Chicks

We had a departure from the usual protocol when the chicks were shipped this year. They went out last week on Monday afternoon. When we did not get a call from the post office Tuesday morning (June 5), we figured they would be in Wednesday morning. I was in the middle of cooking supper at 5:15 when the phone rang. The chicks were in; could we come get them right away? The woman on the phone seemed concerned that the chicks would have to spend the night at the post office.

Hilda said we would be right down. Terry went ahead with his supper while Hilda and I drove to Harvard. We rang the bell, and the mail lady gratefully handed over the cheeping box.

Hilda was just like a little kid on the way home. She kept trying to peek in the box to see the chicks.

“Leave the box closed until we get home,” I said, thinking about how little I wanted to have a chick running loose in my car. “We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Cheeping box of chicks

We left them in the box until after we ate. We had gotten the coop set up for them the day before, so all we needed to do was tip their beaks into the water to get them to drink. We then set them in their enclosure under the heat lamp one at a time. We got our usual 15 meat chickens. We also got three Dominques, which we have raised before, and three Whiting True Blue, which is new to us. The latter is named for the breeder (Whiting) and the color of the egg, not the chicken. Two of the True Blues are brown and one is either white or light tan. We'll see if she gets darker as she grows.

While Hilda mixed vitamins into the water, I took the Gro Gel Plus down to my kitchen to “mix with ½ cup water until water is absorbed.” The Gro Gel Plus is rather shocking. In the powder form, it is a tan powder resembling unflavored gelatin. When you add water, it becomes a vivid blue-green. As instructed, I spread the gel on top of their food. Boy, did they like that! I perhaps went a little overboard as I put all of it on the food tray, and it was enough for 100 chicks. Oh well. The instructions said to remove anything that was not eaten by morning. They didn’t seem any worse for the wear.

Before long, they had settled in and were taking a nap.

Nap time

The chicks seemed so tiny. I guess we just forget how small they are. This is a Whiting True Blue at one day.

Whiting True Blue chick upon delivery

Here it is again at one week, already getting flight feathers.

Whiting True Blue at one week, already getting grown-up feathers

Compare to the meat chickens at one week. We have started taking the food away at night because they have started growing so fast. We don’t want them going lame.

The meat chickens are already outpacing the layers

Our challenge with having the chicks in the main coop has been keeping the temperatures cool enough. We found one meat chick dead by morning on the first two days. Finally we took the leap and unplugged the heat lamp, leaving just the heated “mother hen” table for them to crawl under. After that, they were fine. We sometimes turn the lamp on for a short time in the morning if it seems cold.

In addition to the Whiting True Blues, we have three Dominiques. They have suffered from pasty butt, but it doesn’t even phase me anymore. I just take them to the bathroom sink and run warm water over their tiny butts until the poo loosens up. Then I fluff their feathers up with the blow dryer on low. I remember what a crisis I thought this was the first time it happened. Now I know they will outgrow it in about three days. The smallest chick (I call her Madeline after the children’s book) still had a little problem this morning, but I didn’t have to take her inside to get it cleaned off.

Everyone seems to be doing well now. So fun to have babies around.