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| Baby Chicks!! 18 of them.... |
I need to put this out there so people won't think that besides being a crazy cat lady, I am also a crazy chicken lady. I planned on starting our chicken farming experience with SIX hens/pullets. As in 1/2 of a dozen, at least half-grown. THE MAN aka. Mr. MoonCat is the CRAZY one who brought 18 (actually 19) baby chicks home for his wife to raise. Gotta love the big guy..
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| The Midge |
We need to note that these will end up being pets with names as we are raising them for eggs, not meat. From the captions on some of the photos, you can see we've already started with the process.
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| Thelma or Louise |
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| Baby Chook |
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| from l-r: Ameraucana, Rhode Island Red (2), White Leghorn, Plymouth Barred Rock |
I was originally getting Ameraucanas, Rhode Island Reds, and BROWN Leghorns. All three of these lay different colored eggs: Ameraucanas blue/green/pink eggs, Rhode Island Reds brown eggs, and the Leghorns lay white or creamy eggs. Mr. MoonCat got 2 of the 3 right.
Actually the main reason I wanted any color but WHITE Leghorns is because the white chickens tend to be easy targets for predators. Since we have a cover over the entire chicken run and coop area, that shouldn't be an issue (we hope). The Plymouth Barred Rock weren't in the running and I think those are our "free" birds.
Actually the main reason I wanted any color but WHITE Leghorns is because the white chickens tend to be easy targets for predators. Since we have a cover over the entire chicken run and coop area, that shouldn't be an issue (we hope). The Plymouth Barred Rock weren't in the running and I think those are our "free" birds.
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| Aren't they cute? (for now) |
Now, I'll tell you why it is actually 19 chicks not 18 as we thought or have pictured, but before PETA or some other organization attacks - the hubby had no idea how many chicks were in the box - this was an accident and he was horrified.
My dad's friend runs the feed store and stashed a bunch of extra (as in, unknown number of) chicks in with hubby's 10 chicks that he bought. Great, except that Chick #19 was found under the backseat of the pickup today. She'd apparently got out of the box in transit and stowed away. She was alone in the HOT truck from early yesterday afternoon until late today. Mr MoonCat called me frantically from the gas station to tell me he had a baby chick that needed immediate attention. He'd heard a strange chirping over the radio and couldn't figure out what it was until he stopped for gas!
So, #19 now known as HeartyGirl was rushed home to mama where I gave her sugar water and fussed over the tiny little thing for a few hours. As soon as I got her pecking at the water dish and taking little drinks, she seemed to revive pretty quickly. When I placed her in the pen she happily started pecking around with the others. I made sure she found the water before I left her to it. When I went out to put the babies in the coop for the night, she seemed to be doing well.
Hopefully she will have a complete recovery from her ordeal. I don't know about poor Mr. MoonCat though as he has called three times to check on her since he left the house. The big softie actually thought he could raise these babies for meat as well as eggs :)
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| enjoying the outside pen |
aww so cute :) hope the little chick stays all right. thats a lot of chickens to raise at a time, but you should get lots of eggs now once they are older. I couldn't raise them and eat them, I've known people that were raising them for food to name the chicken's after chicken food dishes :p
ReplyDeleteThanks Jennifer. Ms. HeartyGirl aka #19, is doing quite well today. She was one of the first to attack a piece of watermelon the hubby put down for them. I think she's a survivor!
ReplyDeleteMy dad was here this morning making fun of us having already started to name the chickens. He is another big softie so I don't listen :)
Aww! So much fun! I loved having chickens, and miss having them around. Someday I'll have a bigger place, and then look out! I'll be a chicken-lady too!
ReplyDeleteThe chickens are adorable!!
ReplyDeleteAnd that is good news about #19 :) I couldn't imagine eating them either!!
SheilaC
OMG! Don't you have enough to do! OK, OK, they are cute! Congrats! Glad it's you and not me! Ha!
ReplyDeleteRue - I think I've already turned into the crazy chicken lady. They are so darn cute, I spend way too much time playing with them.
ReplyDeleteSheila - I'm happy to report that #19/Ms HeartyGirl is doing very well. She's a champ.
Nancy - Exactly!!! But, they are cute (for now). We keep them in a little "chicken corral" in the middle of the chicken run during the day so they can scratch away and eat bugs while protected. But it's a 2 person job to get them back into the coop at night. They're busy little bodies!
That man is lucky I love him so :)
We're thinking of getting chickens, though I won't be getting Rhode Island Reds as the sound like they get mean with the other birds.We will probably end up with Araucanas, Crevecoeurs, and Cochins, just because of their personalities.
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