Baby chicks!

While we still have over 30 chickens, the vast majority are getting a bit old. Especially now that Steve is in the egg-selling business (whereas I am strictly a campus give-them-away girl who wants NOTHING to do with taking money from my colleagues or students), our available eggs have actually dwindled quite a bit. I think it’s funny how enthusiastic Steve is these days about getting more chicks; it might actually have been his idea!

So you know what that means: time for more baby chicks! We ordered another 20 chicks from a business in Iowa. As usual, we received an early morning call from the local post office to let us know a chirping box of chicks has arrived for pickup.

They ship chicks as soon as they dry off after coming out of the shell. They give them a quick vaccination, but they do not give them any food or water yet. They pop them right in the box and send them on their way!

So the first thing you have to do when taking them out of the box is dip their beaks in some water so they learn how delicious that is.

That little guy is wondering what the heck just happened!

The crowd assembles with great interest.

A few years ago we built a little hinged-top brooder that allows the chicks to be around the other birds, but still separated and safe for awhile. Inside we have a few waterers with extra electrolytes, some crumble chick food, and a heater (the plugged-in yellow thing in the middle.) The heater is adjustable up/down so they can go on the lower end or higher end, and we can raise it as they grow. This is the first time we are trying that type of warmer, something we saw at the homestead conference. It replaces hanging heat lamps, which always seem kind of dangerous.

Later this afternoon I’m sure all 20 of them will be hiding/sleeping under here, exhausted from all of the excitement.

Now what we DIDN’T count on was the birds just squeezing right through the chicken wire! Especially in one sunny corner - they love that sun! We honestly don’t remember this happening before. Yet while we were getting them settled, boop! One just popped right out. This was not good! So we had to quickly rig up some extra hardware cloth around the edge to hopefully keep them safe. Within days they will be too big anyway, but still, why hadn’t this happened before? Weird.

Shout out to Montana for finding wire and a cutter and bringing some cardboard we could wedge along the wall sides to try to keep the outer and inner wires as close together as possible. We do not need chicks getting stuck between the two layers.

We only ordered two kinds - a black/white and a red breed - but they reserve the right to substitute, and they also add 1-2 extra chicks of various varieties. There are a couple of these yellow ones, which I’m sure will grow up to be white hens. There might also be a rooster or two in there - we try to get females only, but it’s not a perfect science.

So fuzzy!

Look at these two - twinning at the watering hole.

I love how they life their beaks to the sky to let that cool drink of water flow down their throats - ahhhhhh!

Not much interest as of yet from the older hens. We hope one of them will take on the foster parent role, the way the black Cochin did with our last brood. As of now, the rest of the birds are just lounging in the run, unaware or uninterested, which is fine by me!

Nobody bugging the babies at this point.

An occasional peek from one of the older ladies.

Goats and chickens just hanging out in the shade.

Farm animals often look dead when they are lounging in the sun - look at these birds!