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
Diet in
Newport News, Virginia
We have many Rare Chicken Breeds for sale in Newport News Virginia,
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. Newport News
Virginia also has poultry equipment for sale, game chickens for sale in
Newport News Virginia, 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 Newport News VA.
Baby Chickens Coop in
Newport News, Virginia
Thumbing through a baby chickens for sale in Newport News Virginia
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
Newport News Virginia * 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 Newport News
Virginia * 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 Male Or Female in
Newport News, Virginia
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
Newport News Virginia 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 Newport News,
Virginia Baby chicks are really
cute and
challenging to stand up to,
yet it's ideal to prepare for their
arrival before you obtain them. Prepare first
by gathering not only the
correct products, yet
additionally the proper
expertise to care for
them. Raising baby chicks is fairly
straightforward, you just have to supply them with the following: A tidy as well as warm and comfortable
environment A lot of food and water Focus and
love Environment Your environment can be a
simple box, fish tank,
feline service provider, or guinea
pig cage. Line it with old towels and
blankets (without any loose
strings!) to begin, and after a few weeks make use of straw over paper.
Keep in mind: Avoid utilizing only
newspaper or other slipper
surface areas-- or your chicks legs could expand
malformed. You additionally need
something to provide food as well as
water in, such as a chicken feeder as well as water
dish from the feed shop, or a pickle container
lid for food and a pet bird water dispenser from a
pet dog store. Likewise, as the chicks age you could present a perch
into the habitat to get them
trained on setting down. Heat To
keep your chicks heat you should
provide them with a warmth resource.
This can be as straightforward as a 100 watt
light bulb in a reflective clamp style light from an equipment shop, or an infrared reptile heat
light bulb likewise work very
well (my
recommendation). Chicks require this
warmth 24/7 until their downy fluff is
replaced with feathers (which can take up to two months). The recently
hatched need a temperature level
in between 90 and also 100 levels,
and also each week this can
be decreased by
around 5 levels approximately. The warmth source must be on just one side of the cage
to enable chicks a range of
temperature levels. The chicks are your finest
thermometer- if they are hiding in the
contrary corner of your warmth
light, you have to
minimize the temperature. If
they are surrounding each other under the
heat (not just cuddling),
you need to include some warmth.
Home cleaning
Cleanliness is essential and also it keeps your chicks healthy. Be sure to alter
the bedding
usually and also
consistently provide tidy
food and also water Food and also water.
Chicks expand extremely fast
which requires lots of clean
food and also water. Give
sufficient in any way times and also inspect
commonly to prevent dehydrated and also
starving chicks. Chick food is different than adult chicken food, and it comes
in both medicated and non-medicated varieties. Feed chick food for the
first 2 months, then
switch to a grower food (~ 17 %
protein) for another 2 months,
then to a somewhat
reduced healthy protein feed or a layer feed
(if you have levels). Soil Some chicks want
to get a running start on taking
dirt bathrooms, while others won't use up that activity until they are
older. If you have the space in your chick
unit, present a tray of sand or
filth for them to wash in.
Interest and also love There are a couple of advantages to hanging
out with your chicks. Firstly, they will most
likely bond with you and
not run away as grownups. Second, if you
examine your chicks daily and also
enjoy their actions, you could
capture ailment or various
other problems previously. Keep an
eye out for wheezing, hopping, or
various other undesirable
indicators. Make sure to
additionally consider
their poop, as diarrhea could bring about matted feathers as well
as obstructed cloaca.
Lastly, it is necessary to look out
for social issues, such as the
littlest chick obtaining teased. Vacant nest disorder So your
chicks are now fully feathered
as well as its time for them to leave the
security of your residence
and move outside into a
coop. Take a look at our
area on chicken coops to get more information
concerning cages as well as
correct coop environments.
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