Tomorrow is the big day!

[Lorah]

Ohhhh they are so cute! We get our first set of chicks tomorrow! We will be getting 6 stars. 4 black and 2 red. our kids are so excited too!

Oh man they are soooo cute! Thanks for sharing the pics!

 

[mallory2013]

Too cute!

 

[Chickeninthemeadow]

Well, I've got the fuzzy butts bedded down for the night. I went about an hour ago (10:30 PM) to check on them. The temperature was dropping a little (just shy of 90) so I switched from the 125 white to the 250 watt red bulb for the night. This morning, the 250 had it 90s in the box under the lamp. I do worry that they'll get too warm before the temp starts dropping off, but the space is large enough that they can move away from the heat. It was kinda funny, the moment I switched the lights, they started nodding off a little. It's funny to watch them with their heads droopy over. I'm surprised they don't topple forward, but unlike humans, their heads aren't that heavy.

Well, I'm probably just a nervous nelly first time chicken mom. I think they'll be okay, but I worry just the same. They're just 2 day old babies, all alone out there in the brooder and bringing them in isn't an option (grandma and hubby won't allow it).

 

[earnhardtlvr]

Congrats! They r so cute!! Can u post pics of ur brooder? It looks really cool and I might want to steal some ideas!

 

[Chickeninthemeadow]

I have pics in the brooder thread. It's a glorified box made from plywood, 2X4s, and a shipping pallet base. It's fully framed in 2X4s. I plan to add a perch later today by putting a piece of dowel across it and putting screws on either side to keep it from rolling. The lights are hanging from a closet rod and on two supports that are used for holding quilt frames. In the bottom is a table cloth to make lifting out all the shavings for a complete change easy. I have the water feeder on a platform to help keep shavings out of it.

Everyone is doing good this morning. It was just shy 100 in the hottest part, the birds were a little spread out still in the light, getting some warmth but not as high as it is under the lamp. They occaissionally drift under the lamp. I'll switch to the 125 white bulb in a few minutes.

 

[Chickeninthemeadow]

I may be MIA for a few days. Right now, we are at McDonald's using their wifi. We have no power at our house and they don't know when it will be restored. We've been without power since 4:30 Friday afternoon. I'm really worried about my peeps, they are 4 days old today and have no heat lamp. It's been staying in the mid 70s. We have a fleece blanket in the brooder with them and they have all buried themselves under the covers. There is a larger heavier blanket over the brooder to try to hold heat in. The damage about a mile east of us is horrific. A doublewide trailer is completely gone, all that is left of it is its brick porch. There was a used car/scrap metal lot that is completely a mess. A new winery also lost a lot of its roof. We are thankful that we suffered no physical damage, but we worry about our baby pips since Progress Energy is giving us no real answers when the power will be back. We'll be picking up some hot hand heaters from the store if we can find them to put in the brooder box to try to warm up the peeps. I may also call the hatchery and see if we can take them back if they didn't suffer any damage.