Mob 3 is in the house!

Introducing Mob 3

Under the hover brooder

The new nursery set-up

Mob 3, aka our newest flock of 42 Cornish Rock Cross, surprisingly arrived TODAY.  Considering it was only YESTERDAY that I finalized the order with Jenks Hatchery in Oregon, I think this qualifies as a minor postal miracle.  We're quite thankful to have the barely one-day old chicks here since, in our all be it somewhat limited experience, shorter transit time and earlier access to food and water seem to result in lower mortality rate.  One of the chicks seems a little off it's game after it's trip through the mail but the rest of the mob are extremely active and healthy.

As you may notice from the pictures, we've changed up the nursery a little.  We moved it to another section of the garage so they have a bit more room, and we centered the hover brooder.  In addition we put the food and water stations at opposite ends of the nursery and are using a towel underneath in an effort to keep the wood chips and poo out.  So far so good.

I'm always amazed at how incredibly small the chicks are.  I never remember from time to time how really tiny they seem to be... or how much spunky personality they possess.  Within a few minutes of being introduced to their new home, these little buggers were running races from one end of their enclosure to the other and were peeping madly.  When we initially place the chicks in the nursery, we only present water to them so they have the chance to fully hydrate prior to eating any solid food.  They're not big fans of this method but it seems to work well.

Checking out the new digs