Arrival of the Chickens

Well we are now in the "chicken" phase of the summer. Paul & I went and got them on Monday afternoon. It was a most interesting car ride home. The chicks have to be kept at a temperature between 90-95 degrees, which meant no air and the windows were only cracked. Here is a picture of the chicks in the car.

Paul built the brooder on Sunday. It measures 3X3 feet. The chicks will stay in it about 3 weeks. Laying Hens would stay in the brooder for 7-8 weeks because they grow a lot slower than the broiler chickens. I am very lucky to have such a handy husband.


To prepare the brooder we lined it with newspapers and put soft wood shavings down. This collects their waste and helps to keep them warm. Here I am moving the chicks from their traveling box into the brooder. I had to take each one out individually and dip its beak into the water so they knew what it was. For some reason I didn't need to do that with the food!


Here are the chicks just walking around that first day getting the lay of the land trying to figure out if it was going to be ok.


Here is a close up of a few of the chicks. It is a good thing they will get ugly or I don't think I could eat them! They make a very nice sound, it sounds a little like singing.