Chicken Growth Chart

At 1 week they fit on my forearm; at 5 weeks they barely fit on my legs.....(left pic - (t-b) Sunny, Kya, Soleil, Luna...right pic - (t-b) Kya, Luna, Sunny, Soleil)

Luna - Black Australorp Sunny - Buff Orpington Sloeil - Buff Orpington Kya - Red Star While I have not kept up with the blog recently I have still been taking pics and making notes about the girls development and behavior....I've managed to get the girls weight (almost) everyday since they arrived and listed it below
	Luna	Sunny	Soleil	Kya
DATE	WEIGHT (IN OZ)
04/18/11	HATCHED
04/19/11	ARRIVED
04/20/11	1.375	1.875	1.625	1.500
04/21/11	1.500	1.500	1.375	1.625
04/22/11	1.875	1.875	1.625	1.875
04/23/11	2.000	2.125	1.750	2.125
04/24/11	2.375	2.375	2.000	2.375
04/25/11	2.500	2.625	2.250	2.625
04/26/11	2.875	3.000	2.375	2.875
04/27/11	3.250	3.375	2.625	3.250
04/28/11	3.375	3.375	2.750	3.500
04/29/11	3.875	3.875	2.875	3.875
04/30/11	4.375	4.250	3.000	4.375
05/01/11	4.625	4.500	3.375	4.500
05/02/11	5.125	4.875	3.625	4.750
05/03/11	5.375	5.375	3.875	5.250
05/04/11	5.875	5.750	4.250	5.625
05/05/11	6.375	6.250	4.625	6.250
05/06/11	6.875	6.500	4.875	6.625
05/07/11
05/08/11
05/09/11	8.250	7.750	5.875	8.250
05/10/11	9.000	8.375	6.500	8.875
05/11/11
05/12/11
05/13/11	10.625	9.500	7.500	9.875
05/14/11	11.250	10.250	7.375	11.375
5/15/2011 - AM	11.375	10.375	7.875	11.625
5/15/2011 - PM	12.250	10.750	8.375	11.875
05/16/11	12.125	10.875	8.500	11.500
05/17/11	13.000	11.500	9.125	12.375
05/18/11	13.750	12.125	9.750	13.000
05/19/11	14.375	12.875	10.000	13.375
05/20/11	15.000	13.125	10.375	14.000
05/21/11
05/22/11
05/23/11	17.250	14.875	11.875	15.625
05/24/11	17.625	15.375	12.500	16.250
05/25/11	18.875	16.375	13.500	17.500
05/26/11	19.000	16.875	13.875	17.625

1 week old...

The chicks were hatched one week ago today!



It is also MY birthday!! Thirty-something today at 4pm... On Friday my husband took off of work to bring home pieces of my birthday gift. A shed/chicken coop!!!






He, my brother, and my grandfather were able to get 2 sides up before they called it a day - it's going to be so cool!!!

The chicks are growing so quickly - They are getting their little tail feathers.

They like to jump up and sit in our hands/on our arms but are still not thrilled with us picking them up. They are starting to come to the door when we come into the room - I - I may be anthropomorphizing but it really seems like they know that when they see us we're going to open it up for them.

This morning I lowered the temp in the brooder to the high 80's (with a table lamp dimmer) and they seem to be fine with it. However, yesterday I turned the light in the coop off for ten minutes - I read this should be done so they don't get freaked out when the heat light is removed. The temp dropped 10 degrees (from low 90s - low 80's) in the 10 minutes so they all cuddled up on my arm.

Weights this morning are:

Luna: 2 1/2 oz
Kya: 2 5/8 oz
Sunny: 2 5/8 oz
Soleil: 2 1/4 oz


:)

Chicks - Day 3

Everyone is still doing great. I can't believe how quickly their baby feathers grow. All 4 are showing feathering on their wings through the down. Clearly not the "keeper" feathers as the Australorps are white but still noticeable feathers that were not there 2 days ago.

