My Little Homestead: chicks

Showing posts with label chicks. Show all posts

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Abundance...

Early harvest is here in the garden-- we've been eating early tomatoes and the artichoke plant has over a dozen artichokes in progress. Enough, actually, that Boy wants us to leave one to flower so he can see what it looks like. Peas are taking over the garden like crazy.

And there is the other, even more delightful, abundance... 13 new baby chicks that hatched out just in time for Mother's Day. We put them under a broody hen from my Mother in Law, and she adopted the bunch of them. They love their mama and she loves her babies, even though she's technically a bantam breed, and these chicks are all going to out grow her. At night, when I check on them, there's usually no sign of chicks at all, unless one is nestled on her back, instead of under her wings. It's very sweet and precious to see this adoption.

The hen's name is Fluffy-Top and she is a buff laced Polish, if you were curious. I have caught one of her new babies sleeping up on her crest... talk about a feather mattress!

The chicks are mostly Ameracaunas with a few barnyard mixes. They are much happier with a hen then our chicks usually are. I think chicks without a mother-figure are more stressed out. Fluffy-Top does not like us to mess with her family, though. In these pictures you can see her being agitated because we were there, and trying to herd her 13 little terrors into the corner so she could sit on them.

It is the season of Abundance, new growth, and beauty... I am clinging to it, because already it is getting hot, and this season will pass all too soon!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Tuesday and Wednesday!

Sunday sitting on Tuesday while Monday sits next to Wednesday.

This morning I checked the incubator and, to my delight, I saw a dark little chick bouncing around in there. As the humidity was on the high side, I decided to reach in and quickly grab him. To my surprise, as I opened the lid, I discovered there wasn't one new chick, but two in there. NoWay immediately named them Tuesday and Wednesday and they are doing very well. They are from Blue/Black/Splash bloodlines, so it will be interesting what colors they turn out to be. Right now it is just pretty well impossible to tell.

Sunday sitting on Tuesday.

Monday and Wednesday.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Chick Pics: Silkies

Sunday and Monday

NoWay and Sunday, white silkie chick

NoWay and Sunday

Monday, partridge silkie chick

NoWay's nest for the chicks, Cheeks is fascinated!

Silkie chicks in their little nest.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

We Have Chicks!

The eggs are not due until tomorrow, officially (well that and a in a couple days, this is a very slightly staggered hatch) and we already have two beautiful and healthy chicks. The incubator makes photos impossible, so those will have to wait until I take them out, but I can tell you that they are adorable, fluffy, tiny, active, and have little poofy white topknots on their heads that send the boys into fits of giggles.

We have Pips!

The eggs are due starting tomorrow and we already have some singing in the incubator and at least one pip. I am really excited as I have taken extra care with this whole incubation process, being very very precise with relative humidity and temperature in the incubator.

Nothing to see yet, really, but I will post with photos as soon as we know anything is really happening.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Fun in the Backyard

The Chicks Are Out!

I moved the chicks out of the house today. It is nice and warm out and they need the space to move around. They are within the completely enclosed garden structure inside another whole structure, so they are as safe as I can possibly make them at this point. Their mini-coop is not in with them yet, as it was just too unwieldy for me to move on my own. The actual enclosure they are in is a doggy play pen that my mother in law had at her house. In the background you can see one of the raised beds waiting to be planted in my garden. NoWay picked a bunch of weeds for the chicks to eat.

So far the dogs are all too interested in the chicks. Here you can see Funny staring at the chickens. He has actually been around chickens previously, the only one of the dogs that we had the last time we had chickens. We actually had ducks at that point too. He has never hurt any of our animals, but sometimes I think chicks stretch his terrier sensibilities.

Bandit was attacked by what we think was a coyote over Christmas break. You can still see his neck where he has healed.

I am more concerned about Bandit and Taco, they are notoriously hard to teach anything and Bandit, as a rat terrier, has been BRED to destroy small critters. We'll see if they will ever be compatible.

The chicks are delighted to be outside. Already they stretch out their wings to sunbathe and practice half-flying around. The pen is small enough that they feel secure, and large enough that they can move around like they have been wanting to for ages. They have access to the bunny cage that was their primary dwelling, but I will be reclaiming that soon as I have some eggs that are due to hatch the 31st. Those eggs are for silkies and I have 10 that are definitely developing. I have been VERY cautious with this hatching, monitoring Relative Humidity and temperature and turning by hand instead of counting on any leaning as being enough (whether or the whole incubator or egg cartons).