Newly Appointed Chicken Mama

[backyardkate]

Hello there!

I recently became the proud owner of 18 baby Dominique chicks. My husband and I have been talking 'chicken' for nearly a year and decided to do something about it.

Here's a picture of them the day they arrived.


We ordered them from Meyer Hatchery in Ohio. (We live in Southern Indiana.)
They have done great so far, except for one. It died last weekend, but all the others are strong and are starting to eat like crazy.
We bought dried meal worms and they love them!

There is my introduction. I have heard great things about this site and am eager to experience the next stages of being a chicken owner.

Kate

 

[iwiw60]

Hello from Oregon!

Your chicks are adorable!! And yes, mealworms are favs with them, I know my 4 BA's sure do! If you feed them mealworms from your hand they will get to know you better and lose some of their skittish-ness .. best of luck to you. This forum is a WEALTH of information. I spend waaaay too much time on here myself!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Welcome - what adorable fuzz-butts!

 

[TwoCrows]

Welcome to BYC!

Aww....they are adorable! Sorry about the one chick you lost. But these look great!

Have you stopped by our learning center yet here on BYC? Lots of great articles on all the aspects of keeping poultry..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Enjoy these new babies and welcome to our flock!

 

[backyardkate]

Thanks! We have been feeding them by hand every once and a while, and they seem to really be 'coming out of their shell.' They are getting used to us and their brooder. It's starting to get warm here so they are spending a lot more time away from the heat lamps and more so pecking and running around the pen.

 

[sumi]

Welcome to BYC

For the first week it is recommended to keep the brooder temp at around 95*F and reduce it by roughly 5*F every week after that, until they are fully feathered at around 7 weeks. I personally start chicks off at 85*-90*F and it worked well for me. If you see them panting, acting listless and avoiding the heat lamp it's definitely time to raise it. If the weather plays along you can give them some outside time during the day as well. It will help with the transition to the coop later.

There's some articles on raising chicks here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks

Enjoy the site!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! What a cute little flock of chicks! Good luck with them! You might like to check out your state thread for chicken keeping neighbors https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/730582/indiana-bycers-here/9670

 

[gander007]