Speaking of feathering I found a website ( http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld006.htm ) that showed how to "feather sex" - determine the gender by looking at the wing feathers. Now from what I understand the hatchery has to breed the chickens to have this trait (ie. rapid feather male X slow feathering female). I am not sure if my chicks were bred this way HOWEVER the BA & BOs all have rapid growing feathers of different lengths, SOOO (fingers crossed) it looks like we do have all girls (the Red Star is bred in a way that the females are "red or golden" in color so we already know she's a girl).

Since it seems as we know they're all girls I've decided they should have their official names. I've been kicking around some ideas for a while (most recently was thinking of giving them "vintage" name - geraldine, beatrice..) but decided on the following:

Luna (Black Austrlorp)



Kya (Red Star/Gold Comet - Red Sex Link)



Soleil (Buff Orpington - deep yellow; looks larger)




(and the only name I'm stuck on is the last - thinking maybe...)
Sunny, Sora, or Miku??? (Buff Orpington - pale yellow; looks smaller)




With the exception of Luna, the pic don't do their absolute cuteness justice.


Weights this morning were as follows:

Luna: 1 1/2 oz
Kya: 1 5/8 oz
Soleil: 1 3/8 oz
Miku: 1 1/2 oz


Lastly, The waterer - The day the girls arrived I tapped each of their beaks on the nipple of the water bottle to show them water would come out BUT I kept an ice cube tray full of water in the brooder to be sure they learned to drink and did not dehydrate. The second day (yesterday), I tried to draw their attention to the water bottles by tapping the bottles making the nipple move and drip water. Luna was the first to pick up but the other 3 (although watching Luna closely) wanted nothing to do with it and made a bee-line to the tray. So I removed the tray and just put a small container under the water bottle to catch any drips. I also added apple cider vinegar to one of the bottles. Luna went nuts for it and drank a LOT. Kya quickly started drinking from the ACV bottle then both. The stubborn Orp sister still refused and would pick up the drips from the drip container. By this morning though all 4 are drinking from the water bottles!!

HOORAY smart (and a couple stubborn) girls!!

:)

First Morning home

Everybody made it through the night and were sleeping when I got up and checked on them at 7:15am.

The 2 big things that concerned me over night was the temp flex and pasty bums but the temp seem to stay pretty stable (under the heat lamps) and everyone has a clean booty!

Overnight I thought that I should have weighed them when they arrived so I did it first thing this morning:

Australorp - 1 3/8 oz
Orp 1 - 1 7/8 oz
Orp 2 - 1 5/8 oz
Star - 1 1/2 oz

Now as long as everyone is female (they were sexed at the hatchery but mistakes can happen) - things will be great!!!

:)

They're here!!

I got a call yesterday - 4/19 at about 9:50 am. Chris from the PO told me my package was here!! I threw on my chicken boots and headed right there.



Yep - I looked like a dork AND I was a nervous; not only was I was worried that they babies wouldn't survive the trip through the mail but I also have/had an irrational fear of post offices (not a joke). Nothing to worry about though - everyone at the PO very nice (the man who brought the chicks out said he had them growing up - bought at the flea market for $1) and the package was peeping away so I knew that at least some survived the trip.



Opening the package at home I immediately saw the Australorp and Red Star however there were 2 that looked like the Cochins I ordered BUT they didn't have the signature furry legs... Turns out the Cochins were substituted for Orpingtons.... :( Was a little bummed bc I really wanted at least 1 ornamental bird but they are all VERY healthy and that's all that matters PLUS from what I've read we'll have a LOT of eggs now.

Anyhow, everyone's healthy and active - SO FAR SO GOOD!!!

My favorite chicken resources

I spent a lot of time looking through many, many books and websites. I'm sure I learned something from each but here are some that stick out in my mind:

Books:
Read from cover to cover -
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Raising Chickens
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens

Skimmed these books-
Storey's Guide to Raising Poultry
Chickens In Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide
The Joy of Keeping Chickens
Living with Chickens: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Flock
Keeping Chickens: The Essential Guide

Books I'd still like to read-
City Chicks: Keeping Micro-flocks of Chickens as Garden Helpers, Compost Makers, Bio-reyclers, and Local Food Producers
Mini Encyclopedia of Chicken Breeds and Care: A Color Directory of the Most Popular Breeds and Their Care


Websites:

www.mypetchicken.com
www.backyardchickens.com

I visit these sites on a regular basis - backyardchickens.com in particular as there is soo much information from chicken owners of all levels (novice to pro) however BYC can be difficult to navigate through until you get "the lay of the land". mypetchicken.com is GREAT for novices, has a cool breed selector tool and you can order your chicks (as few as 3 standard chicks) directly through them (I did!)


