Bringing Home Chicks!

We headed to the farm last night to pick up the newest additions to this crazy household. Black clouds loomed over our drive but the weather actually held up as we jumped out of the car at the farm.

Inside the barn, we picked out four little chicks! My gosh these babies are cute. Their feathers are so soft and the little peeping noises they make are adorable. We’ve got them all set up in our big bathroom- we can control the heat easily in there and with the tub, sinks, shower and tile it’s easy to clean hands/bodies/equipment and even the floor if need be without too much fuss. We can also close the doors just in case I need to keep fur babies or human babies out for whatever reason.

It’s no surprise that the girls adore these chicks, but Brandon and I love them too! They go right to sleep when you hold them and are so sweet and calm. Denver doesn’t mind them at all and hasn’t tried to have chicken for lunch yet. I plan on training him to be their guard dog so we’ll see how that goes!

 

The golden yellow chick is a Red Sex Link named Waffles which seemed appropriate (chicken and waffles… mmmmm sorry chickens haha) and the other three are Margot (a black and white Barred Cochin- a very sweet, gentle, mother-hen breed), Edith (brown with the stripe down her back) and Agnes (smallest dark brown chick) who are both “Easter Eggers” that lay blue/green/pink eggs depending.

Here the basic kit we brought home with them:

The brooder box is made of a rubber maid tub. The lid is cut to have a big window and chicken wire has been screwed down to keep the lid secure. As the chicks get bigger they’ll be able to jump and flap and the box needs to be able to contain them. No rogue chickens running around! Their bedding is made up of a thin layer of pine shavings. It keeps the chickens warm and is fairly easy to clean. The food and water feeders are specifically designed for chicks (who can easily drown) and the starter feed is a thin crushed meal. We’ve got grit for them too but they don’t need it just yet.

We’ll be sharing our chicken adventures regularly- hopefully some videos of Lilly explaining all sorts of things about chickens. The kid is an encyclopedia of chicken knowledge thanks to our books, Internet reading and Magic School Bus Chicken episode 😉 “According to my research…” Gosh I love her.

I’ve never been happier for a dreary Pittsburgh day. We’ll be sitting in the bathroom all day I’m sure, listening to chickies peep and rain fall outside.

Happy Hump Day!

-Jacquie