New treats

Mealworms

We gave them their first treat! We were going to wait before giving them anything other than their regular feed but after a little research we were relieved of our fears that their baby bellies wouldn't be able to handle the treats. All we had to do was add a little grit back in their diet and monitor for "poopy butt" and we were free to introduce live treats! We decided to start with small meal worms so we could hold them in our hands and get the chicks comfortable with being handled. They went absolutely crazy. It was interesting to see their thought process as they first saw the worms. Some immediately grabbed them and ran off, others were slow to approach but quickly realized they were something worth fighting for and a few didn't even look at them when you put them right in front of their face. Each time a chick grabbed their first worm they would start chirping like crazy and running around panicked. They didn't want anyone to steal their prize or for the worm to escape if they put it down to eat it. They went through the hundred count meal worms like they were nothing and continued searching for more. The best part is that now they run to our hands in search for food.

Crickets

We gave them their second treat: crickets! We originally got excited about introduce live treats when we dropped a spider into the brooding box and one of the chicks chased it down and scooped it up. She acted so adorably that we decided to name her Spider and research whether or not they could have live treats. When we gave them meal worms it seemed everyone was excited about them - except Spider. So we decided she probably wanted something a little more active. It was hilarious watching the chicks run crazy trying to scoop up the crickets. They loved them! I was scared they wouldn't be able to eat the large crickets but they swallowed them no problem. After it seemed they had eaten them all, they continued to hunt. They were scratching up the shavings and searching the box. They are amazing hunters and tracked down cricket after crickets when I was sure their were none left. We will definitely get crickets for them again but I think I prefer the meal worms because it encourages the chicks to eat out of our hands.

Weekly Update (3/24/14) Week 4

It is hard to believe they are already a month old!
They have grown so much and are really taking on the shape of chickens now. They have pronounced chests and big tail feathers now. They aren't as cute as they once were. They've also changed a lot in color. The Brown Leghorns have lost their "chipmunk" stripe and are all brown on the back. Their colors have become much more unique and while they aren't cute and fluffy they have some beautiful markings.

They've started to get out and climb on all the furniture in the brooding room. We didn't actually see them out of the box at first but started noticing little droppings in places we couldn't imagine they could reach. Now it seems every time we walk in the room there are several chickens perched across the room. They always make it back into the box though, they definitely know where home is.

We've started to set up the outdoor habitat for them. They have a huge area. We put up hooks for custom hanging waterer, a feeder and for their heat light. We put in ramps and some large plastic pipes for them to climb and play on. We still need to build a roosting and nesting area. We've sectioned off enough of the barn and made it cat proof to prevent our pet cats from eating the chicks. We have the outside half of the run blocked off so they learn where "home" is and know to return there at night. For the outside we got bird netting to prevent predators from flying into the run. We are still working on getting that set up.

We are using the treats to bait them and get them used to being handled. We want them to willingly jump into our hands. It seems to be working as they will flock to our hands when we put them into the brooding area and we are usually able to grab them without a fuss. Some are becoming particularly fond of being picked up as they know it means easy access to more treats. Others are still cautious. 

We took away the heat lamp and heater to cool them down in preparation for going outside as it will be much colder out there. At first they were lethargic and cuddly but are now fine and roaming the room once again. When the move outside we will use the heater and heat lamp to make the barn and warm as possible to ease the transition.

The Brown leghorn, which we have named Petrie, still has the enlarged stomach and the skin is discolored. She seems fine otherwise. She is healthy, eating and very energetic and agile like the other Leghorns.

Bromley, the biggest Buff Orpington, is super friendly. She will always let us pick her up and lays relaxed in our hands. The live treats have really encouraged them to relax when being handled..

We are looking to add 2 more chicks to our chickens so we'll have to set up a new brooding area which shouldn't be too much trouble now that we have a 'brooding' set of equipment and the outdoor set up.


Progress Pages
We are tracking each chicks growth by week and so have made progress pages for you to follow along and see how the different chicks are doing. Click below to see each chicks weekly development!

