We ordered chicks with our friend Conrad, whose family have been taking care of the horses that used to be my in-laws. I love horses, and would not be opposed to having some someday, but when we moved into Knut’s parent’s house, we literally did not have the time the horses deserved to get. This family takes impeccable care of them, and they get ridden and brushed and loved all the time. More on our time with the horses in my post tomorrow…
But onto our chicks! Conrad was going to order another round of chicks and wondered if we wanted to go in on it with them, since the survival rate of chicks in the mail tends to be better in bigger batches (cheaper too!). We wanted to get some of the Ameraucana breed, but we let him pick the rest of the mix we got.
I’m going to forget some of the breeds, but here is a list of our layers:
Ameraucana
Blue Hamburg
Dominiques
Cuckoo Marans
Speckled Sussex
I ‘think’ I have those right. I’ll double check with him. We’re not doing meat chickens at this point, but I would not rule it out in the future. At this point, this is what I want. I wish we didn’t have to wait months for them to mature so we can get some fresh eggs, and I hope our patience will be worth the wait!
Anyway, Contrad was not pleased with the hatchery he went through this year, as he ordered nearly 70 birds and 11 didn’t make it through the first 2 days. The hatchery is refunding him his money for the birds that don’t last 48 hours, but he lost still another when we went to pick up the birds this afternoon. He sent us home with our lot of 20, and said he’d take the refund from the company and get more if he wants them. Needless to say, since we’ve gotten home, we all start wringing our hands when a little chick decides to take a nap, but so far they have all woken up, and they are all eating and drinking lots!
We were told by several people to be sure to have the kids wash their hands after handling them. That ended up being so many handwashes as the kids would play with them, then want to do something else, then go back, etc. We want them to be handled often as chicks so that the kids and the chicks know how to handle each other. So I think next time I’m in town I’ll get a little hand sanitizer pump container and have the kids “pump in” and “pump out” as they play with the little chicks…who should not stay little for long!
Right now they are in a big box in our front entry way. I’m not sure how long they’ll be in the house before we move them into the garage. We thought for the first little bit, it would be easier to keep an eye on them when they’re close by. Plus…
It will be a good month before they’ll be big enough to be out in the coop, which Knut will have to get to soon. (Though not this week! If this weather holds, they’re hoping to finish planting this next week!!) So far, he and his dad have corrected the walls from the sharp lean and the old, unused shed is now flush and stable. It still needs to have drafts contained and get some nesting boxes and perches.
I cannot believe we own 20 chickens now. To a ‘city girl’ like me, this just feels so wild!
Mama Bear says
May 16, 2011 at 2:23 amThat’s so fun! I hope some day to live somewhere where we can have chicks, too. Good luck with them!
Josée says
May 16, 2011 at 2:59 amThis comment has been removed by the author.
Josée says
May 16, 2011 at 3:00 amIf only I can spell. Let’s try that again:
chicks are so cute in the first week! I can’t believe how ugly and crazy mine have gotten. Next year I’d like to try a heritage breed – is that what they call it? Best of luck with the new chicks 🙂
J and K Smith says
May 16, 2011 at 12:00 pmThese must be MN chicks if they get a ski pole warming light. 🙂
JoDee says
May 16, 2011 at 12:38 pmOooo so cute!!!! I hope they all are healthy and well. I started with chickens this year too, and we’ve had a few losses–I’ve bought all our chicks from Runnings (local farm store), and they have been really good about replacing the ones we’ve lost though–and even given us a couple extra!
Baby chicks are soo much fun though!! And so cute–but they grow so fast! We kept ours inside for a week or two–they start to get stinky pretty fast! haha! Can’t wait to see how your journey goes! And I agree waiting for eggs is the tough part–we have months to go! I guess that’s the good thing about raising meat birds–they are more instant gratification. We just slaughtered our first bunch this weekend–so we have lots of meat in the freezer now…but I still can’t wait for that first fresh egg!!
Good luck!!! And have fun!
Gretchen R says
May 16, 2011 at 1:23 pmK, I absolutely love that you noticed we used a ski pole. I was going to say something, but wanted to see if anyone noticed!