We got though week one!

Wow! It's been great. And what week of learning it has been. I'm still working on getting the chicks to not be so afraid of me when I open the brooder but I guess that will come in time. I've gotten into a routine with them. In the morning I change and fill their food and water. In the afternoon Megan and Emily get to hold their chicks on the floor. In the evening I hold each chick for awhile, clean their table, change the food and water out again then I take a picture of each chick to track it's growth for this blog. I'll get a sideshow up here once I figure out how. This isn't just my first time raising chicks it's also my first time making a blog too. My computer skills are drastically lacking.
The chicks are growing like weeds. All of them have "real" feathers on their wings and Honey and Darby have the beginnings of tail feathers. They are starting to eat more too. I may have to upgrade to a larger food jar by the end of this next week. They are learning to scratch in their bedding to find food that has been miss placed. Darby will even scratch out a hole in the bedding all the way down to the cage floor! We put two toys in the brooder but so far they have ignored them. They aren't as freaked out anymore when Mugsy comes sniffing at the cage. I will try to get pictures of them with their wings spread out and maybe some flying practice video. That is if my computer doesn't try crashing on my again. It doesn't like my new digital camera.
Well, hope that you all keep coming back to watch our chicks grow some more in week two.

Chick Poop

Well, I guess I should talk about what chicks do best, besides look cute. They poop and they poop a lot. Everyone told me chick poop smells. I'll tell you the truth I haven't noticed any smell yet. Now I do only have three chicks so maybe more would but mine don't as of yet. The brooder is in my little kitchen and less then six feet from my computer so if they smelled you'd think I couldn't miss it. I picture above is of the brooder before I took up the paper towels. In a 24 hour period all the dots on the paper are poop. I took away the towels on Friday so now they are only on the Care Fresh Bedding. Every night I clean off their "table", twice a day I clean and change the food and water. Every two days I take everything out chicks and all and mix up the bedding. I'm not sure when I'll change out all the bedding but I guess when I think it dirty enough or if it ever starts to smell.
Now what about poops that happen when I'm holding them? Well, that's easy I use a poo towel. When the girls have them on the floor I use a poo blanket. And to make sure they don't step in it I just use a tissue and pick it up. The Poop isn't solid but it's not running either. I know it's gross but think frosting. :P Once they are big enough I'll get them chicken diapers to wear when they are wondering through the house. For more info and pictures of chickens in diapers go to Ruth's Chicken Diaper web site.

Emily and Darby

I decided to let Emily hold her chick after all. She has been very gentle with petting her so I thought she'd do fine at holding the chick too. With supervise of course. As you can see she did great. You can hear Megan being a "mini-mom" in the back ground.

Snacks or Friends?

This is my first baby. His name is Mugsy and he is now 10 years old. I've had him longer then I've had my husband. He is the sweetest and most protective dog I've known. No one comes into my house unannounced. If they do they'd be running back out the door until I let them back come in. But the children can do anything to him and he just takes it. Even after his two knee surgeries he let the kids cuddle him even though he was in pain.

When he was a little over a year old I brought home my first litter of five abandoned kittens(three lived). He helped me raise them. He'd be at the kittens cage before I could get there. He cleaned their faces and bottoms for me. Two years ago came the second litter of four kittens. Mugsy was kind to them but didn't show the same enthusiasm as he did with the first litter. I guess after three kittens, and two human babies he must have been thinking, "Been there done that." LOL

Now with the chicks he is showing a lot of interest in them but I'm not sure of his intent. He stands and shares at them and snuffs in the corners of the brooder. If he is in the house when I take a chick out to sit and cuddle with he whines and paces. I let him sniff and "kiss" the chicks but I feel that the affection is different then with the kittens. I hope I'm wrong but I think if he had a chance the chicks would be snacks. I will just have to see how he does with them as they get older. I'll make sure that I keep our little chickies safe.

Meet the Babies!

I finally had some free quiet time to spend with the chicks. I had originally had planned to leave them alone until Sunday. You know only handle them to clean the cage and some times their bottoms. Well that went out the window fast. If I could I'd carry them around with me all day. They are just so sweet. OK now for the introductions.

The top picture is Darby. She belongs to my youngest Emily. She calls her "Chickie Darby." Darby is a Buff Laced Polish. She should grow up to be about 4 pounds and have a beautiful feather poof on top of her head. Emily is not quite three yet so of course I do not let her hold Darby. I hold her in my hands and Emily uses a finger to pet her head and kisses her when I put her back in the brooder. Darby is fast becoming the head chick. She has a wild streak in her that if she keeps will be a prefect match for Emily as they grow up.

On the left meet Crystal. She is the whole reason we started our chicken adventure. Crystal is Megan's baby. She is a Blue Silkie and should be under 3 pounds full grown. Silkies are called the lap dog of the chicken world. They keep the "chick look" their whole lives. Their feathers lack the tiny hooks that would make them look normal. Megan wanted a white silkie so that when the chick got older she could use food coloring to dye Crystal's feathers. Yes, I know it's crazy but Megan is six and a total girly girl. I hope that Crystal and Megan become the best of friends.

At the right is my Honey. As a standard Buff Orpington she will be our big Mama at around seven pounds. I choose an Orpington for two reasons. One my Grandfather had one as a child that was more like a dog then a chicken. It even slept with the dog. And two I love the golden color of their feathers. I named her Honey because of that gorgeous color. Orps are most likely the model for big fat cartoon hens.

So there you have them. I am trying to make a slide show of each chick with them standing in front of a growth chart. I will take a picture of each chick every day to show just how fast they will grow. Keep checking in for a lot more pictures, video and stories.

Our first Video

Well this is a video of our first few moments with the chicks. If it works I'll have lots more to come.

Everything is going quite well. The family that I shared my order with came this morning to pick up their two chicks. So that leaves us with three little peeps. I'll get better pictures of them tomorrow and go into detail of who is who. I wanted them to get food, water and sleep before I started pushing a camera in the becks. As it is we have had several visits today by our neighbors who are all interested in our new and different pets. I'm lucky that my neighbors are supportive of our little adventure because I have no clue on how noisy they will be. X X Fingers crossed.

The Chickies are Here!

After months of research, weeks of waiting for them to get here and one night of restless sleep the chicks are finally here. My Pet Chicken called me on Monday to tell me that the chicks had been shipped but there was a problem with the order. Turns out that they didn't get enough white silkie chicks to go around so they sent a blue silkie instead. I had to tell my six year old Megan, that her chick was going to be different. She teared up a bit but after seeing some pictures of blue silkies she decided that blue was cute.

Tuesday's delivery time came and went and no chicks. Megan cried all the way home from school and then asked to go and check at the Post Office just in case. But still no chicks. Megan didn't sleep well last night which means neither did I. She was worried about the chicks.

At 7:35 this morning the Post office called. Megan and I went straight there. We walked into the back of the Post Office and into the sorting room. (we live in a small town so it has a small P.O.)There on the desk was the box. We popped it open and counted 1,2,3,4,5 chicks all alive and peeping! We rushed them home to put them into the heated brooder. Each chick got her beck dipped into the the water dish first thing to make sure they knew were it was. Within five minutes all were eating and drinking great. I'm trying to get a short video posted but I'm not sure how. I'll post more in a little bit.