Happy Little Homestead

I had heard that baby chicks sometime ride on their mom’s back and now I know it’s true!  It was just what I needed to break up a serious case of “The Mondays” and, in fact, was so cute, it made me giggle.  The little yellow baby tried “her best to get up there too, but big brother ( we’re guessing the chick is a roo based on personality) wouldn’t stand aside to let her up.  It was a proper game of “king of the mountain”

The babies are in fact growing almost as fast as the weeds in my garden are. They all have some feathers coming in and are flapping their little wings when they run. I love to watch them interact with their mom.  They are pretty pesky when you come right down to it.  Whatever she is eating, they jump right in and and take from her.  I didn’t know chickens did this, but, I observed that the babies will peck at mama hen’s mouth after she eats something. I’ve never seen her regurgitate anything for them, but I found it fascinating.  I have also observed good ol’ mom jumping up to catch bugs, then dropping them on the ground for the chicks to eat.

The thing that has amazed me the most about this hatching adventure is that everything is so different than when we raised our first batch of chicks in the garage last year.  If you have read any literature about raising baby chicks, it is full of  information that would lead you to believe that baby chicks are so fragile, that, if their environment and feed isn’t controlled precisely, they will surely perish!

The literature tells you that baby chicks should be kept at 90-95 degrees their 1st week then decrease the temp by 5 degrees every week until you get down to 70 degrees, or until they are fully feathered-whichever comes first. If you don’t do this they will get too cold and could suffer some serious consequences. “They” also tell you that the chicks cannot go outside until they are at least 3 weeks old, but it needs to be warm, dry, and windless outside.

Our babies hatched when it was quite hot outside-it was in the upper 80′s and low 90′s for about 3 days, but then the rain came, and with the rain, the wind and temperatures in the 60′s.  I assumed the babies would not come out from their little house nor out from under their mother at all after the temps dropped so drastically, but NO!  They were outside in the cool and damp running around like kids at the park.  Did they duck under their warm feathery mom more often? Yes.  A soften as I thought they would? No. They didn’t go back inside to get warm either.  Mom just laid down on the damp ground then they crawled underneath her. I suspect the recent temperature would account for why they are more feathered at this point in their lives than the brooder babies we raised last year.

The literature also tells you that all they should eat for the first few weeks is their chick starter food.  It has all of the proper nutrient a baby chick needs for “optimal development and health”.  Our babies have their chick food, but they are eating grass, bugs, scratch, things that blow in on the wind, leftovers I throw out to mama hen, and guess what?  They are robust and healthy!

So they are not in a constant temperature controlled environment, have gotten damp, and are eating all manner of things that are technically “verboten” yet they thrive. Hmm…  interesting.  I understand that people need some sort of direction when taking on this great adventure of raising chickens for the very first time. God knows I did!  But now that I have let nature do all of the work I see that perhaps that, in an effort to reduce the mortality rate of chicks raised in a brooder instead of by a hen, “they” might have gone a bit overboard.  Does it really help or hurt the chicks?  By not exposing them to temperature fluctuations and a variety of food, do we make them stronger, or weaker?

I am not suggesting that one completely throws caution to the wind and raise chicks any old way they please. I am suggesting however, that maybe one could relax a bit, not be so neurotic about everything being by the book ( like I was), and still have healthy baby chicks that grow into healthy strong birds!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, onto chocolate eggs! I am happy to announce that I have just ordered 5 Black Copper Maran pullets from a local breeder!  If you’ve never heard of the Maran breed, they lay dark DARK brown eggs; the color of chocolate!  I ordered them from Jennifer at http://www.redbarnmeadows.com/, in Poland, NY.  I will be able to pick them up once they are old enough to determine that they ladies and not gents.  Here is a link to the Maran club of the US if you want to learn more about the breed: http://www.maransusa.org/ They have some nice pictures of Maran eggs  in addition to pictures comparing the Maran eggs to those of other breeds of chickens.

I can’t wait until I am filling up egg cartons with such a rainbow of egg colors!