panicky new mother....me!

[socks]

Preening, great!
Well miss Pasty Butt has been washed and vaselined and now she is just Droopy Butt and finally I saw her take a drink!! They were all passed out looking like a massacre (seriously funny!! ) when I left them so will be checking them every couple of hours.
I'm doing paper towel bedding this week but think I will go to the pellets next. I'm really glad I didn't get more than 7 for a first go although I am supposed to pick up 3 or 4 more this week.
Wow! ddawn 44 chickens! Wouldn't want to deal with that many!

Now I will take the time to look up the Americaunas and see why I had decided not to get them (they are crossed with Leghorn and sure are cute but rambumcious).

Also learned my lesson about asking the farmer to choose for me, when I saw him pick out Droopy Butt (honest, just a temporary name

) who was at the time visibly quieter I kind of realized he was taking the opportunity to shift one that might not get chosen otherwise, but some birth defect on my part like politeness stopped me so next time I will pick my own.

This is certainly a learning experience and while I had put the chicks in my studio hoping I could work alongside them I can't seem to get anything else done other than watch 'chicktv' or fuss about them.

Anyway, this has helped me tremendously and I hope I have given miss
D.B. the help she needs.

Thanks so much for your help!!!

 

[Judy]

My pleasure, esp. with your great sense of humor!

It was 54 a couple of weeks ago... some are going to freezer camp. Will have about 25 hens and 2-3 roos in a month or so. Gonna let mamas hatch and raise them. No more of that brooder hand-wringing for me!

 

[socks]

Thanks ddawn, hope my husband retains his sense of humour with all this mothering I am starting to smell like a little like poultry myself (do you think I should have a shower and get out of my jammies?!?!)


I have looked at a couple of other newbie posts, you know people thinking their chicks have narcolepsy and the like and I and i am starting to think that if you take the right attitude we newbies can be just as funny as watching new chicks....

Freezer camp, yes I just ran into a friend who raises 35 to put in the freezer. They process them themselves. Don't know if I am up to that nor what I will do with the roos I get....I did get dual purpose birds but i understand it's not a very prudent thing to name your dinner (especially with the names I have come up with so far

)

Already know I hope to find a good broody mother to raise chicks next time....even thought about a Silkie for that....but I am getting just a little ahead of myself. Well, time to check the chicks and oh yeah, take that shower!
Thanks so much again!!!!

 

[Judy]

Well, then, I have to share one more thing with you:

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

Good luck, and enjoy!

 

[socks]

Sweet!
That was really excellent and fascinating information!!!
Having not yet had the uh..opportunity to put my hand under a broody and pecking hen I can't help wondering if a good pair of gloves might be useful in all this stealth egg substituting/candling that one is supposed to perform while the hen is sleeping. Gee, did I just come up with a useful product, gloves with a thin sensitive skin on the underside and armored on the top (ha! they probably already exist....but maybe not in in colours to match your gumboots

)

I don't expect to be able to keep roosters on my 1/2 acre. But I am thinking I could either buy some fertile eggs or send some girls off to get um...sexed up at a friend's farm....or o.k. sneak a guy into the girl's dorm for a day or two and play dumb about the Casanova that 'just wandered into my flock'.

Anyway, for now I will enjoy being able to see every crazy little thing they do without a protective hen to shoo me off! (Currently loving that little balarina leg stretch they do when they get up from sleeping).

Thanks ddawn for another great addition to my bank of chicken knowledge.