Miscellaneous:

Two last resources that come to mind are:

The Meyer Hatchery Catalog - They include a poultry care section at the beginning of the catalog and a nice write up about each breed listed.

The Chicken Whisperer Radio Show (podcast available on itunes) - One thing you can even see when browsing website though, is that it is very, very commercial heavy.



As I mentioned at the beginning there are many, many great resources available - these are just the few I find myself going back to on regular basis

:)

Chick brooder

Prepared our brooder last night as our chicks are set to be hatched today (Monday 4/18) and can arrive anytime from Tuesday - Thursday.

Materials for the actual brooder:
Old cabinet (inside is about 1.5' x 2.5' with the doors closed)
Wire mesh (chicken wire would probably work fine)
Eye hooks
Peel-n-stick floor tile
Contact paper
Drill with hole cutting attachment (probably could use jigsaw)
White vinegar/white solution (for cleaning)


So I used an old cabinet already modified several years ago to hold my pet rats. Anyhow it already had the door cut and lined with wire meshing (forget what gauge we used, though) and there were also already eye hooks lining the inside top of the cabinet.

So the first thing I did was drill a large hole in the back of the cabinet so I could run an electrical cord out. It then, of course, it needed to be thoroughly cleaned so I washed down the inside with hot water and vinegar solution (1 part vinegar + 1 part water = great disinfectant). Then lined the bottom with some leftover peel-n-stick floor tiles and lined the walls with contact paper (the floors could have just as easily been covered with contact paper too) - I just thought it would be easier to clean if lined and really isn't necessary. Finally I lined the opening with about 1/2" wood scraps to (hopefully) keep the litter from falling out whenever the doors are opened.


Next we added the accessories.

For heat-
Brooder Lamp w/ceramic socket
100 watt red (flood)light bulb
Dimmer switch for table lamp


Getting the proper temp in the brooder was the most difficult project and it wasnt even that hard - just took a couple experimental set ups. The brooder lamp hung from the eyehooks (about 17-18" from the floor) and a 100 watt red flood light bulb made it a cozy 95 degrees! The lamp dimmer switch will allow me to lower the temp as needed.

For feed-
PVC pipe
PVC pipe elbows
Drill with hole cutting attachment


We just took a 1 1/4" pvc pipe with elbow joints at the ends, drilled 3 holes in it and hung with string from the eyehooks. The chicks aren't here yet to try it out so I can't say whether its functional or not yet but will update if it turns out to be a bust...

For water-
Water Bottles (we used old ice tea bottles)
Chicken watering nipples (search on ebay)
Drill with 11/32" attachment (maybe different depending on the chicken watering nipple specifications)



I'd really like the chicks to drink from water bottle nipple so they are not drinking water they've walked(pooped) in. Basically you just drill a 11/32" hole in whatever container you'd like to use - I used 2 ice tea bottles - and screw the nipple right in...SO simple but again - no chicks yet so idk if it'll turn out to be a bust or not.

For bedding/dustbath-
Pine shavings
Chinchilla dust bath
Old plasticware container



So I already lined the brooder with about 1-2" of pine shavings. I read that the first few days the shaving should be covered w/paper towel to make it easier for the chicks to walk...We didn't have any (paper towel) so I'm just gonna see how the do on the pine...We DID however (odd as it may be) have chinchilla dust bath so I took an old plasticware container and filled it for them to "bathe" in.

Miscellaneous-
Twine/heavy sting
Old CD's



Finally I stung some old cd's up - as "toys". I read they like the way the light reflects and looking at their reflection...we'll see.


And below is the final product - all I need are some chicks to try it out!

:)