We raise chickens. We didn’t plan to really. We fell into it through a program called the Chick Chain with a local 4H Club. Our then 9-year-old son received 25 one-day-old chicks to raise for about 4 months with the agreement he’d bring his 5 best to the local County Fair. These chicks would then be auctioned to the highest bidder, and those funds used to buy chicks the following year for the program. What we didn’t expect is our son Mo received the Reserve Grand Champion award, which meant his chickens were the 2nd best of the show.
And from that moment on we were all hooked! I’m sad to say Mo’s affection for the chickens has worn off, but me and our three Littles love to care for them and they offer me a form of therapy honestly. There is just something therapeutic about watching them interact and to learn their language. They actually DO have different clucks and calls that mean different things. Now I’m not a chicken nor do I speak chicken, but I do understand a lot of their language. I come running out the back door for instance if I hear our rooster sending out a distress call, and I now know why our grandmas used to say “Now don’t go getting your feathers all ruffled” because I’m here to tell you the ladies most definitely DO ruffle those feathers at a certain time … or rather, after a certain event involving the rooster.
Fast forward a few years and we’re knee deep in chickens. Black sex-links from 4H, New Hampshire Reds from last year’s Spring chicks we raised and a lone one I believe is a Bantan. On March 25, we went on a whim one day to the feed store and picked up 12 new chicks. We chose 6 Bantam pullets and 6 Buff Orpinton female chicks. We were so excited especially about the Buffs as we’ve always wanted some and they are so sweet and fluffy! Up until May 7, our babies were growing and had also outgrown the brooder. We did lose one of the Bantams on the second day they were home, finding the pullet one morning on the bottom of a pile of chicks. This can happen as they all huddle together to stay warm. We do use heat lamps for them as well, but they naturally like to stay close together just as they would with a Momma hen.
Unfortunately, we had a tragic circumstance with a stray dog we found across the street and had taken in as our own. He was so curious of the chicks and one evening while we were all away, he was able to enter their fenced pen and also breech the metal locker, which we’ve used two years for our chicks when we transition them outside but before we put them in with the adult hens. We had thought they were safe and he was safe from having access to them, because we knew he wasn’t ready to be alone with them off-leash. Our chicks had been outside only a week when the tragedy occurred. They were just 7 weeks old, but we were already loved them very much. This last collage shows the last photos we have of them, and they were all taken the last week of our sweet babies’ lives. We will always miss them! They all had names and we had great hopes for them in our flock.
It is a tough lesson for our Littles to endure and honestly it hit me hard as well, but we’ve learned that sometimes farm life involving animals can leave us facing circumstances that are just heart-breaking and difficult to walk out. We will always remember those weeks we had with our Bantams and Buffs, and one day again we will have more Buffs. They are just too sweet and cute. The photo at the top of this post was taken of one of our Buffs when she was a couple of weeks old.
Just a week before we lost our early Spring chicks, we had 5 chicks hatch from our new incubator. These babies are all from our own flock, which is a first for us! They were born on April 30 and May 1!
We still have a lot to learn as we discovered that 13 of the 18 eggs we incubated were in fact fertilized, but for some reason only 5 of the 13 hatched and of those 5, only 3 survived. They are doing so well and are now 5 weeks old and were more than ready to be transitioned outside. We kept finding them walking about the garden shed where we keep the brooder, presumably having flown the brooder! On Sunday, we moved them to our second pen to begin their acclimation to the outside world. They have spent time outdoors under our watchful eyes, and they are always chasing bugs that fly into their brooder. They are spreading their wings literally, practicing flying and just so precious!
While the keeping of chickens is hard work and the pay-off monetarily doesn’t make sense practically speaking, there are rewards and gains that can’t be measured in dollars and cents. Our children are learning valuable lessons in responsibility, nurturing of creatures, putting others’ needs above our desires, and that farm fresh eggs really do taste better! Nothing is honestly more thrilling in the simplest of ways than arriving in the henhouse right at that moment when one of our ladies has just laid an egg, and we gather it up noting its warmth and thanking her for her hard work!
I hope to share more posts about our chickens as I revive this oft-forgotten blog. Please let me know what you’d like to know about chickens and I will try my best to make this as educational as possible!
Our chicks from our own flock are now about 6 weeks old and we just moved them out to the pen and small hutch! They were scared at first, but now they love it and are exploring and testing their flying skills too! They are just adorable! I will add more photos; these were taken within the last two weeks.
Baby Chicks Order Online in
Congerville, Illinois
We have many Rare Chicken Breeds for sale in Congerville Illinois,
including Sussex Chickens, Welsummer Chickens, Turken Chickens and more.
Be sure to check out the Bargain Specials, as you can combine different
egg layers in smaller amounts and buy as an assortment. Congerville
Illinois also has poultry equipment for sale, game chickens for sale in
Congerville Illinois, bantams for sale, ducks for sale, geese for sale,
turkeys for sale, guinea for sale, peafowl for sale, pheasant for sale,
chukar partridge for sale, bobwhite for sale, many different breeds of
baby chicks for sale in Congerville IL.
Baby Chicks For Easter in
Congerville, Illinois
Thumbing through a baby chickens for sale in Congerville Illinois
catalog is a yearly traditions in many houses. My kids and I eagerly await
the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog. We love looking at all the cool and
different chicken breeds available. Catalogs are free so head on over to
their site and request one if you are interested.
