Fifty in fact.
All bright eyed and bushy tailed!!
Plus they arrived a day early (which accounts for their excellent condition – they hatched on Monday – despatched on Wednesday). And of course I was not fully ready but thankfully both the heating lamps were working ok and Our John ran to the store to get their feeding troughs for me.
Initially they are very thirsty and every single chick is given a drink by hand (my hand dunking their little beaks) so they know where their water is.
The rest of the stuff was sitting round in odd corners waiting to be collected up.
Yes! I am starting chicks for the freezer at the wrong end of the summer but there is just so much good chick feed around at this time of year. And less heat.
Heat is very hard on meat chickens.
And there will be pumpkins! Lots of pumpkins for them to eat.
I checked them a few times in the night and they were all dotted about sleeping gently. Nicely warm, evenly spaced and not over or under heated. No huddling ( which often ends in suffocation) so I was pleased.
Once again I have woken up with no internet. Every day this week it has been the same so I am sorry if this goes out late.
The thistle fields are looking lovely.
Tima met me at the car complaining about Wai picking on her – but with an obvious swipe of Wai’s zinc on her nose. A dead give away!
Tima!
The blood letting seems to be over. Wai will never like Tima but he will need her body heat in the winter. Tima just likes everyone she does not go looking for a fight at all. But thank goodness they are settling down.
Have a lovely day!
(Posting from my phone)
Celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
25 responses to “Chicks!!! Lots of Them!”
Good news, safe arrival and settling in of all those little chicks despite the last minute panic! Sorry, not panic! – l mean finalising the necessary requirements!
Those pigs, glad to read it’s calming down now, despite the zinc strewn snout rather giving the game away. Lovely cattle, bastard internet!
Yes! I have almost given up on ever getting decent internet again. Rural America is not well served ( unless a person has pots of money for internet).
The problem is we don’t have tv or phone accounts. All horrifically expensive anyway. But many people have internet tacked on to the phone or dish television. ( or whatever it is called).
How wonderful 🙂
It is hard not to waste a lot of time just watching them – at this age they are so sweet!
I can well imagine:)
I bet Nanny Boo’s excited and probably banned for the time being.
He is locked out of the brooder room. But lays outside just in case a chick ‘gets lost’ …
Ha ha – bless him!
We used to have Bob, a wonderful dog, part husky, part German shepherd, one blue eye, one brown, who was known for rounding up lost baby chicks by their faint peeping. He would corral & cradle them in his paws till mama hens could run flapping to collect them. He was like Gentle Ben the policeman in our old Dick & Jane primary readers, & like your dear Nanny Boo. Could we “verb-alize” zinc into “zinked” for when Wai has been belligerence to Tima? As in “he zinked her”. Grammarians will frown….
Yes! I love that Bob/ what a great dog! And yes! I think Wai zinger her!! 😂😂
Belligerent to Tima.
The families will eat well this winter, thanks to you!
Yes they will!
It’s especially gratifying when all the checks arrive whole and at least now they will have a happy, warm if short life.
A short warm and very well fed life!
I envy your rural setting when it comes to raising meat birds. In the suburbs, I’m only allowed 6 birds and no rooster, so I’m sticking to egg layers, but if I could, I’d raise 50 meat birds and process them for the freezer.
Wouldn’t that be a thing!!
The neighbours might get a bit traumatised, I suppose… 😂
Ahh – love the little chicks!!! They’re always so cute!! I always had to help Mother Zimmerman debeak these little things- hated that job. I have a weak stomach.
Oh mercy thankfully – I don’t de-beak them. I just make sure they have lots of space. I could not do that either.
The chicks are lovely, I can imagine their soft down. I always picture chicks at Easter, funny to see them this time of year. When we lived in Oakland we had backyard chickens, only hens as roosters weren’t allowed. I would love to have them again but there are too many predators here…foxes, bears, mountain lions, and hawks.
That’s sad. I lose a lot of chicks to hawks. But luckily we don’t have bears! That might be more than I could handle!
They look really clean and healthy. Bright eyed …..how much time to grow one ?
10 weeks at this time of year. It depends how big I grow them. They will be on the clover in three weeks.
Oh, so sweet!