) blue silkie.
Toe Biter earned his/her name the very first day I had these guys. I was very worried at first for this one. The other chicks were mercilessly chasing it and grabbing one of its toes due to someone picking at the toe feathers and causing bleeding. I was considering separating from the others until the little doofus ATTACKED ITS OWN TOE! It ripped itself right off its feet and tumbled backwards then proceeded to do the "I have a prize and you can't have it scream," toe still in mouth. There was nothing I could do separation wise - you can't separate a chick from itself. I cleaned it up as best I could, applied a bit of corn starch to stem the bleeding and put him/her back. It was twilight already, so I covered the hardware cloth front of the brooder so it was extra dark and they couldn't see the blood well and went to bed. In the morning, all was well. Just a little blacked over scab and no more nipping, chasing or self harm.
And the rest which include: 6 GLW pullets, 2 GLW cockerels and 4 other silkies. One I think is a buff and the rest probably black?
In case anyone is wondering, Meyers in general has been good to work with. Although I am not thrilled I lost two chicks in transit or directly after, I know the stress they endure having both previously worked for the post office and shipping plants myself (though the birds definitely get treated better). They could not replace the polish or silkie until mid-late August, which I needed the brooder for my new ducklings that are hatching August 30th. So all chickens must be old enough to go to the big house before then, even if some need to stay in a dog crate in the big house. They offered a refund or to let me get something else but I would need to add a third chick to meet their three chick minimum (shucks...). They had three GLW day old females available to ship yesterday - since that was the original breed I wanted when I started my chicken venture, I went with them. and it only cost me an extra $3 total. I'll hopefully picking them up first thing tomorrow morning!
We'll start with little Toe Biter, the only one currently named because he/she is the only standout... and also easy to ID being the only (I think) blue silkie.
Toe Biter earned his/her name the very first day I had these guys. I was very worried at first for this one. The other chicks were mercilessly chasing it and grabbing one of its toes due to someone picking at the toe feathers and causing bleeding. I was considering separating from the others until the little doofus ATTACKED ITS OWN TOE! It ripped itself right off its feet and tumbled backwards then proceeded to do the "I have a prize and you can't have it scream," toe still in mouth. There was nothing I could do separation wise - you can't separate a chick from itself. I cleaned it up as best I could, applied a bit of corn starch to stem the bleeding and put him/her back. It was twilight already, so I covered the hardware cloth front of the brooder so it was extra dark and they couldn't see the blood well and went to bed. In the morning, all was well. Just a little blacked over scab and no more nipping, chasing or self harm.
And the rest which include: 6 GLW pullets, 2 GLW cockerels and 4 other silkies. One I think is a buff and the rest probably black?
In case anyone is wondering, Meyers in general has been good to work with. Although I am not thrilled I lost two chicks in transit or directly after, I know the stress they endure having both previously worked for the post office and shipping plants myself (though the birds definitely get treated better). They could not replace the polish or silkie until mid-late August, which I needed the brooder for my new ducklings that are hatching August 30th. So all chickens must be old enough to go to the big house before then, even if some need to stay in a dog crate in the big house. They offered a refund or to let me get something else but I would need to add a third chick to meet their three chick minimum (shucks...). They had three GLW day old females available to ship yesterday - since that was the original breed I wanted when I started my chicken venture, I went with them. and it only cost me an extra $3 total. I'll hopefully picking them up first thing tomorrow morning!
