We've 300 baby chicks!



"Shh! baby chicks!" followed by Sunshine putting her hands on her hips and, "Well, I just don't know what to do!" when they wouldn't shush! 

We have baby chicks! (yes, I know saying baby is redundant with chick but it just happens everytime I mention them.) We have 300 babies and how sweet they are! Little fuzzy balls on legs that are eating and drinking like champs.

Buff Orpintons

A few weeks ago the girls, my MIL and I ran down to Mt. Healthy Hatchery and picked up our little peeps. The girls were so excited. And, honestly I was too! It's been so long since I had chicks! So, we loaded all 6 boxes into the van. Seeing 6 boxes caused Rhea to go into a tizzy of excitment. I had told the kids each box contained 100 chicks but the hatchery had put 50 in each due to the heat. Rhea missed hearing the part about splitting them up and thought she had gone from 300 to 600 chicks. She was shaking with excitement which dimmed a bit until I showed them all the babies in the boxes and then it came roaring back.

Once everyone was buckled back in, and we convinced Sunshine that they wouldn't be sad missing their mommy and daddy, we took off. They were just peepin' and cheepin' away. It was about an hour and a half drive and they only stopped peeping when I hit a pothole which sent everyone's head around to check on them and Sunshine to actually holler at me to be careful.

First night home.  No one wanted to leave them alone!

Rhode Island Reds

While we were gone Ben, Tyler and my FIL were cleaning the garage. In my world cleaning means organizing, sorting, straightening,etc. Apparently to them cleaning the garage meant shoving everything over to the side so there was room. But, they did get the brooder built so...I shushed about it.....but just barely! The brooder is 25ft by 12 or 15ft. I forget which one but there is 375sq ft. All the info about chicks said 1/3 sq. ft per chick. I thought that was too small and we did a square foot for each one and alloted extra space for feeders, waterers and room to do yoga and pilates. They wanted a treadmill but I drew the line at that. We also have heat/brooder lamps over head to keep them nice and warm and have straw, pine pellets and pine flakes down for bedding and odor control.

Buff Orpingtons

Every morning and evening we (I) stick our(my) noses down to just an inch above the bedding and sniff. If there is any ammonia or poo smell we add more bedding. This is called the "deep litter method" and it warms the chicks as it composts/breaks down, provides healthy bacteria and cultures for the chicks and it also provides B Vitamins for them. Granted it's probably not doing that yet as it's only a week old but it will eventually and I can use it in my garden as lovely organic fertilizer.

Buff Brahmas aka "Cowgirls" as they have feathers down their legs.

The brooder is made from boxes we have been collecting from Ben's work as they throw them away. We used lattice/lathe strips (bundle of 25 for almost 13.00 Lowes) to support the sides and we stapled the cardboard to the lathes. We had the staple gun but bought more staples as we were out for 11$ since it was a half empty box...after all I didn't need 5000 staples. The flaps of the cardboard was alternated one in one out to provide a base and then the inside had extra cardboard put down before it was covered with bedding. Total cost for the brooder came to only 24$. Bedding has came to 27$ as we just bought 2 more bales of flakes which will last us 2 weeks for a total of 3. Organic starter is $144.00 for 300lbs which includes minerals. That will last all our chicks for a month plus. I also bought a 50lb bag of oyster shell for $10.00. They only get a wee bit in their food as too much calcium isn't good for their kidneys. Once they're bigger they'll have it as a free choice food instead of just a bit in their food.

Cornish Cross (notice how yellow they are?)

In about 6 weeks our Cornish Cross will be slaughtered and put away in the freezer. Cornish Cross are bred to grow this quick and big within 8 weeks. We're culling them at 7 weeks as many people have wrote about how that last week they're so big they're wheezing so I prefer they have a better quality of life and we won't have them so big.

Barred Rocks

A few weeks after that we will begin camponizing the other roos. That'll be the Rhode Island Reds and the Barred Rocks. We received these birds as a bonus. By camponizing them they'll basically be fixed (did you know a roosters testicles are up by their spine?!) which will prevent the meat from becoming tough and stringy and will still allow for a larger build up of gelatin in the bird for broth and such when we start the GAPS diet this fall.

We're adoring these chicks and I'm amazed as I watch my son that CAN NOT sit still to save his life calm completly and just be.  He has SPD or SID and I enjoy watching him watch them.  They have this magical power that just settles you as you watch their antics.  I'll post next time about how we take care of them and more on how they're taking care of us.

Honey