Picking up chicks tomorrow - getting cold feet! UPDATE - pic heavy!

[KristaBeth]

HERE THEY ARE!!!

Using my old camera and no flash, so the pics aren't great.

Charlotte (Ameraucana? Easter Egger?)

Greta (my Barred Rock, couldn't get a clear pic because she's a mover and shaker!)

Mystery (Australorp)

Beauty (Buff Orpington)

Isn't she a beauty?

Naptime!

 

[Madie]

You will do great!!!! No worries! Patie Butt doesn't always happen...just make sure they have fresh water everyday! I started with pullets 2 months ago and then got 5 week old chicks right after Easter. Things have been going great! You CAN do it!

 

[St-Hubert]

Don't Panic.
I am new at this, too (3 five-week olds, 2 1.5 week olds). It was kind of thrust upon me, getting chickens....but I have grown to love them and actually can't imagine NOT having them. Once you have them home and they settle in, you will be just fine. It wasn't until after we lost two Silkie chicks early on that I started reading about all the things that could befall the wee ones....and I have watched our others with vigilance since then. I can tell you that they are all fine....and I have never raised chickens before in my life. Neither has my wife. So far, so good.

All manner of things will be fine.

Oh, and don't forget to post photos of them when they get home, eh?

 

[crittersitter]

You're going to love it and be a great mama!! I'm new at this also and I am thrilled!!! They are so much fun and bring so much joy into my life. warm those feet up and enjoy your new fuzzy butts!

 

[geebs]

we are all here for ya!!!

Just do it... it is great fun!!! Your not getting married.... just getting chickens.. he he

 

[Moabite]

Just go pick out your chicks! (Try not to get to many though ) The rest will come naturally.

 

[gryeyes]

I began this Chicken Keeping thing last October. I wanted some eggs, figured chickens wouldn't be too hard to keep. Now I cannot imagine NOT having chickens, but it's not for the eggs! (That's just a major bonus, but my chickens could never lay another egg in their lives and I'd still love 'em.)

Each chicken has its own personality. I don't know why that surprised me so much, but it did.

I love listening to them - they make such interesting sounds, and it's not all "cluck cluck." I feel calm when I'm watching them; I've put a plastic lawn chair in their run and I'll sit out there with them, with a soda, enjoying their antics. I pick new grass shoots for them, and dandelions, to toss into the run. I like to put a paving stone down, and then move it a few days later, just to get the chickens to come running over to scope out the bugs and worms which I've uncovered.

I talk to them. They talk to me.

When they were itty bitty babies in the brooder, I did lose two to "failure to thrive." It was sad, and I wondered if there was anything I could have done better. It just happens.

When they start to fly up out of the brooder, or perch on their waterer or feeder, they are so proud of themselves. My brooders have been in my bathroom, and it just tickled me to open the bathroom door to find a chick in the middle of floor looking at me in surprise. Or later, up on the counter pecking at the sink faucet. They fall asleep so suddenly and in odd positions, and when they fall asleep in the crook of your arm, or in your hand, it's absolutely adorable.

It's so funny when they are frightened of new things, like the cooked peas you thought they'd love as a treat. Give 'em time, eventually one chick will be brave enough to peck at 'em and discover they aren't Mysterious Chick Killing Vegetables. Then it will be a free for all frenzy.

When you take them outside for "day trips" before they're ready to spend ALL their time outdoors, their hesitation is adorable - new things are scary. But when they start to run around and peck at things, and look at stuff, and find things to pick up and carry around as "prizes," your heart will swell with pride.

When my elderly dachshund surprised the HECK out of me by turning into a chicken killer, I was very upset. He's eleven, I love him, but I learned I have to be very vigilant around him and make sure my chickens are safe. It's awful when one beloved pet kills another, named pet. It wasn't HIS fault, it was mine. He just has to deal with being kept out of the run and coop. (Although I had a panic attack when one of the girls recently managed to find a way out of the run and became a Free Ranger, running right past him. He IGNORED her. She got out the next day, too, and laid an egg under the Adirondack chair. I put her back, and HE found where she was getting out, so I was able to secure it again.)

You'll be fine. Even if something bad happens, it will make you more aware and knowledgable, able to deal better with it on a later occasion. Or avoid it.

 

[KristaBeth]

Thanks! Feeling better already

Will post pics as soon as we get home and get settled!

 

[calicokat]

KristaBeth - you're going to be great! Just the fact that you're reading all over this sight and getting prepared says you'll be a good chicken mama.

And gryeyes said everything else I'd want to tell you about the chicken adventure! Welcome to the club, you're going to LOVE IT!!

 

[dieselgrl48]

Ive been raising bird's for 6 years now.I knew Absolutley NOTHING when I started.To be honest I didn't even like chickens when We moved here.The mini farm had an already large 3 room coop and hubby wanted some hens for egg's.I told him he can get but I wasnt having nothing to do with it.Well History written I got those 12 RIR pullet's ( hehe well 10 of those turned out to be roo's but...

)and it was downhill from there lol.I have raised ton's of chicken's standard and bantam, don't wanna even think about the duck's which that was an even more astounding project than I thought possible, geese, turkey's, guinea's and a few pheasant.Many of the buildings were converted to house bird's.It's a learning experience for sure.Some people just can't handle it and other's it's like an addiction once you start.Once you get that first lap chicken that flies on your shoulder or sits in your lap daily for love and under the wing rub's and you don't have to go ballistic trying to catch one with a net to keep them safe in their coop you'll be hooked.I sadly lost all of my long time birds last fall due to pending foreclosure and well idiot bank decided to work out something after We parted with almost half of everything We had including every bird and numerous other stuff.But I been back since Nov and got some chicks and duck's and loving it all over again.You'll do fine just give it a chance.