My, How Time Flies

It has been almost 2 weeks since I had anything new to post. Sorry to leave you hanging. The chickens are doing well and are about 2 1/2 months old now. We will not start to look for eggs until the first part of July. The Rhode Island Red chicks are looking just like Rhode Island Reds look. I am very intrigued by the Americauna chicks. Out of 6 chicks, there are only 2 that look similar to each other. One chick is white, another chick has a black body with a brown head. One chick is a beautiful dove grey color (we are calling her Bluebell). The other three have a combination of black, brown, light brown, and almost yellow. It is this group that has 2 almost alike. They are almost hawk-like in their appearance and one looks like a golden eagle. Their beaks are different from the Rhode Island Red chicks. They look like they are longer and more hooked than other beaks. I do not look forward to a warning peck from these birds. Although we have no roosters, the hens will protect their nests when there are eggs in them. I guess it is a built in chicken thing. My husband has been learning what pecking order really means. It is not always the biggest chicken that has the most power over the other chickens. It is usually the chicken who has been there the longest. The others get in the pecking order when they arrive. The last arrivals will be at the bottom of the totem pole. It is funny to watch them when you put food in the pen. We give the chickens all the table scraps we have from vegetables and grains. The 2 chickens who were there first are given a wide berth by the others who are lower in the order. They know which birds they can crowd and which ones will give them a peck to put them back in line. I will try to get pictures today of all the chickens and post them tomorrow. Happy chick watching!

New World

I am sure you have heard the old expression "chickens wake up in a new world everyday". Well it is true. The little chicks never cease to amaze me. They are growing every day and some are starting to be the leaders. I am a little surprised that it is a couple of the Americauna chicks who are the boldest. They come right up to me when I get into their enclosure to help add feed to the feeder. They don't get close enough to touch, but I think they are defending their territory. I had one jump into the water dish while I was in there yesterday. Fortunately it was empty because I had washed it out and was getting ready to give them fresh water. It has been rainy here for a couple of days and the chicks don't seem to mind too much. Of course they are in a covered pen and don't get wet. It will be about 2 more months before we start getting eggs from these new chicks. I am still excited about seeing eggs with green or blue shells. I will definitely be posting pictures when that happens.

New perch

The little chicks have learned that the board going across the middle of their pen is a place to perch. It is about a foot off the ground and they fly up to it. I have considered putting a ramp up to the perch, but haven't decided whether they need it. If I put one up now for the low perch I will have to put one up for the permanent higher perch. I am concerned that if a predator were to get into the pen it could walk right up to the perch and grab a chicken. As it is they are safe on the roosts with no access except for flying. I have not seen rats or racoons fly so they cannot get onto the perches. Of course I have seen none of these rodents near the pen because our laborator retriever's bed is close by. She would set off a ruckus if they approached. This would alert us and we could take care of the problem. More later.

The chicks are doing great outside.

The little birds seem to be very happy to be able to be in the sunshine outside. I worried about them a little bit at first because the nights were still chilly. I hoped they would have enough sense to huddle together for warmth and they did. I would check on them every few hours to make sure they all had gone into their little houses. I guess I would have put more heat sources out there for them if they looked cold. They are starting to eat clover leaves. I pull some every day and throw it into the pen. They just looked at it at first, but then they got curious. After a few started pecking at it, they all got interested and had to check it out. The big chickens look at them through the chicken wire and I don't know what they think about it. I am sure they don't remember being chicks and doing the same thing. I think they just see the water dish and want to get a drink instead of going to their own dish which is about 4 feet away. Lazy birdies.

Moving Day!

The day has arrived for the little chicks to move outside. We have closed off part of the hen coop for them so they will have their own area. They will be safe from predators and also from the big hens. They have two shelters with lights for warmth and when they huddle together they will make some body heat. I had to catch them one by one and they were not too happy about being carried outside. Of course I could say they were "chicken". Once they got into their new enclosure, they began to explore and quickly found their food and water. I had put down some straw so they were scratching around in it looking for something to peck at. Tomorrow I am going to put some grass in for them to eat. They will like it, I am sure. I have included pictures of the big chickens, the new chick area, and the chicks in their new home. We won't let them out in the yard until they are bigger. Right now they could go right through the fence. That would be a tragedy in the making. More updates to follow as new things progress. Happy Scratching!

Moving Out!

This is the week when out little birdies will be heading outside. We have started getting their new home ready. It will be a space inside our chicken coop that is separate from the mature chickens. They will have their own separate feeder and water. If we put them directly in the coop with the big chickens, the big ones will pick at the little ones. If a chicken sees something different they will peck at it. This would be deadly for the younger birds. I will post a picture of them in their new surroundings as soon as we move them. Stay tuned.

Flying chicks!

I was out in the sunroom where the chicks are and I heard a racket. I looked over to where the chicks are and one had flown up to the top ring of the kiddie pool. Oh my, it is time to put the net over the pool. Otherwise we will have chicks all over the house. Chicks in the kitchen, chicks in the bathtub, chicks in the living room. Totally unacceptable! So, on goes the net. Now I have seen a couple of the eyeing the net, I wonder if they are planning their next move. Hmmmm. Tune in for the next adventure!

There has been an escape!

Hubby went to run and errand and forgot to close the gate to the yard. Oops. I discovered it when I took the little dogs out to go potty. After counting, I noticed some of our big chickens were missing. I went out and saw two escapees by the side of the fence. I chased them down and got them to come back into the yard. Hubby got back and we walked all around the yard to see if we had any more birds hiding in the trees or grass surrounding our place. We didn't see any, but went back inside to count again. Whew, we found all 16 of our big chickens. Just goes to show that you have to secure your yard.

