Pics of our first flock

[egibsch]

I appreciate all the pics here on BYC, so I thought I'd share our crew!

The first group is currently 2 weeks old. Purchased 6 from Tractor Supply (TSC) June 4 (hatch date June 1). 4 Easter Eggers (labeled as Americana) and 2 Cuckoo Marans. We will be sharing 3 of these with friends in a week or so. It will be hard to say goodbye to them!

We have a second batch from Meyer Hatchery that we picked up yesterday (June 15). 2 Buckeyes, 1 Silver Laced Wyandotte and 1 Meal Maker (free chick of Meyer's choosing for donating eggs). We think this is a Speckled Sussex or Welsummer. The family got excited about it being a Welsummer, but I am leaning toward a Speckled Sussex. Either way, we are excited!

Next (and final for now) batch will be picked up from Meyer Hatchery July 6th. This will have 2 Barndelevers and 1 Olive Egger (ordered before we picked up the EE from Tractor Supply).

We may have bitten off more than we can chew with the different groups of chicks.

Pics to follow in this thread
I’m happy to take pics of certain birds or parts of the brooder / coop if anyone is interested - just let me know!

 

[egibsch]

Six chicks from Tractor Supply - June 4 (4 days old)

 

[egibsch]

Brooder....


We started out with a bin (inside a dog crate to keep our curious dog out), a heat plate (rentacoop 12"x12" purchased from mypetchicken.com), water and food. Purchased our pine shavings from the local feed store. The lamp is just for light - it is an LED and doesn't give off heat.

We quickly realized that the chicks were growing fast and that this set up was not going to last long. My handy husband built a larger brooder box in a day (finished size approx 3 ft x 5 ft) from wood we had around the garage. They have a lot more space!

We lined the bottom with a thick black plastic he had, and then used a brown roll of paper before putting down the pine shavings.

We put the cardboard boxes one the one side until the chicks get bigger. As they have grown over the past week, they 'fly' to the top of the boxes and perch there.

 

[egibsch]

Tractor Supply Chicks at 1 week (June 8)

 

[egibsch]

Tractor Supply Chicks - 1.5 weeks old (June 11)

 

[egibsch]

Meyer Hatchery chicks - Day 1 (June 15)
2 buckeyes, 1 silver laced wyandotte, 1 unknown (possibly speckled sussex or welsummer).

We picked them up from the Hatchery - they made the 45 minute ride home cuddled together in the box from the hatchery. We oo'ed and ahh'ed over them - we can't believe how much smaller and fluffier they are compared to the 4 day old chicks we got from TSC. They stayed under the brooder plate for most of the day. They each managed to eat a bit of the growgel provided by Meyer. We haven't mixed up the Vital pack yet (the big white envelope) in the pic. We removed the growgel and replaced it with our chick food. All made it through the first night and are eating and drinking. Love to watch they drink water!

We set up the 'small' brooder in the black tub for these little ones. The other brooder has 6 romping chicks and seemed like it would be better to have the little ones get steady on their feet for a couple of days before we try getting them all together. We'll see how that goes. I am pretty sure that the day old and 2-week olds were calling out to each other last night after the lights went out.

We moved the brooder plate in with the day-olds and used a seed mat for warmth for the 2-week olds. That seems to be working out!

We also got the 2 week old chicks outside for a quick 'field-trip' yesterday.

 

[CrazyDuckLady90]

Awww so cute!

 

[MaGlockner]

adorable! good luck with them!

 

[The Happster]

Really cute! I love taking them outside for the first time. What is this green stuff??

 

[MaGlockner]

white clover