The Life and Times of Miss Decibel.

[Paganrose]

Hello! My name is Decibel. My mom thinks I will grow up into a pretty Silver laced Wyandotte Hen, but I am not revealing the full truth of that until I am older.


Tomorrow is my one week birthday! Whew! What a week it has been.

You see my siblings and I came from a hatchery. I hatch in a warm wet room full of a hundreds peeping chicks, and chirped very loudly until I was dry, and then taken out into the cool world around me. Then I was poked and prodded and handled by many different hands attached to big scary people. There was lots of unfamiliar sights and noises! I was very scared and being poked made me hurt. Then I was stuffed into a box with 26 strange chicks that I would soon call my siblings. The box wasn't so bad at first, it had warm comfy bedding, siblings to snuggle with, and was dark. That wasn't to last long. The box needed to travel from Ohio to Wisconsin. So the box jostled, jolted, rumbled and vibrated. Sometimes it was warm, sometimes very cold, there we many strange sounds. My frightened siblings and I very loudly chirped the whole time, but after two days we finally all arrived.

.....

We first saw Mom at the post office. She was very excited to see us and opened our box right away! We all made it okay! We were glad for the fresh air and light even though we huddled away from Mom, we were so very scared, thirsty and hungry! I chirped the loudest. We had another short trip in the cramped box and we were home.

We had a surprise for her when we got home! We had an extra sibling!



This was our first house. It has a warm heated cave for us to snuggle in, soft bedding, and plenty of water and food.



Mom made sure we knew where to eat drink and sleep. We attacked the water and the food, but soon settled down with full bellies and gave contented cheeps as we slept in our cave. It was good to be home. We spent the day going back and forth between our cave and the food. We needed deep rest after our adventure! I also was the first chick to be held by the little big person. You can see me in the bottom of the photo enjoying crumbles with my siblings. I am easy to pick out since I am the one that has the most white in my chipmunky pattern.

......

The next day Mom and I weren't feeling well. Mom came home early from work because of the flu. It was mid afternoon when Mom noticed I wasn't acting right. I was wobbly, cold, and seemed to be slightly smaller. I wasn't eating and my crop was empty. I was constantly screaming unless cuddled up with my siblings in the cave. Mom cuddled me on her lap with a heating pad while she soaked some crumbles with some yogurt, sugar, and water to make a thin gruel. The only way I would eat it was if she dipped my beak in it as I screamed. The few times I tried to peck at the food I just missed it. Eventually my crop was full and I perked up and tried to hide in mom's hair. Mom would repeat this every few hours or so, my last feeding was at 2 am.

......

On day 4 it was a Saturday, so mom didn't have to work. I woke her up screaming again at dawn when my siblings decide to leave the cave to eat. She was sad because one of the Brahma siblings pasted away overnight without warning. She made sure to feed me often, and by the end of the day I was pecking at thickened mush and eating little bits of it without having to be encouraged as long as it was near my face.

Mom also decided that we need more space, so she made a much bigger home for us out of items she had lying around. Our cave was also expanded. My siblings and I were very stressed out about mom making all the noise, movement, and newness of the new home, but settled down quickly for bed when moved in.



Mom was very hopeful about me, but she was exhausted and crabby from being sick, tired, and my constant screaming. Mom fell asleep at 11pm.

.....

I woke up again at dawn screaming, but mom slept threw it, and the small big person didn't know how to help me. When mom woke up mid morning I was lying prone next to the feeder, and was being trampled by my feasting siblings. She was sad. She thought I was to far gone to survive. She set me on top of our heat cave so I could pass away warm and surrounded by my siblings. By the time she had made breakfast for the bigs I had perked up and and started to scream again! Mom was Amazed!

So once again I was cuddled up to mom with a heat pad and a thin gruel. After a few mouthfuls I started to eat a few pecks on my own before taking a short nap. I spent most of the morning with Mom so she could feed me every time I woke up. By afternoon I was eating the thickened mush on my own as long as it was near my face.

My siblings are very skittish of mom. She tried to win them over with small bits of fruit, greens, and yogurt. Mom was hopeful I would eat on my own, so I went back with my siblings. It was quite apparent that I was much smaller in size. If I didn't have someone to cuddle with in the cave I would follow them out, but would just scream. I didn't want to play chase the strawberry, kick the food out, king of the mountain, or any other chicks games. In my quest to cuddle I was ran over several times.


I am closet to the camera and I am staring and yelling at my siblings enjoying their treats.

Mom continued to fed me every couple hours, and by evening I was screaming less and eating heavily from my own spoon, but nothing else. Mom was worried that I would be weak again in the morning. Mom had to work tomorrow and knew she couldn't baby me. She was pretty sure I would die since I still wasn't eating regular food by myself.

