If anyone is interested, this is the story of my chicks! There have been deaths along the way 
but I now have seven happy, healthy chickens!
After a few months with no chickens at all and two house moves, we decided that we wanted them again in our new place. A neighbor who had sold his hens gave us his old coop and we built a run, ready for the chicks!
In late August, we made the two-hour round trip to the farm we were buying them from and came home with six two-week-old girls - all gorgeous breeds like Ameraucanas, Marans, etc. Within a few days of moving in, our splash Ameraucana fell sick with what we diagnosed - too late - as coccidiosis. After a few days of corid treatment, she passed away, leaving us with five chicks.
Several days after that, we decided to get two more chicks for more egg production. We came home with four
. At that time, they were in a brooder in a small room with the door closed. One day, one of the nine managed to fly out of the brooder and wedge herself behind the door. She was killed by the door when it next opened. 
Then two more got sick and didn't survive. So we had six chicks left when we moved them to the coop at 3 months (it was November, too cold to put them out before then.) A few days after they moved in, a bear broke into our coop in the middle of the night. The next morning, after searching for almost an hour, we found 2 left. The bear had eaten four of our pullets.
So back to the farm we went - our third trip there. This time we put a bolt on the door of the coop, but the bear would be going into hibernation soon anyway. We returned with two laying hens and five month-olds.
Everything was going great until - again - one of the laying hens got sick and passed away. Soon after, the other hen started being very aggressive to the younger ones - and one of the chicks started crowing. So we decided to take both of them back - they offer free returns and refunds.
On our most recent and hopefully last visit, we bought three more pullets the same age as our remaining four. They instantly took to each other and we finally had one healthy, content flock! Those are the seven we have right now and they are fantastic. We just started to get beautiful turquoise eggs! In the next few weeks we're planning to put an electric fence up, just in case.
Thanks for reading this very long tale of my chicks! Also one of them (the only one whose breed is confirmed) is a Silkie-Ayam Cemani hybrid and if anybody wants pictures, I'd be happy to post them! Again, thank you!
but I now have seven happy, healthy chickens!After a few months with no chickens at all and two house moves, we decided that we wanted them again in our new place. A neighbor who had sold his hens gave us his old coop and we built a run, ready for the chicks!
In late August, we made the two-hour round trip to the farm we were buying them from and came home with six two-week-old girls - all gorgeous breeds like Ameraucanas, Marans, etc. Within a few days of moving in, our splash Ameraucana fell sick with what we diagnosed - too late - as coccidiosis. After a few days of corid treatment, she passed away, leaving us with five chicks.
Several days after that, we decided to get two more chicks for more egg production. We came home with four
. At that time, they were in a brooder in a small room with the door closed. One day, one of the nine managed to fly out of the brooder and wedge herself behind the door. She was killed by the door when it next opened. Then two more got sick and didn't survive. So we had six chicks left when we moved them to the coop at 3 months (it was November, too cold to put them out before then.) A few days after they moved in, a bear broke into our coop in the middle of the night. The next morning, after searching for almost an hour, we found 2 left. The bear had eaten four of our pullets.
So back to the farm we went - our third trip there. This time we put a bolt on the door of the coop, but the bear would be going into hibernation soon anyway. We returned with two laying hens and five month-olds.
Everything was going great until - again - one of the laying hens got sick and passed away. Soon after, the other hen started being very aggressive to the younger ones - and one of the chicks started crowing. So we decided to take both of them back - they offer free returns and refunds.
On our most recent and hopefully last visit, we bought three more pullets the same age as our remaining four. They instantly took to each other and we finally had one healthy, content flock! Those are the seven we have right now and they are fantastic. We just started to get beautiful turquoise eggs! In the next few weeks we're planning to put an electric fence up, just in case.
Thanks for reading this very long tale of my chicks! Also one of them (the only one whose breed is confirmed) is a Silkie-Ayam Cemani hybrid and if anybody wants pictures, I'd be happy to post them! Again, thank you!
