Chicks at Blue Oak Canyon Ranch

Post date: Apr 16, 2016 10:23:23 PM

The plan was, to get four chicks, good laying breeds, to provide eggs for the two of us and occasional give-aways. Pullets. So, yesterday, here we came home from the local feed store with seven. Three Americaunas, three Rhode Island Reds, and one Blue Wyandotte. The one BW was the last of its batch, and had to be kept in an enclosure in the bathroom of the feed store (they had to remove it from the showroom to make room for that day's shipment). We felt bad for it, so...

The Rhode Island reds in the first and second photos above are sleeping - they are the red chicks, naturally. The Americaunas are striped, two of ours are brown and one is yellow, all with dark brown stripes on their backs. The Blue Wyandotte is gray with yellow breast, at the feeder in the third photo. Aren't they all adorable?

When we got them home, we put them in a galvanized tub with shavings, food, and water and a heat lamp, where they overnighted. Today, we took out an antique incubator we have had for years, that had its innards removed years ago. I used it to store wool and other stuff for a while, then we set it aside just waiting for a use. We cleaned it up and put shavings, etc. in it and some poultry netting over the top - the chicks were already trying to jump up and fly and we were afraid they would get out and fall. The incubator makes an admirable brooder for these little gals. The incubator, in the garage, is shown in the photo below.

The sign, which came for free with the chicks and a bag of chick feed, is self explanatory!

I have some short videos of the chicks which are being processed by Google, I will post them soon.