......

This morning when mom woke up early I wasn't screaming. She was dreading looking in on me.

Surprise!

I was up and running around instead! My crop appeared empty, so she tried to fed me again before work, but I wasn't interested. Mom could see that I was perky and attempting to peck at the crumble and was drinking on my own. Woo Hoo!

During the day while she was at work the other big person in the house made sure we were well fed, and flushed us out of the cave a few times to make sure I ate. Mom came home from work and gave us some finely chopped greens, and I was eating those also. She tried to give us banana pieces also, but we aren't sure of them. My crop was full. I was still not interested in games, but that is because I am too busy stuffing my face! Mom thinks I am trying to make up for the last couple of days.

Mom's ears also were ringing and stuffy all day today, and she is blaming my constant noise for it. The other big person and the little big person are quite annoyed by it also. They are not sure how such a tiny chick can make so much sound. I Guess that is how I earned my name Decibel.


I am the tiny gray chipmunky chick. You can see how much bigger my siblings are!


Mom hopes I will catch up soon! But for now I am chirping under my cave with my siblings!

Have a good night all!

 

[N F C]

Good story! Decibel sounds like a fighter, glad she's doing well.

 

[Paganrose]

Hello everyone! *gulp* Decibel Here! *gulp* *gulp*
I *gulp* LOVE *gulp* FOOD! *gulp* *gulp*

Today I decided that eating is very serious business. Nothing scares me away from the food dish now! My siblings will run and play, but I just eat and eat. If my siblings run me over or knock me away from my food I screech loudly! Loud noises or the movements of the bigs doesn’t faze me like my skittish siblings. When Mom picked me up to see how I was doing I screamed until she put me back by my food.

I eat until I feel like my crop will explode, then I eat a few more bites! Mom was laughing at me because my crop is half the size I am! But I have a lot of catching up to do! I eat until I can’t hop and can barely walk. Then I attempt a few times to get out of the dish until mom laughing helps me out as I protest. Then I waddle to the heat cave and call for my siblings to come cuddle with me for nap time.

 

[perchie.girl]

adorbs and good job mom with the flu

 

[Paganrose]

Hello All!
I am doing well today! I am starting to play with my siblings a bit! I like chase the strawberry, although I usally don't win. I am growing too! I am still much smaller than my siblings, but I am gaining weight. I Zip around and mom has a hard time getting a picture of me.



We are very busy doing chick things. One of the favorite games is to dig the food out of the dish! Mom found 3 dish fulls of food when she cleared the bedding around the dish. She took away our food dish and is making us clean it up. Which we are trying our hardest to do! Our crops are stuffed!

Some of my siblings are getting leg bands and names! We all like to pick at the brightly colored bands.

I have one sister who is named Imp. Mom thinks she will be a barred Rock. She can be mean sometimes, when she is tired she will poke at everyone's eyes.
A Gold laced Wyandotte sister is feisty, and Her name is Ember.
The grey Cochin sister is now Smudge, and the partridge Cochin is velvet. both are sweet and mellow.
Mom named the two Austra White sisters Razzel and Dazzel.
An Australorp is named Nebula.
The two Welsummer sisters are Willow and Eartha.
The two easter eggers sisters are Mosaic and Prisma.
There are also 5 Buff orp sisiters, but mom is only keeping 2, and so is waiting to name them too.
Mom is waiting to see how many of the Silver laced Wyandottes and Light Brahmas are boys before naming them. She thinks at least 3 of the five SLW are boys because of their boxing and wider combs. The Brahmas are so gentle they give no clue to their gender. Mom wants to keep one roo, and two hens of each. The others will have to go to new homes or to camp.

 

[b.hromada]

What a wonderful story! Decibel is a trooper, as are you! Glad she is doing well.

 

[Paganrose]

Hello all! I am doing well and growing quickly! I am still smaller than my siblings- but I use that to my advantage! I can sneak under and steal treats during the keep away game!

Today we are two weeks old!

We take up a lot more space in our brooder. Mom is amazed that just 2 weeks ago we fit in a 12x 12 box, and could have extra space if we piled up. Now we might be able to squish 10 of us in there at the most!

We spend most of our day time exploring instead of sleeping, and when we do nap it is usually on top of our heat cave. At night some of the more feathered siblings like to sleep in the few inches between back of the cave and the back of the brooder, most everyone else prefers to sleep under, but with our beaks facing out.
We are still skittish of mom, but we are getting better. We love most of the treats she brings us! We love scrambled eggs, blueberries, strawberries, yogurt and oatmeal! We still don’t know what to do with bananas.

