My New Peeps

Like an anxious father pacing the floor at the hospital I've been awaiting the arrival of my chicks. Finally, the doctor...er postmaster called me at just before 6 AM and told me of their arrival. I was instantly awake and thinking what do I do now? Not unlike my first foray into fatherhood, I guess.

After getting the brooder warmed up and the watering items (apple cider vinegar and sugar) set up, I traveled to the post office where my chicks were awaiting my arrival. The postmaster said she left them in the back part of the post office because they started chirping at 5:45 and they were too loud to keep in the main area. Indeed, they were singing up a storm!!!



I first checked for mortality when I got the box o' birds home. Only 1 had died in transit. I had read to expect a few deaths so I was pleased to see only one had not survived the journey. It wasn't until later that I realized the box had been separated boys from girls, so I was able to determine we'd lost one of our ladies. And I forgot to start counting each one as I took them out of the box. So I think there's about 50 total, but I don't know with absolute certainty. Counting chicks as they run around a brooder just can't be done!


I took each peep out the box and dipped their nose in the water/vinegar/sugar concoction and made sure I saw them swallow the water before letting them go. They immediately ran under the light, then quickly figured out where the food was, and then started running in circles like a bunch of drunk racehorses let loose on the track. Maybe less sugar next time.


Then I just watched...and watched...and watched some more. Studying. Learning. Enjoying. It was really quite relaxing watching these chick run all over the place while chirping and pecking at things and each other. Eventually they quieted from their sugar rush and would periodically drift off to sleep wherever the stood. Some fell asleep inside the feeder. Others fell asleep right where they stood.







You talkin' to me?


My primary concern was warmth for the chicks. The light was too hot so I went to raise it and the cord popped free of the drop cord and the light fell down, right on a handful of chicks. I quickly went to work lifting the lamp from the brooder floor and the dazed chick at ground zero stood up and sped off. I started rearranging the whole brooder after that and eventually added a box that acts a little like a "hover" so the chicks could get out of the draft and, between their body heat and the heat lamp, I think they should be fine during this unseasonably cool week predicted.




The kids, of course, were jazzed to hold the chicks.




The shipment came with a "surprise" chick. Can you guess which one it is (if you've seen the above pics you probably have already noticed one of these things doesn't look like the others)? I'll have to do a search to find out the breed of our "surprise."



The girls named it "Surprise" despite my discouragement. They also named this one "Egghead" because a tiny piece of its shell was still stuck to its head.