It's baby chicken time!!!
After losing three of my chickens (2 hens and the rooster) to hawks last fall, I decided that it was time to order more hens. It seems that between our egg consumption, and using the eggs to barter for such things as freshly roasted coffee, five hens weren't going to be nearly enough - and besides, we really missed hearing the rooster crow every morning.
Because of travel dates late in the spring, I needed to order the day old chicks with an early delivery date - so we went with a February 19th arrival date, meaning that they would be coop ready by early April - a good week before my first trip. Unfortunately (or fortunately), in order to get that early of a delivery date, I had to place a minimum order of 15 chicks - YAY! - my biggest order yet!
I placed the order through www.mypetchicken.com , and on Tuesday, the post office called to let me know the babies had arrived. I had set up their brooder over the prior weekend (the brooder is a galvanized bucket in our cast iron claw foot tub!), so it was toasty warm and ready for them. It never ceases to amaze me how surprised the other patrons at the post office are when I pick up the little peepers - it seems that no one knows you can ship baby chicks (and other animals) through the US Mail. This is my third order, and I have been pleased with the Post Office staff's care of my babies
I brought the babies home, and put them in their brooder. It became immediately evident that one of the bantam babies was a weakling - he could hardly stand up on his own, and the other birds seemed to trample him frequently. Unfortunately, he passed away the next day. I think in the future, I will not order full sized birds at the same time as bantams. My order consisted of 6 full size babies, and 9 bantams - and i ended up losing 3 of the bantams within the first 48 hours.
I ordered 2 Golden Laced Wyandotte hens, 2 Buff Orpington hens, 2 Black Australorp hens, 3 Easter Egger Bantams, 3 assorted Silkie Bantams, and 3 assorted Bantams (all bantams are mixed run - in the hope of getting a couple of roosters!)
The twelve remaining babies are doing great, though, and growing by leaps and bounds!
After losing three of my chickens (2 hens and the rooster) to hawks last fall, I decided that it was time to order more hens. It seems that between our egg consumption, and using the eggs to barter for such things as freshly roasted coffee, five hens weren't going to be nearly enough - and besides, we really missed hearing the rooster crow every morning.
Because of travel dates late in the spring, I needed to order the day old chicks with an early delivery date - so we went with a February 19th arrival date, meaning that they would be coop ready by early April - a good week before my first trip. Unfortunately (or fortunately), in order to get that early of a delivery date, I had to place a minimum order of 15 chicks - YAY! - my biggest order yet!
I placed the order through www.mypetchicken.com , and on Tuesday, the post office called to let me know the babies had arrived. I had set up their brooder over the prior weekend (the brooder is a galvanized bucket in our cast iron claw foot tub!), so it was toasty warm and ready for them. It never ceases to amaze me how surprised the other patrons at the post office are when I pick up the little peepers - it seems that no one knows you can ship baby chicks (and other animals) through the US Mail. This is my third order, and I have been pleased with the Post Office staff's care of my babies
I brought the babies home, and put them in their brooder. It became immediately evident that one of the bantam babies was a weakling - he could hardly stand up on his own, and the other birds seemed to trample him frequently. Unfortunately, he passed away the next day. I think in the future, I will not order full sized birds at the same time as bantams. My order consisted of 6 full size babies, and 9 bantams - and i ended up losing 3 of the bantams within the first 48 hours.
I ordered 2 Golden Laced Wyandotte hens, 2 Buff Orpington hens, 2 Black Australorp hens, 3 Easter Egger Bantams, 3 assorted Silkie Bantams, and 3 assorted Bantams (all bantams are mixed run - in the hope of getting a couple of roosters!)
The twelve remaining babies are doing great, though, and growing by leaps and bounds!
Comments
Post a Comment