The call came before 8 AM. My friend Marion (she who instigates livestock trouble!) was on the line. "I just got a call from the post office. The chicks are here. I'll be by in a bit with yours." I had a zing of excitement. The brooder was ready with clean shavings, room temperature water and a chick feeder full of food.
I have 25 meat birds, and am raising 6 layers for some friends. We carefully counted them out of the box. Marion would hand me a chick, I would dip its beak in water, then reach for the next one. They are tiny... golf ball sized,and they were LOUD. As they were removed from the tight quarters of their shipping box, they drank deeply, then found the food and ate and Ate and ATE. Then they piled up under the heat lamp and napped so soundly they looked for all the world like dead chicks; legs and wings splayed and heads flat on the soft bedding.
They will outgrow this small, warm space in just a few days, then graduate to a small wading pool for a while. After that it will be a chicken "tractor" with pasture until they are grown. At every stage I will find them fascinating.
The call came before 8 AM. My friend Marion (she who instigates livestock trouble!) was on the line. "I just got a call from the post office. The chicks are here. I'll be by in a bit with yours." I had a zing of excitement. The brooder was ready with clean shavings, room temperature water and a chick feeder full of food.
I have 25 meat birds, and am raising 6 layers for some friends. We carefully counted them out of the box. Marion would hand me a chick, I would dip its beak in water, then reach for the next one. They are tiny... golf ball sized,and they were LOUD. As they were removed from the tight quarters of their shipping box, they drank deeply, then found the food and ate and Ate and ATE. Then they piled up under the heat lamp and napped so soundly they looked for all the world like dead chicks; legs and wings splayed and heads flat on the soft bedding.
They will outgrow this small, warm space in just a few days, then graduate to a small wading pool for a while. After that it will be a chicken "tractor" with pasture until they are grown. At every stage I will find them fascinating.
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