Some of us are getting a lot of feathers! Some of us are starting to roost on the poles of the brooder. My barred rock sister Imp is living up to her name. She like to try and fly out of the brooder every time mom takes the top off! The Brahma siblings are funny to watch- they want to try and roost, but they are bigger and have less feathers, so often miss the roosts. Mom put a bigger roost up so they might be able to stay on it when they manage to get up there. Nebula (the australorp) is very smart! She was the first to discover blueberries and other treats.

Mom is sure that at least two of the SLW are roos- at two weeks old they are already getting noticeably pink in the combs! And a third is still debatable. She also thinks one or two of the Brahmas is showing rooish behavior, but it is so hard to tell.

For our birthday we decided to play a prank on mom, but it turned out not so good for us. We were playing around enough to cause the cover on the heat cave to rip a 2” slit. Most of us thought this was the perfect place to hide! But unfortunately we couldn’t figure out how to get back out. When mom came in with our birthday treat of oatmeal and apples we decided we wanted our treat and cheeped loudly. Mom was amazed that all but four of us managed to get in there. We were quite thirsty but otherwise unscathed. Mom fixed the cover on the heat cave so we couldn’t crawl in between anymore.

 

[N F C]

Thanks for the new chapter! Sounds like things are going well for everyone

 

[Paganrose]

Hello again!

We have discovered that Mom is the TREAT LADY!

Yesterday Mom was watching us after work and eating her meal, when one of the SLW siblings decided to check her plate out through the cage. He then Cheeped strangely, streched his neck out and eyeballed Mom, and cheeped Strangely again. Then repeated this until mom offered him a tiny pit of pulled pork from her finger. He and Nebula Eyeballed it for a few moments then decided that taking food from mom's hand was acceptable. When mom offered a few other bits, these two gladly showed the rest this was a good idea! Some were still to shy, so only would take bits others dropped.

This morning when mom came to check on us before breakfast instead of scattering about we calmly kept on doing chick things, while a bunch of us actually decided to go closer to her to see if she had treats. The SLW sibling cheeped strangely again when she had no treats. When she returned with our morning treats and did her special treat call, and most of us came running! This evening Mom was cleaning up a bit to make us less stinky, and a couple of the buff orps, imp, and a couple SLW siblings decided they wanted to roost next to mom incase of any treats. When the treats did come, all but one or two took them from her hand. After we filled our crops and got sleepy, we even let mom pet us with out protest. Although we still are not sure about being picked up and held.

Mom is happy we are getting friendlier, and we at least know where the treats come from!
She swears we are piggies with how much we eat! It seems like we all have doubled in size again the past couple days!

Ember the GLW is eyeing Mom- making sure she don't miss out! Nebula is right next to her with Smudge right behind.


HEY! YOU! TREAT LADY! I need treats! NOW! Come on!



This one is getting pretty obviously red in the comb!

 

[Paganrose]

So Today was moving day! It was confusing as Mom took away our heat cave and our food dishes, and the we were all put into a tiny cage! We loudly chirped bloody Murder the few minutes we we in it!

But then we were were set down and let out we were very Surprized! We had all kinds of space! The brooder section is bigger than the one we had is the Big's mud room. It is 3ft by 7ft, plenty more space as we are growing so quick! Although the roost in there is a bit higher than the rungs on the old one, and we haven't quite figured it out quite yet.

At first we just hung around the heat cave and scratched in the shavings. The new home is a bit chillier than our last one, so we have been using our heat cave more.



Then a few of us dared to venture a little farther out. Some of us got a bit confused at how to get back to the heat cave, but we soon figured it out.



All this new space is a big strange and overwhelming. The whole of our new home is 6ft by 16ft! After watching us for a while mom realized we were to scared to venture all around our home yet. So she took our food and water and moved it right outside the brooder section. Some of use were hesitant even then, but we soon overcame that and were eating like little piggies!



Even though we aren't ready to explore everything right now we are enjoying the space! We like to zip out of the brooder section with our wings flapping until we get a couple feet past the water dish, and then zip back to our cave, and repeat it all over again! We looked so funny it made mom laugh! Mom tried to take pictures, but we were moving to much for them to turn out.



We won't have free access to an outdoor run until the ground thaws and Mr big can put in poles. Mom made sure we have things to do in the meantime, we have a small sand box for dust baths, a few different places to climb and roost, and a few hidey places. There is also a ladder to the platform and big roosts above our brooder area. When we get bigger we will be using those instead of our heat cave and will be getting nest boxes also.

We also got new Neighbors! There is a couple barn cats, one of which is very noisy, but they don't really seem interested in us at all, which mom is glad about. We also have large furry things that keep sniffing and baaing at us thru the corn crib wall. Mom says they are just hoping for more treats!