The chicks are here! The Overnight Mail Carrier delivered our one-day-old chicks on his first stop this morning (I'm still in awe of this even being possible)! They came in a standard shipping box with a lot of air holes and 'Live Animals' stamped all over. I opened the box part and inside was a sweet little nest made of excelsior, a small heating pad and six healthy, noisy, but confused looking chicks.
I had the brooder ready for them - clean, dry and warm- so in they went! For the first week the temp is kept at 95 degrees. Warmth for the chicks is extremely important The temp should drop only 5 degrees each week till at 75 degrees with no sudden extreme temp changes.
The water container, I realized, was more suited a a flock of six or eight grown chicks -way to big for these babies. I replaced it with a smaller bowl of water and some small stones in it to keep them from falling in and drowning (I'm saving the larger water container for their teenage period).
I know that sometimes newly hatched chicks have to have their beaks dunked in water to learn to drink but they found the water and all drank without having to be taught. Same thing with the food! No eating or drinking issues! Yay! I also did a beak-to-butt check on each one to make sure there were no obvious problems. I did find something on the Polish Crested but had no idea what it was and it really didn't look life threatening...but needs to be watched.
Their first day was chaotic for them and me. They spent hours running non-stop in circles, checking everything out. I know that hatching is exhausting for a chick and they would sleep a lot. Not these... though they did take a lot of quick, short, stand up naps. I did wonder, since they weren't slowing down, if there might really be something wrong so I check in with some other chick friends and they assured me the six-ring-circus was absolutely normal! The fact that they had no physical issues that kept them from bouncing off the walls I took as another good sign. Yay!
I'm keeping them and their brooder dry, clean and at 95 degrees. I also need to keep an eye on the strange spot on the Polish Crested.
Liz-
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| Six Sweet Chicks |
The water container, I realized, was more suited a a flock of six or eight grown chicks -way to big for these babies. I replaced it with a smaller bowl of water and some small stones in it to keep them from falling in and drowning (I'm saving the larger water container for their teenage period).
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| Queen Of The Water And Rocks |
Their first day was chaotic for them and me. They spent hours running non-stop in circles, checking everything out. I know that hatching is exhausting for a chick and they would sleep a lot. Not these... though they did take a lot of quick, short, stand up naps. I did wonder, since they weren't slowing down, if there might really be something wrong so I check in with some other chick friends and they assured me the six-ring-circus was absolutely normal! The fact that they had no physical issues that kept them from bouncing off the walls I took as another good sign. Yay!
I'm keeping them and their brooder dry, clean and at 95 degrees. I also need to keep an eye on the strange spot on the Polish Crested.
Liz-
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