Spider
Meeko
Ayden
Seraphina
Helen

Buff Orpingtons
Brown Leghorns

Weekly Update (3/20/14) Week Three

No more chicks...

We don't have chicks any more. At the rate our girls are growing I think it's fair to say these are chickens now. They eat so much food now. Before we could get away with not filling the food dishes for a day or two but no more. They are much messier, climbing out of the brooding area, hopping on top of the watering dish and food dishes. In just a couple short weeks we will start taking them outside and getting them used to the outside for a few hours at a time. 

Treats

We have given them more meal worms and more crickets which of course they always enjoy. We also gave them cat toys to play with which they don't have much interest in. I want to try with a laser pointer or moving toy because they seem to really react to movement.

Equipment

We still need to build their equipment for the outdoor coop. We turned off the heater and raised the heat lamp as high as possible to lower the temp. We may end up turning the heat lamp off and maintaining the correct temperature with the heater.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

May you have all the clovers your heart desires...

First Trip Outside!

We had our very first trip outside with a few of our Buff Orpingtons. We wrapped our chicken wire into a circle so they would have a good space to run around and even put out toys.They froze! They weren't interested in investigating at all. They puffed up their feathers and just stood there! I guess they aren't ready to be outdoor chicks yet.

It didn't take long before they wanted to climb up us for refuge. It was really sweet to see how they felt safe in our arms! We also noticed the big crows were getting interested and rustling the branches in the trees. We might have been a little paranoid but I felt like the audience was getting bigger by the minute. We brought them back inside before they became a St. Patricks day treat!

Weekly Update (3/10/14) Week Two

Week Two

They've absolutely exploded in size, uniqueness, and personality. One easter egger is significantly larger than the rest of the hens, we think this may be a rooster. There are many chicks that aren't far behind. They are getting more and more pin feathers and with that is coming unique designs. We are able to tell almost every chicken apart. The chicks are much more coordinated now. They are using their wings to balance and run faster as well as jump onto and off of a box we put in their area.

One brown leghorn has developed a large stomach. She isn't acting lethargic or sick but has a larger stomach than the rest and we fear she may be malformed. This is the only possible health concern they have right now. Poopy butt is completely gone.

We spent a lot more time in the brooding room this week and the chicks are becoming more curious about our presence. Because we're past two weeks we are lowering the temperature again to 80 degress F and reducing the amount of grit we give them. We are planning on starting to give them treats but only handfed. We want the chickens to be friendly so we are handling and getting them used to us which is becoming easier now that they seem less afraid.

Planning

In about four weeks they should be ready to go outside. Before then we will let them outside for short periods of time under our supervision. We still have work to do on their new home including building a roosting area, filling the run with material, and building the laying boxes. We should be able to get this done by then no problem. We are hoping the weather permits us to do outside work to make the transition easier for us and them!

The Escapee

Not Exactly Fort Knox...

We had our first escapee. A curious brown leghorn found his way out. With them gaining coordination and finding the point of least resistance, a section of the brooder that doesn't have the cardboard near their hide-y corner. We aren't sure how long he was hiding in the closet and once returned to the brooder seemed to be okay.

Since then we raised the flaps on our cardboard walls to raise the walls from the original ~6 inches to 15 inches and we taped up the area between the wall and cardboard to keep them from getting out again.

Weekly Update (3/3/14) Week One

Week One

The first week has gone by fast. As the chickens are getting to know us I’ve realized this means two things – One, they are much less scared, which is great but also two, they are much better at dodging us if they don’t want to be held! The Buff Orpington and Easter Egger chicks are the easiest to get ahold of. They usually let us pick them up and while they aren’t jumping into our hands yet, they do relax quickly and allow us to handle them. The Brown Leghorns have been fairly nicknamed the “road runners” by Caleb. They are fast, agile and always seem to slip through our fingers. They too relax once we get them up off the ground – but good luck doing that!

They are all eating like crazy. We are amazed at how much food they go through but you can see where it is going – they have grown so much! Since we added more grit and supplemented with the egg yolk the poopy butts have disappeared! I am so happy to see that problem is in the past.

We took their week old photos and reduced the temperature by five degrees.