March 6, 2012

Baby chicks!






We got our baby chicks!
 Monday morning we woke up really early to get to Murdock's on time. It turned out that they weren't ready yet, so we walked around the store for a while. The kids were so excited, it was like torture to not be able to go strait back to the chicks to see them.

We eventually got 8 chicks. 4- Buff Orpingtons and 4- Red Leghorns. The Buffs are the yellow chicks and will grow to be a very docile golden hen. The Leghorns are the drown/red chicks that will be red hens that are good layers.

This is a learning experience for me and I am determined to record every step of the way. So, please bare with me in the up coming blog posts?

I have been reading The Joy of Keeping Chickens by Jennifer Megyesi. Its a really great book with lots of gorgeous pictures. Its been a big help with knowing what the chicks needs are and how to transition them to the coop when they are old enough. One thing is for sure, chickens are NOT as low maintenance as I thought. I think I have caught chicken fever though. I'm in love with these sweet little fur balls!

Out of the eight chicks we bought, only seven made it through the night. We lost one of our red leghorns. We noticed she was the smallest of the bunch and was struggling right from the beginning. It was almost painful to watch her little beak open struggling to breathe and not have the strength to get up. All of the other chicks who were stronger kept walking all over her. Each time, she would cheep and it could just break your heart!

This was our children's 1st time dealing with an animal's death so Jer and I woke Brooklyn up to tell her about it and talk to her. She seemed really sad but surprisingly okay because she knew the chick was stronger now and felt better. Mason was very sweet last night and told me he was going to pray for the chick to live. I said well, if she doesn't we know that Heavenly Father just wants her with him. Mason replied, yeah I think he would like the company! And that was it. The faith of a child is as simple as that! My kiddos amaze me every day!

So now we are into week 1 with our baby chicks. They get a heating lamp 24 hours a day and vitamin nutrient rich feed and a waterer with pebbles in it so they don't accidentally drown themselves. They will remain like this until the weather evens out and it stays 60 degrees at night or until they are about 3 weeks old and grow their scapular feathers on their backs that will insulate them and help them stay warm and dry.

4 comments:

Drew, Leah, Saige,Lillie and Kaiya Whitehead said...

this is so fun!! I keep begging Drew to get chicks. We went and looked at them and talked about it but Drew thinks it'll be to much with the new baby. What do you think? Wait till next year or try it this year?

Candi said...

Leah,
It depends on what you are planning on doing...
If you plan on getting starter hens (already bigger) I'd do it. But chicks require more attention and the ones you get have a 25% mortality rate. I'd wait on baby chicks until you have more time to look after em. So far its been a great experience though. The kids are learning a lot. So worth doing.
do your research though and have a place ready to keep em.

Courtney said...

that experiment was pretty awesome! those chicks are pretty neat too! Hope the rest make it! Keep me updated on them!

Candi said...

will do Courtney!