New Arrivals

Picked up this morning at our local American Farm and Feed Store
4 day old baby chicks
2) Rhode Island Reds
2) Barred Rock
2) Ameraucana
2) Black Giant (aka Jersey Black Giants)

New breeds to our chicken family are the Ameraucana, which are known for laying blue eggs and the Black Jersey Giant, as it's name implies it's large/heavy and can grow up to 11 pounds!



We are using the brooder that we made last year. It's a large plastic storage container with the center of the lid cut out and replaced with chicken wire.
Normally I use 2 heat lamps (red bulbs) but one blew. For now I added the blanket to reduce heat loss.

The storage container makes for easy cleaning.
While the chicks are small I line the bottom with newpaper and paper towels, it gives the chicks a solid surface to walk on to help build strong legs. At this age I clean out the brooder several times a day by rolling up the dirty papers and adding new.

When the chicks are larger I will add pine shaving to the bottom. Once a day I will move the chicks to a box and dump out the pine shavings, rinse and dry the container and add fresh shavings.

~Patricia