Spring 2011 RAISE-A-LONG!

[RoeDylanda]

Quote:
Yeah, I can't speak for anyone else but they sure do grow a lot FASTER than I anticipated! They still have 1 sq foot per bird but it's starting to look crowded in there to me so I've been out in the yard all week working on the coop. Since I've never built anything bigger than a bookcase, it's taking a lot more time than I would have guessed! Also I am a perfectionist, so anything that can be fixed is being fixed as I go.

Mine are 4 weeks old, scraggly and loud and adorable. I'll be sorry to see them go outside! I have a bigger backup brooder thanks to KimberlyJ, but I haven't fitted it out because I keep thinking that I'm closer to done on the big coop! We shall see. Also I was supposed to get goats this Sunday only to find that one of them has a hernia that needs surgical repair and is going to the vet Tuesday. So all that work on their area for nothing!

I miss BYC!

 

[catchthewind]

I hear you on the coop thing. Our coop has been in progress for a month now, but the darned rain won't go away at convenient times. We actually have a carpenter friend helping us out with it, but he has two young children himself and lives about an hour away from us. So between the kids, illness, rain, etc, our coop progress is going slowly. He's supposed to come out this weekend to help us finish roofing it, and if he does then through the week we'll get the inside set up and painted and the older chicks should get outside next weekend! If the rain cooperates. Two of ours are ten weeks old already, so I think they'll be thrilled to be outside. The rest are 3-6 weeks so it's really only the two, and our brooder is 12 sq ft (with 8 birds) so I don't think they're crowded). But they all love being outside. We've been trying to get them outside every day and then just bring them back in to sleep in the brooder.

I can't believe how fast my little day olds are growing. They're now a week old, but still so cute. We've named a bunch of them now. It's really cool to watch them grow and play together. We may be getting a day old Silkie this weekend, I really hope she will do okay in with some slightly older babies.

 

[Matrix Escapee]

New Entry:

4/1: 100 2 day old Cornish X arrived this morning at 6:15 A.M.

NONE were DOA!! And all seem happy and well. They ate and drank right away!

So far so good.

 

[Raen]

Mine don't like eggs.

Is it just me, or are they less stinky than they were the first few days? It's just me, isn't it? My house totally smells like a barn, I just can't tell.

 

[city/country girl]

Hello all!

I too have fallen into the TSC chicken trap, and am the
proud new mommy to 4 yellow "tetra tints" and 1 Brahma. Or, so I thought
After watching them, adjusting temp, lights, etc. and talking baby
talk - one seemed to be growing VERY fast! Turns out, he/she is
a Cornish X!!

LOL I guess!
I also met up with a great lady from Barrington, NH who runs a
farm. Got two more chicks from her, an Ameracauna and a Barred
Rock. Might have to pick up a Buff Orp when I bring the CornishX
to her this weekend...

Here are all the names!

Spike - Brahma (don't know if its a roo or hen)
Chicken (named by hubby)

Kizzy
Molly
Abby - Barred Rock
Bunny- Ameracauna

 

[ChicknLittleLexi]

Breakthrough! I cuddled/snuggled/held each of my chickie-poos for a few minutes each, had them peck chick starter out of my hands, and then put them back in their brooder. Each one got lots of love, ESPECIALLY the ones who are super skittish. I left them alone for an hour or so, then went and got some yogurt for them. Put some in my hands next to some starter, and they started pecking. Now they're fighting over the plate of it I put in their brooder

By the way, when they eat yogurt out of your hands? They BITE, they don't just peck! Those girls opened their teensy little mouths and bit their mama. Little turds

 

[MeowCluckBark]

We have 2. That's it just 2. Both light brahma pullets that are now just over 2 weeks old. I got them 2 days old at a feed store that gets supply from a local hatchery. I knew I wanted Brahmas when a friend of mine had them last year but they all turned out to be roosters and she couldn't keep them all. The one she kept the longest, Senior Pumpkin, was a big funny boy! He'd come eat tortilla pieces right out of my hand and chase the little banty girls! He was so cute and goofy being so big I had to have them.

I wasn't really aware of the possibly fatality rates of new chicks so I didn't think about getting a few extra or anything lol. Seems to be working though. I have done well with them thus far. They are spoiled girls.

I bought purina start n grow for their feed and I've been changing out their water every time I go in the bathroom and I see that it's dirty. If it's been awhile I go ahead and change it anyway, but usually they make it dirty fast. I have them in a big oversized rubbermaid tote with a red heat lamp. They can already get out. I ended up covering my bathroom floor with builders paper so they could just roam and roost on their brooder box.

I took them outside today to play for a bit. They loved that. They ate a dandelion and then I scooped them up before the neighbor's dog could see what I had. She's a sweet puppy but she is just a puppy.

I've given them some scrambled plain eggs and some grape today. They didn't like banana or yogurt because it was too messy. That was my thinking. They stuck their beaks in it and immediately wiped it off and walked away.

So I'm wanting to build a coop that looks like it belongs in a suburban backyard with room for more girls in case I decide to get more (because I want more already) and I want an attached run for when I'm not home to let them roam safely. I was thinking of building a 2 story coop on legs with larger wheels at the bottom of the legs and then building a run on a frame that can unhook from the main coop to make it easier for me to move the coop around the y ard. I have a 1/2 acre pasture I will be keeping them in that is attached to my yard but I have a smaller backyard fenced seperate so my doggy can't get out at them if they go running around. She's old and can't jump the fence anymore.

So that's my plan. If my coop isn't built or I don't have the time to get the coop going fast enough I'll be sewing diapers for the girls to wander the house and be taking them out everyday until I get that coop built. I estimate it will take me 3 days to build. I'm fast

blah sorry the pics are so big I'll go resize them. This was a cruddy point and shoot without the flash. They don't like the flash.

 

[ChicknLittleLexi]

Quote:
Your babies are beautiful! I found a coop design on here that I LOVE, with an attached run. Maybe it will work for you, I'm going to commission DH to build it for me

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=20741

 

[MeowCluckBark]

omgosh! That is what I was envisioning but better! I can have a much longer run for my girls though thankfully. Now to just decide where to build it. I've been getting supplies from FreeCycle and Craigslist for the past few weeks on the free areas. Thank you so much for sharing that!

My ex-husband would help me build the coop, but he moved to Alaska last summer and only comes to visit our daughter a couple times a year. So it will be a mom and daughter project!

 

[ChicknLittleLexi]

Quote:
Isn't it perfect? It's exactly what I had envisioned as well! I am so excited to build it