Raising Baby Chicks, Week 1, Part 1: In Which We Are Introduced

We got our little day-old chicks in the mail on February 20.  We had ordered 15 from Cackle Hatchery -- five each of three different breeds:  Cinnamon Queen (sex-linked hybrid), Plymouth Barred Rock, and Silver-Laced Wyandotte.  They are all supposed to be pullets, but you can't be certain of that until they're older.  Cackle Hatchery sent an extra one along to help ensure that we got 15 live chicks.  They were all alive, so we got a total of 16 little babies.  The extra is a Barred Rock. They were packed in a snug little box.  Sadly, I don't have a picture of that.  However, I DID get my new camera in the mail on the same day they arrived! (Yes, it took me a while to get it replaced.)  Hooray!  Photos on my own camera again!  How exciting!

We thought at first that one of the Cinnamon Queens was dead, as she'd gotten pressed down into the bedding under the others and wasn't moving, but when Bethany touched her, she suddenly started and revived.  She did seem to have something wrong with her, though -- a little trouble moving around, which seemed due to her wing being injured.  We speculated it was from being trampled by the others.  As the day went on she seemed to improve, though.  Before too long, she was doing just fine, and we couldn't even tell she'd ever had anything wrong with her.

This was their home for the first week -- a large plastic storage bin, which we kept in our bathroom, to better keep a close eye on them in those early days.  Here are two of the eager observers.

They had enough room at first, but they grew so fast that by the end of the week they were ready for a new home.

They were such cute, fluffy little things.  This is one of the Wyandottes with Tirzah.

Bethany holding a Rock and a Wyandotte.

Abraham sizing them up.  He decided they were "baby."

Cuteness.

He was pretty happy with them.

Cinnamon Queen at the top, Wyandotte just below her, and Barred Rock on the right.

They were tough to photograph, moving almost constantly, and going to the bathroom quite a lot too, as this picture shows.  They are very messy creatures...

 but very cute.  Like most babies, I guess.

The Wyandotte was falling asleep here.  They were pretty funny, they'd fall asleep pretty suddenly and sort of fall over slowly, wherever they were standing, following their little heads down to the ground.  But they didn't seem to sleep long, and would be up again quickly if another one bumped them at all.  

 To be continued...

For more about our chicken experience, follow this link, or click on the "CHICKENS" tab at the top of the page.