I've been a pretty vigilant chicken mom, if I say so myself. My family makes fun of me for being so focused on them. My girls are 6 weeks old today and everything has gone really well - with a lot of help from BYC!
However, something happened that makes me realize how one little slip-up can be potentially disastrous. We brought the girls in from their run around 3 yesterday because we had an appointment. Then we decided to go to dinner so we were gone until almost 8 pm. I came in to check on them when we got home, but when I turned on the light I realized I'd clearly disturbed them - they were sound asleep in the brooder. So I just switched off the light and let them be.
When I came in this morning at 7, they were peeping wildly. Sometime during the afternoon, evening or night, they'd tipped their waterer just enough that it all spilled out. They're getting so big - at this point they're like bulls in a china shop in that brooder. In addition to a soggy brooder, the waterer was bone dry; who knows for how long.
Poor babies!!!!
I filled it up immediately and all four of them stood there drinking for a LONG time - they emptied a third of it just in a few minutes! I felt so terrible that they'd gone without water for who knows how long.
It just reminds me how completely they depend on us to take care of them, and how, even when you think you're doing everything right, it's so easy for something to go wrong. Lesson learned!
Hug your chickens today - and check their water!
However, something happened that makes me realize how one little slip-up can be potentially disastrous. We brought the girls in from their run around 3 yesterday because we had an appointment. Then we decided to go to dinner so we were gone until almost 8 pm. I came in to check on them when we got home, but when I turned on the light I realized I'd clearly disturbed them - they were sound asleep in the brooder. So I just switched off the light and let them be.
When I came in this morning at 7, they were peeping wildly. Sometime during the afternoon, evening or night, they'd tipped their waterer just enough that it all spilled out. They're getting so big - at this point they're like bulls in a china shop in that brooder. In addition to a soggy brooder, the waterer was bone dry; who knows for how long.
I filled it up immediately and all four of them stood there drinking for a LONG time - they emptied a third of it just in a few minutes! I felt so terrible that they'd gone without water for who knows how long.
It just reminds me how completely they depend on us to take care of them, and how, even when you think you're doing everything right, it's so easy for something to go wrong. Lesson learned!
Hug your chickens today - and check their water!
