Chickens, week 2

Chicks at 1 week old

The chicks officially have reached their second week of life today and so far with good success.  We think we received 39 chicks in our order of 35 from Jenks Hatchery in Tangent, Oregon, but I'm still not swearing by that number.  For being so small, they can move fast and pretty much all look alike.  Out of our original shipment, we've lost three. Two died due to unknown causes, though honestly I would guess it's probably shipping woes and never quite recovering from the indignity of traveling through the mail in a squishy chicken box.  Those two babies never made the transition and were noticeably smaller then there thriving counterparts.  A third chick suffered an injury to a leg and eye (maybe too much love from one of the boys? or a turf war under the brooder?).  I'm finding these little lessons in life and death to be a bit harder than I expected ~ dealing with infant death is not my forte.  The oldest and youngest, on the other hand, are handling these sad events with a lot more forthrightness and understanding than I expected. 

It's amazing how much the chicks grew in only a week's time, and how quickly they are changing from cute little yellow puff balls into more adolescent looking birds with the scraggly beginnings of grown-up feathers on wing and tail.  I'm expecting we only have about a week left of referring to them as "the chicks" and will graduate to calling them "the mob."  We should also soon be able to establish gender.  A few of what I guess are males have been exhibiting some coop posturing, bumping chests and splaying wings in hooligan-like shows of dominance.  Ah, yes, the teenage years are soon upon us!

The hover brooder

Our chick nursery consists of our homemade hover brooder (made from salvaged items) and a penned in area in our garage.  The hover brooder came from an idea suggested on my favorite mothering message board which led us to Robert Plamondon's website and his book, Success With Baby Chicks.  We're also following Plamondon's suggestion of using a deep litter made of pine shavings & chips.  The current plan is to move them out on "the range" (i.e. the backyard) at about 2-3 weeks of age, depending on weather.  The husband is constructing a movable chicken tractor, sort of a knock-off version of the one designed by Joe Salatin of Polyface Farms but with a pitched roof in deference to our cooler, wetter Northwest springs.