Spring Chicks!!

I waited impatiently all day Thursday for the chicks to arrive. I called the Post Office to see if they had them yet...Nope. I set up the brooder box just in case! This is it--a plastic tub. I put an old towel in the bottom. They need something like that for the first week so they don't develop spraddle leg-- then you can change to a litter. I set up the heat lamp--you have to use a red bulb to prevent pecking. I put feed and water in. I was set!! No chicks. I was bummed! I called the Ideal Poultry place to see if they had been shipped. They said they had been sent out Wed. so I should have them by Fri.

This is the water feeder. You buy the basin and attach a mason jar to the top! I like the look of it ~mason jars are just country! ha! I read you need to put a 1/4 tsp of sugar to give the new chicks a boost. I put colored glass rocks in it to keep the chicks from drowning. The rocks also are an attraction to them and will entice them to peck and encourage drinking. You have to keep the water on the opposite side from the heat lamp--chicks don't like to drink hot water and will refuse. After 3 days of clean fresh water I can add an electrolyte solution.

I thought you might be wondering why I seem to know so much about taking care of these chicks! Well....it's because I've done A LOT of reading!!

So...I got a phone call at 7:30am this morning from the Post Office that they had a box of chicks for me and could I come pick it up! OH YES! YES! So I dropped the kids off at school and went by to get them. I walked in the Post Office and you could hear them--cheep--cheep! This is the box they arrived in. I ran the heater in the van to try to keep them warm and comfortable. They peeped all the way home!!

I took each chick out one by one and looked them over. Then I stuck their beak in the water to encourage them to drink. They all looked good and all of them began drinking and eating right away. I had no casualties in the box from shipping. The hatchery that I ordered from has a very good reputation for getting you healthy alive chicks. But I was worried with the change in weather --we are having a cold front--that they might get distressed. The darker chicks are my keepers and the yellow chicks are the extra males. The extras were marked with a purple-red mark on their heads. My keepers are 8 hens and 1 rooster--he was marked with a green dot on his head. The hatchery marks them with washable marker to tell who is who! I separated the extras out into a separate brooder box.

For now this is where they are--in my living room! That is our wood stove in the background. Keeps us toasty in the winter!! --it almost feels like winter today. I hope this is the last cold front of the season...I'm ready for warm weather that is here to stay!! The keeper chicks are in the brooder to the left in the picture and the extra males in the right. I cut a large square hole in the lid to the plastic bin and covered it with hail screen (like chicken wire only smaller holes). The sides to the lid will keep out drafts and the screen will keep children's hands out and dog noses!! However, Blue has already checked them out and isn't very interested in getting to know them. She just huffed and went to lay under the dining table where she can keep an eye on things.


I'm having a hard time getting a good picture of the babies because of the red light coming from the heat lamp. But here is one of the Wyndotte girls! I can already tell them apart by looking at their markings. The 3 Buttercup girls are yellow with brown markings, the 2 Silver-Gray Dorking girls are almost all black with a silver stripe down their backs, and the Wyndotte Rooster looks just like the girls but with his green dot on his head! I am already enjoying them so much! They are so fun to watch!! The kids came in from school so excited to have chirping chicks in their living room!! It will be a fun adventure I'm sure...can't wait to share it with all of you!!