Post by Lannie on May 4, 2012 12:49:09 GMT -5
My chicks showed up this morning, all alive and well, and we got them situated in the brooder with the keets. The chicks are all very robust and active. I only had to hold their heads near the water and they were already drinking. There were only a couple I had to actually dunk their beaks.
Then they found the food. OMG, what a ruckus! The keets are all smashed together as far away from those monsters as they can get. And I was worried that maybe I'd timed it wrong - I figured to give the keets a week head start on the chicks, since the keets are so much smaller, and by yesterday I was thinking the keets were getting pretty active and cantankerous... then to see them all panic and pile up like that... weird. I actually hope I don't lose any more due to smothering now, but there's not much I can do.
I haven't taken any pictures yet (it's been quite a day - Bandit was all bloated this morning, Rich had to leave to go pick up the chicks just as I was coming back from milking, Becca's in bad shape today and needs to be put down, and I feel like my rubber band is stretched as tight as it will go). At some point today, though, I definitely will go take a few pictures.
For those of you that have had Welsummer or Speckled Sussex chicks, which ones have the blue on their faces next to their beaks?
Also, I think every one of these chicks has some wing feathers already. I thought they didn't get wing feathers until they were about a week old. They wouldn't have made the trip in the box if they were older than a day, though, right? I'm mystified about the wing feathers. The keets are just over a week old now, and have about as many wing feathers as these two day old chicks do.
Anyway, the chicks seem very contented and happy (not so the keets! LOL!), peeping and eating and drinking and roaming around exploring their new home, so I think this will be a much better experience than the keets were. I'm down to 14 keets, but haven't lost any in the last few days, so I hope the ones that are left will all make it. That is if they don't get smooshed.
~Lannie
Then they found the food. OMG, what a ruckus! The keets are all smashed together as far away from those monsters as they can get. And I was worried that maybe I'd timed it wrong - I figured to give the keets a week head start on the chicks, since the keets are so much smaller, and by yesterday I was thinking the keets were getting pretty active and cantankerous... then to see them all panic and pile up like that... weird. I actually hope I don't lose any more due to smothering now, but there's not much I can do.
I haven't taken any pictures yet (it's been quite a day - Bandit was all bloated this morning, Rich had to leave to go pick up the chicks just as I was coming back from milking, Becca's in bad shape today and needs to be put down, and I feel like my rubber band is stretched as tight as it will go). At some point today, though, I definitely will go take a few pictures.
For those of you that have had Welsummer or Speckled Sussex chicks, which ones have the blue on their faces next to their beaks?
Also, I think every one of these chicks has some wing feathers already. I thought they didn't get wing feathers until they were about a week old. They wouldn't have made the trip in the box if they were older than a day, though, right? I'm mystified about the wing feathers. The keets are just over a week old now, and have about as many wing feathers as these two day old chicks do.
Anyway, the chicks seem very contented and happy (not so the keets! LOL!), peeping and eating and drinking and roaming around exploring their new home, so I think this will be a much better experience than the keets were. I'm down to 14 keets, but haven't lost any in the last few days, so I hope the ones that are left will all make it. That is if they don't get smooshed.
~Lannie