Due to the interest we have been shown in farm fresh eggs, Ben and I decided to buy some laying chicks in addition to our first batch of meat bird chicks that we purchased. We have 5 laying hens right now that almost make enough eggs for Ben and I to thrive on, but not enough to provide for anyone else. If people want eggs, we definitely need more chickens.
We order our birds as day-old chicks directly from a hatchery. They get shipped to us through the mail in a special cardboard chick box, which I still think is entertaining even though we have done it several times now.
This year, since we are ordering our chicks earlier than last year (and because mother nature's plans aren't coinciding with ours) we chose to set up our chick brooders in the kitchen instead of out in the barn. Chicks need a specific (and very warm) temperature range in order to stay healthy, and where it has been so frigging cold, we didn't think that the barn would be warm enough, even if we used all the heat lamps we could plug in.
So, Ben crafted some brooders. A brooder is a heated space used for raising young chicks. Last year we had a corral made out of baled shavings, and raised chicks in their coop, expanding the corral every couple of weeks until they occupied the whole coop. This worked great because it was summer, and it was nice and warm. It won't work right now, so we went with homemade brooder boxes instead. The brooders Ben made for this year have been fantastic. They're cleaner, safer, affordable, well vented and so far have been awesome. Also, they're made out of Rubbermaid tubs. Not, real ones, but the cheaper Walmart versions. Super creative on his part if you ask me.
The chickies are going to be 3 weeks old this week, and are growing great. Almost so great that we will need to build another tub for them to live in.
Its really fun to be eating dinner and hearing the soft peeping from the other room, or when I get up to do chores and turn on the lights to be greeted with enthusiastic cheeps. They will have to move to the barn at some point, but for now we can enjoy a house full of contented chirping. Leo likes them too. That's him spying on them in the center photo.
We order our birds as day-old chicks directly from a hatchery. They get shipped to us through the mail in a special cardboard chick box, which I still think is entertaining even though we have done it several times now.
This year, since we are ordering our chicks earlier than last year (and because mother nature's plans aren't coinciding with ours) we chose to set up our chick brooders in the kitchen instead of out in the barn. Chicks need a specific (and very warm) temperature range in order to stay healthy, and where it has been so frigging cold, we didn't think that the barn would be warm enough, even if we used all the heat lamps we could plug in.
So, Ben crafted some brooders. A brooder is a heated space used for raising young chicks. Last year we had a corral made out of baled shavings, and raised chicks in their coop, expanding the corral every couple of weeks until they occupied the whole coop. This worked great because it was summer, and it was nice and warm. It won't work right now, so we went with homemade brooder boxes instead. The brooders Ben made for this year have been fantastic. They're cleaner, safer, affordable, well vented and so far have been awesome. Also, they're made out of Rubbermaid tubs. Not, real ones, but the cheaper Walmart versions. Super creative on his part if you ask me.
The chickies are going to be 3 weeks old this week, and are growing great. Almost so great that we will need to build another tub for them to live in.
Its really fun to be eating dinner and hearing the soft peeping from the other room, or when I get up to do chores and turn on the lights to be greeted with enthusiastic cheeps. They will have to move to the barn at some point, but for now we can enjoy a house full of contented chirping. Leo likes them too. That's him spying on them in the center photo.