So excited - Just got baby chicks!

[d_rooster]

I'm so excited about my new baby chicks. I picked them up at the local feed store on Saturday. I went to get feed for my angora bunny rabbit and was hoping to see baby chicks. No baby chicks up front, but I asked and they were being kept in the back.

I have been wanting chickens for the last several years, but there was always a reason for not getting them - busy moving, busy unpacking, busy doing renovations, etc. Now I need to get busy and build a chicken tractor.

I've got 10 pullet chicks - 4 Ameracaunas, 4 RI Reds, 2 Barred Rock. I am hoping none turn out to be roosters. I basically want chickens for eggs, pets, and entertainment.

So far, the chicks are very entertaining. I turned a large, metal rabbit cage into a wonderful brooder complete with 250W heat lamp, feeder, and waterer. The whole setup is in our "fun-room" which was converted from a garage to a sun-room with tile floor in just the last few weeks.

My wife noticed that the chicks wanted to scratch and couldn't do that on the wire bottom of the cage. So we gave them a sturdy paper plate (only the best Chinette) with some chick feed and they are now scratching maniacs. They are loving the heat lamp. They were all lined up snoozing with their little rumps roasting under the lamp this morning. Our family is enjoying watching what I call "chick-a-vision".

This forum is fantastic and has already answered many of my beginner questions. So no questions for now - just crowing with excitement about my new chicks.

 

[bigzio]

d, Welcome to BYC. Glad everything is under control. Nothin more fun to watch than new baby peeps! Enjoy

bigzio

 

[d_rooster]

Here are some pics of my chicks:

There's nothing like scratching and pecking on an expensive paper plate. Only the best for our birds.

 

[cookinmom]

So happy for you. . It is so easy to spend an hour watching chicks, without even realizing it. My son caught me on this forum earlier this evening, and said I have truly gone off the deep end now!

I love my chicks!

 

[edbama2]

Welcome to BYC and congrats on your new additions to the family.

 

[Llysse]

You might want to be careful with the wire brooder--sometimes wire is hard on their little tootsies and can cause foot trouble in the future!

 

[d_rooster]

Llysse,

Yes, I was a little concerned about the wire and was thinking about putting some pieces of cardboard in the cage just to give them something more comfortable on which to rest.

I don't plan to keep them in the cage for very long, because I expect them to grow rather rapidly. Hopefully, by this weekend, I will also have made some room available for them in an enclosed outbuilding.

~Donald

 

[Llysse]

People raise chicks on wire all the time--I think it's particularly hard for heavy or fast developing chicks. If you're going to move them soon, I wouldn't worry too much.

Cardboard might be even worse because it's so slippery; between the two, I might choose to stick with the wire.

Your babies look so beautiful!!!

I can't wait until mine hatch out!

 

[d_rooster]

Apparently, I've got chick fever. I returned to the feed store to buy some grass seed on Thursday. I looked at their posted schedule for new chick deliveries and commented, aloud, that new chicks weren't due until Friday (23rd). Two of the clerks then said, "Oh, but they came a day early and they are in the back".

I went to the back and they had just gotten in some mixed bantams. They had the ones with the feathers on their feet and I just had to have some. They opened up the top of the brooder and let me catch the ones I wanted. I got some yellow and black ones with feathers on their feet and a beautiful whitish yellow one sans feathers on the feet. Then a little light brown one with a pretty brown stripe down its back. They had gotten some black sex-link pullets in too, and I got one of those.

They threw in a second, free black sex-link that obviously had some problems - twisted beak and a deformed eye. I think they figured they couldn't sell a defective bird to anyone. So daughter has already named her Henny Penny. She seems to be eating and getting around with the other chicks just fine. I hope she lives to be a grown up chicken.

I tried to sneak these new chicks in with the others at home, but the size differential made them very noticeable. Wife and daughter picked up on the new chicks right away. So I was busted. Wife said, "You've got to stop!" I promised not to "buy" anymore chickens. There are always the freebies and special needs chicks who need a good home.

d_rooster

 

[Llysse]

... and pretty soon your chickens may be having chicks of their own! Mwa-ha-ha!