Also, here is a new picture of the chicks inside.

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Surviving without Electricity

Yesterday we had a power outage. A strong storm had already passed by but the electric company said a substation lost power. They estimated that we would have power in about 2 hours. The chicks acted a little frantic because they had never been in total darkness. We have a generator and we got it hooked up to run the light for the chicks. As soon as we had hooked it up, they all settled down. Of course since we already had the generator running we also hooked up the TV. That was for us, not the chicks. Sure enough, about 2 hours later our power was back on.

In the photo you can see the blue feet on the Americauna chick. Notice in the background a Rhode Island Red's feet that are the usual orange-yellow color. You learn something new everyday! We think the coloring of the Americaunas is similar to quail.

Daily activities for the Chicks

All is well in the chicken pool. They are 3 weeks old now and have more than half their feathers. We cleaned out the old litter in the pool because they were starting to have an unpleasant fragrance. They were not happy with me when I got in the pool and started removing the old shavings, but they were very excited to have clean shavings to mess around in. I have included some pictures of them eating and drinking. They are really fun to watch.

Learning to perch

You will see in this photo that some of the chicks are starting to perch on the stool legs. How do they know to do that? Just a chicken thing I guess. The one in the front is one of the bolder chicks. She says "you lookin' at me?" I tell you this is a carnival.

Eggs and chicks

Not a lot of new stuff is happening in the chicken pool. Just growing and eating. They get silly and run around chasing each other. I took a picture of some eggs we have gotten from our bigger hens. Aren't they pretty? Also is a picture of the chicks. They are getting to the long legged stage. They have about half their feathers now. They look like awkward teenagers.

Another pic

I just wanted to let you see how big they have gotten.

2 weeks old

The chicks are 2 weeks old today. They have doubled in size and one hopped out of the pool. As you can see in the photo, we have added our mosquito net to keep them in. They are eating and drinking well. We have started adding apple cider vinegar to their water. You simply add 1 tsp. per quart of water. This is to keep them healthy and prevent parasites in their intestines. We also do this in our older chickens. This was another good tip we got out of the magazine Mother Earth News.

No new events are happening in the chicken pool. All is going as it usually does. Eating, drinking, growing, scratching, and making poo are the daily events. Some are more bold than others and will stare up at you when you approach the pen to check things out. Others will run to the far side and try to pile up and hide from you. There really is no place to hide in a round pool. Silly birdies.

Just like babies!

I guess we have just had our first mini crisis. Thanks to an article in the magazine Mother Earth News, I knew this could happen but had never experienced it in previous chicks. One of the Rhode Island Red chicks had a blocked vent. This means there was poo stuck to the feathers around the anus. Hubby had to hold the chick while I cleaned it with warm water and a paper towel. Great news!!! All the poo is gone and the little peep just pooped without a problem. If you don't correct this problem as soon as you notice it, your chick could die. Think of it as a person with a constipation problem.

Growing bigger

Well, the chicks have been here for 5 days and all is well. They have almost doubled in size and are eating and drinking well. They scratch around and chase each other around. We sometimes hear a loud peep and run to see if everything is ok. They are just playing. Whew. Our chocolate lab stays inside when it is very cold and she doesn't bother them but just in case if we hear something, we immediately go to check.

Here you can see them standing near the thermometer. The temperature must stay around 98 F. We have a 100 watt bulb and also a small heater in the pen. As they get older we will lower the temperature.

Settling in

Today all the little chicks seem to be doing quite well. They peep during the daytime, but I don't hear them too much at night. I think they are sleeping while it is dark and quiet. Zippy, our MinPin, likes to look over into the enclosure to see what they are doing. I am not sure if he is calculating how filling they would be. I am sure they are mostly just fuzz right now anyway.

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The chicks have arrived

The 12 little chicks are now happily pecking around in their pen. When they got here, I carefully took each one our of the box and dipped their beaks in the waterer. Since there is no mother hen they each have to be shown where the water and food are. After they drank, I repeated the effort with the food. Then I sat down and watched them. It is really funny to see them running around chasing after each other. There are 6 Rhode Island Reds and 6 Americaunas. I have not raised Americaunas before but was intrigued with the thought that they lay green or blue eggs. That will be in about 3 months. Until them we will watch their progress and also watch our MinPin to make sure he doesn't snack on the birds.

Arrival day

Well, the chicks have arrived and are at the feed store. My husband just went to pick them up. We have set up their pen and will put them there as soon as he gets back with them.

Preparing for the chicks to arrive

Today I have been to the feed store to purchase my chick starter feed. It is important to start them out with this type food and not just feed them regular chicken food. They will get the important nutrients for growth and health.

The first thing you might want to know is why I have chicks in my house. The main reason is that I don't have a barn to start them in. There are many things chicks require and warmth and security are two of the most important. First I have set up an enclosure to keep them where I want them. I use a child's pool to keep them draft free. This also helps eliminate some of the dust that you will have from the chicks scratching around in their litter. I have a lamp for warmth and feeder and water dishes that I purchased from my local feed store. On the floor of the pool I use shavings such as you would use for small animal cages i.e. hampsters.

Chickens In My House

Hi! If you are reading this, you must be interested in chickens. I already have 16 chickens outside and am getting 10 more in 2 days. The older chickens started out in my house too. They are egg layers. If you ever ate farm fresh eggs as opposed to store bought eggs, I am sure you know the difference. The taste of farm fresh eggs is totally awesome. Another reason to have chickens in your yard is to reduce the number of bugs.I am going to share with you the process of getting the chicks from the feed store to the yard.