This chicks have now been OUT of their shells about as long as they were IN them (it takes right at 21 days for a chick to become a chick).
They are looking rather scraggly as they are in that molting place – shedding more and more of the fluffy down and trading it for their first feathers. I tried to get a close up picture, but here is what happened:
Quick… it’s one of the humans! Run to the corner!
They all crammed in the corner, making it quite difficult to get a good picture. Although you can see a little bit of what I’m talking about with the scraggly-looking feather/down combo.
The little gals are starting to check out what those wing feathers will do, and they have plenty of room to practice. The brooder starts to look like some sort of chaotic runway at times.
Here’s a quick glimpse into the activity of 3 week old chicks:
I had hoped to have Jackson write this blog for you, but he up and went on an adventure with Ryan and Grandma and Grandpa to Colonial Williamsburg. I suppose I’ll fill in so we don’t get too far behind 🙂
You’ve all heard of Shark Week, but it’s time to buckle your seat belts for “Chick Weeks!” It’s bound to be an adventure if Week 1 and Week 2 will set the tone 🙂
Through 4-H, Jackson signed up for what is known as the “Chick Chain.” This is a program where the kids put in a $25 deposit and they get about 25 day-old chicks to raise. At the Robertson County Fair in the Fall, they bring 6 of the pullets for auction. The kid gets their deposit back, and the money raised from the auction goes to support 4-H Poultry programs. Plus, the kid gets to keep whatever other chickens they kept alive. It is really an awesome program, especially for those of us who are serious about keeping a steady/increasing home egg production going.
On the Monday of “Chick Week,” the kids went to Dorris Milling for a photo op and a free bag of chick starter feed. Not a bad deal!
Robertson County 4-H Chick Chain at Dorris Milling
After the Monday PR adventures, we were all set for an early morning Tuesday to drive to Springfield and pick up chicks. But, it wasn’t to happen. Delays in shipping from Texas meant that it would be another day before the chicks arrived.
Not to worry… a chick eats up the yolk just before hatch, and this provides it the nutrition to survive about 3 days with nothing more. Think about a Mama hen sitting on a clutch of eggs that will not all hatch on exactly the same day. God designed them to be just fine sitting right under Mama (or in a box at the post office!) for a few days.
Wednesday morning, the chicks were definitely in!
Counting out the chicks at the Extension officeHappy 4Her on the way home with his chicks
When we got them home, the first task was to get them situated and show them where the water was.
Initial setup included a nipple drinker
Here are all the girls (24 of them!) happily chirping in their new home.
We had to go back out for fiddle lesson after getting everyone situated, and sadly one of the chicks passed while we are gone. While it is possible that she was just weak, we also suspect that she got wet under the drinker and cold – a bad combo for new chicks. As a result, we made some quick changes to the brooder: switch to regular drinker and added a heat lamp. Since our garage is mostly underground, it stays fairly cool. We found that the Ecoglow was not enough to give them the warmth they needed.
New drinker for the wee ones
Have you ever heard about chicken math? It alludes to how you should always plan for more chickens than you think you’re going to have. Why? Because you will inevitably want more! Chatting with my farmer friend, Elaine, I learned she wanted to add some non-Black Star chicks to her mix and was looking for some Auracanas (add some color to the egg laying — they lay green/blue eggs). Well, sure, I would get a few if I didn’t have to get 25 (which is the minimum you can order due to the fact they need to stay warm in shipping). So, Ryan and I got 3 little chicks of our own to raise alongside Jackson’s. Chick count: 26!
They look like little chipmunk birds!
Remember how I told you it was too cold in the basement without an additional heat lamp? Here’s a pic of all the chicks happily moving about with the new, toasty setup.
Notice the red glow of the heat lamp to supplement the Ecoglow.
We got up Sunday morning so that the boys and I could go participate in a bike race. Just before we left, we lost power! Jackson had the presence of mind to realize that this meant no power to the heat sources and cold chicks!! Here is a pic of what they looked like when we went downstairs:
26 chicks huddled under the non-working Ecoglow trying to stay warm!
Jerry scrambled (complete with a migraine!) to get our generator backup up and running. Before too long, there was heat restored and everyone happily pecking around. Definitely reminded us how important power is when you are brooding chicks without a Mama hen to do the warming! Here’s hoping we can make it through the next few weeks of rainy season without any more hiccups!
Look for the wing feathers starting to emerge – this is 10 days old.
I got tired or picking pine shavings and poop out of the drinker, so I raised it up on a wood block. They can still reach the water, and they don’t scratch the pine shavings into it.
Chow time – 13 days old.Almost 2 weeks old and you can really start to see the wing feathers replacing the down.
With the new wing feathers, the girls were starting to explore the possibility of roosting on the walls of the brooder. This meant that just a hop down would mean escaping the safety of the brooder. Not good.
It was time to move them to their bigger digs. This is the bottom of the camper coop we used outside when we got our older chicks last Fall.
Bigger digs. Lots of room to move around.
It won’t be long before it goes back out there with these gals, but for now we just have it set up in the basement. It will be interesting to see what happens when we put the top back on it outside since Atlas has taken to making it his “king of the mountain” spot!
King of the Mountain
Make sure to check out my last post with a video of a more “rambunctious” Atlas on the camper top!
One final video to close out the first 2 weeks of chick life. They are definitely cute!