Typically hatcheries online offer both standard breeds
and bantams. Bantams are fun hardy little chickens, they lay tiny eggs
that kids especially love collecting. Bantams typically weigh less than 2
pounds when full grown. Just like ordering anything online there are pros
and cons to ordering baby chicks online. Pros of buying baby chicks in
Congerville Illinois * Big Selection - If you are wanting a large
variety of different chicken breeds and egg colors, you will find the best
selection at an online hatchery. * Both Bantams and full sized chickens
available * You get to choose what sex you want. If you want a mixture of
both male and female then choosing a "straight run" will save you money
and you will get a mixture of male and female chicks. You can also choose
all males or all females too. * Weekly specials. Hatcheries have sales on
chicks, you are likely to get a good deal if you are flexible with the
breeds you are wanting. Cons of buying baby chicks in Congerville
Illinois * Order early to get the best selection. Certain breeds sell
out fast, sometimes as early as 6 months in advance of shipping! If you
are wanting a certain breed it's best to order your chicks in the fall
before their orders sell out.
Baby Chickens in
Congerville, Illinois
Quantity - you must order a certain number of chicks. Typically hatcheries
will require you buy a minimum of 25 chicks at a time. The number is
necessary for the chicks survival during shipping. All 25 chicks are put
in one small box without heat. They are crowded in the box and produce
enough body heat to arrive in good shape. * The wait - If you choose to
buy chicks from a feed store you will have them the same day but if you
choose to go with a hatchery you have to wait until they are ready to ship
and then wait for the chicks to arrive. Ordering baby chicks online in
Congerville Illinois is easy and has always been a very pleasant
experience of me. It can be a little frustrating waiting for the chicks
but it's so worth the wait. When the post office calls and you hear all
those little "cheeps" or "chirps" in the background you'll know the wait
was worth it! How to Care for your new baby chickens in Congerville,
Illinois Baby chicks are very
adorable and
challenging to resist,
yet it's ideal to prepare for their
arrival before you get them. Prepare first
by collecting not just the
correct materials, yet
likewise the appropriate
expertise to take care of
them. Raising baby chicks is fairly
straightforward, you merely have to offer them with the following: A
clean as well as warm
environment Lots of food and water Interest and
love Habitat Your habitat could be a
simple box, aquarium,
feline service provider, or guinea
porker cage. Line it with old towels as well as
blankets (with no loosened
strings!) to begin, and after a few weeks use straw over newspaper.
Note: Avoid making use of just
newspaper or various other slipper
surfaces-- or your chicks legs can expand
misshapen. You additionally require
something to serve up food and also
water in, such as a chicken feeder and also water
recipe from the feed shop, or a pickle jar
cover for food as well as a pet dog bird water dispenser from a
pet dog store. Also, as the chicks age you can introduce a perch
into the environment to obtain them
educated on perching. Heat To
keep your chicks heat you should
provide them with a heat resource.
This can be as simple as a 100 watt
light bulb in a reflective clamp style light from an equipment shop, or an infrared reptile heat
bulb likewise work extremely well (my
recommendation). Chicks need this
heat 24/7 till their downy fluff is
changed with plumes (which can take up to two months). The freshly
hatched require a temperature
in between 90 and also 100 degrees,
and every week this could
be lowered by
roughly 5 levels or
so. The warmth resource must be on simply one side of the cage
to allow chicks a variety of
temperatures. The chicks are your finest
thermometer- if they are concealing in the
contrary edge of your warmth
light, you should
decrease the temperature. If
they are smothering each various other under the
heat (not simply cuddling),
you need to include some heat.
House cleaning
Tidiness is crucial as
well as it maintains your chicks healthy and
balanced. Be sure to transform
the bed linen
typically as well as
always offer clean
food and water Food and water.
Chicks grow quite fast
which needs lots of tidy
food and also water. Provide
enough in any way times and examine
commonly to avoid parched and also
hungry chicks. Chick food is various than adult chicken food, and also it is available in both medicated as well as non-medicated varieties. Feed chick food for the
initial two months, then
switch over to a raiser food (~ 17 %
protein) for an additional 2 months,
and afterwards to a somewhat
lower protein feed or a layer feed
(if you have layers). Soil Some chicks want
to obtain a head start on taking
dirt baths, while others will not occupy that task until they are
older. If you have the area in your chick
unit, introduce a tray of sand or
dust for them to bathe in.
Attention and also love There are a couple of benefits to hanging
out with your chicks. First of all, they will certainly more than likely bond with you and
not flee as adults. Second, if you
analyze your chicks daily and
see their habits, you could
capture ailment or various
other issues previously. Watch out for wheezing, hopping, or
various other unhealthy
indications. Make certain to
also consider
their poop, as diarrhea could lead
to matted feathers as well
as clogged cloaca.
Last but not least, it is very
important to watch out for social concerns, such as the
littlest chick getting picked
on. Vacant nest syndrome So your
chicks are currently completely feathered
and its time for them to leave the
security of your home
and move outside right into a cage. Check out our
area on chicken coops to read more
concerning cages as well as
correct coop habitats.
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