Curious About Chickens
Chirping
- Dec 25, 2017
- 20
- 42
- 80
I think my mail order chicks are doing good! Sharing cute overload pictures, shipping worries, and asking a few concerned new mom questions.
I ordered 6 from Chickens for Backyards, they mailed on Wednesday, and I just picked up 2 buff orphingtons, a comet, a rhode island red, 2 speckled Sussex, a silver laced wyandott, and 2 barred Plymouth rocks from the post office a couple of hours ago, all alive. (I'm a newbie, so please clue me in if I got breeds mixed up.)
The post office tracking system in Missouri was down so I’ve been on high alert since yesterday afternoon. The ladies at Chickens for Backyards were great and helpful. My California local post office is large so getting the right person seemed difficult but worked in the end. I fretted about chilly weather especially from when I finally got a post office tracking email that said they got here at 4 this morning until I picked them up at the start of counter business at 9 am.
They stayed in a tight chick pile for awhile. At first I thought there were 7, then 8, then I finally counted all 9! One lagged behind the rest in perking up for maybe a half hour. So I’m very glad they didn’t get stuck being driven around in a delivery truck all day as I had feared.
While they were warming up I set them up with the feeders that were shipped with them. I gave them the growgel, then warm water, then chick feed. After about an hour they were going to town on the feed and water. They were so enthusiastic on the feed that I’ve taken it out for the moment as it seemed like they were over doing it. I’ve left the growgel and water. Does anyone have any good advice on how much food to give them? I haven’t read up on quantities and thought they would figure it out if I supplied it on demand but then they seemed way too enthusiastic.
I also needed to make some temperature adjustments. I had heated up our second bathroom to 95 with a space heater and figured out the settings that held at 95 and 90. Then just now when I set up the free thermometer from Chickens for Backyards it reads a few degrees higher than the one I had. And in my preplanning I forgot that the light in the bathroom is a heat lamp. So in the hour it took me to set up with the heat light also on it got up to a toasty 100, oops. They’re back down to 95 now.
OK, that’s my bragging and worries for now. Feeding advice, both for the first day and beyond? When do I put the regular chick feed in with the growgel and should I worry about overfeeding them?
I ordered 6 from Chickens for Backyards, they mailed on Wednesday, and I just picked up 2 buff orphingtons, a comet, a rhode island red, 2 speckled Sussex, a silver laced wyandott, and 2 barred Plymouth rocks from the post office a couple of hours ago, all alive. (I'm a newbie, so please clue me in if I got breeds mixed up.)
The post office tracking system in Missouri was down so I’ve been on high alert since yesterday afternoon. The ladies at Chickens for Backyards were great and helpful. My California local post office is large so getting the right person seemed difficult but worked in the end. I fretted about chilly weather especially from when I finally got a post office tracking email that said they got here at 4 this morning until I picked them up at the start of counter business at 9 am.
They stayed in a tight chick pile for awhile. At first I thought there were 7, then 8, then I finally counted all 9! One lagged behind the rest in perking up for maybe a half hour. So I’m very glad they didn’t get stuck being driven around in a delivery truck all day as I had feared.
While they were warming up I set them up with the feeders that were shipped with them. I gave them the growgel, then warm water, then chick feed. After about an hour they were going to town on the feed and water. They were so enthusiastic on the feed that I’ve taken it out for the moment as it seemed like they were over doing it. I’ve left the growgel and water. Does anyone have any good advice on how much food to give them? I haven’t read up on quantities and thought they would figure it out if I supplied it on demand but then they seemed way too enthusiastic.
I also needed to make some temperature adjustments. I had heated up our second bathroom to 95 with a space heater and figured out the settings that held at 95 and 90. Then just now when I set up the free thermometer from Chickens for Backyards it reads a few degrees higher than the one I had. And in my preplanning I forgot that the light in the bathroom is a heat lamp. So in the hour it took me to set up with the heat light also on it got up to a toasty 100, oops. They’re back down to 95 now.
OK, that’s my bragging and worries for now. Feeding advice, both for the first day and beyond? When do I put the regular chick feed in with the growgel and should I worry about overfeeding them?
Hello! Congrats on the new chicks. Sounds like you got everything under control. If you have any issues or questions feel free to ask, be glad to help!
And they grow fast .... You'll need a bigger box by the time they're 2wks old 
And as ChickNanny13 said they will need a bigger brooder by 2 wks
