Our newest chickens

[ICB42]

We went to our local feed shop and got some baby chicks and I was excited! I think we got some Ameraucana chicks because they have feathers on their feet!. But the guy at the feed store told me they are a week old,but the look younger than that Be prepared for some cuteness!!


This one has a brown stripe down her head! I'm gonna call her fox!



This is Olaf! See the feathers on the feet!


We have two like this and they both have feathers on their feet!

 

[azygous]

These chicks under discussion are around three weeks old now, if I'm understanding it correctly. The Heat Guidelines that everyone accepts as close to religious dogma are flawed, and really only meant as a starting point in a very general way.

Look at the case of baby chicks reared by a broody hen. The chicks can be living in an outdoor setting with temperatures in every range, even down to freezing. The broody hen will keep the chicks warm at around 100 degrees F, her general body temp. But most of the time, the chicks are not stuffed under her. They're running around, no matter how cold it is.

At three weeks, chicks will be spending almost no time under a broody mama hen. If the ambient temperature where the OP lives is 50 at night and 70 during the day, it's conceivable their chicks need little or no heat at this point, although, if it were me, I would provide it at night for at least another week.

The bottom line is, if the chicks are behaving in a manner that indicates they are not heat starved, then a heat source is probably not necessary. By behavior I mean chicks that are running around, active, not huddling together trying to suck up each others body heat. If, on the other hand, these chicks are smashing themselves into a tight ball at night, struggling to stay warm, then our OP is inviting disaster by not providing a heat source for them, at least at night when there's not even any sun by which to warm up.

The bottom line is behavior should dictate the amount of heat chicks need, not an arbitrary heat chart. I hope this clarifies the heat issue. If not, please ask more questions.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The first one is probably an Ameraucana or more likely EE.
The feather footed ones won't be. They're likely cochin, brahma or possibly faverolle.

 

[ICB42]

we shall see!! They are so cute!! So tiny too... I've never gotten chicks that were this tiny they are usually bigger!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

So are they bantams?

 

[ICB42]

The guy said they are but the last time we got chickens from there they all got the same size as my other chickens and we eve got our roo from there so I'm not sure I just feel like they aren't a week old

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If they're very small to your eye and the person you bought them from said they are bantams - then they're probably bantams.

 

[ICB42]

Yeah, I got them from a feed store, but he never really explained what that means! I know breeds but I couldn't really find a clear answer online what does it mean if they are bantams?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Bantams are a smaller version of their large fowl breed. They should look just like their LF counterpart, only much smaller.

There are true bantams and diminutive bantams.
True bantams have no LF counterpart. Diminutive bantams have a LF counterpart.

Bantams as a general rule are about half the size of the same breed in LF and lay eggs about 2/3 the size.

 

[ICB42]

Thanks!! I don't know if they are true bantams or not. The guy didn't seem To know much about them. Told me they are a week old, but I've been looking at bantams online and the size I have are like 3-4 days old.. So I'm just going to wait and see. We got chicks from them before and they grew up to be full size chickens but they called them Bantams.