Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
PPal - That's what I did. I put some slate pieces on the bottom of the tote & then put the water above that. It's about chest high on the bitty babies, so I know they have access to it. Hopefully they didn't knock it over, or drown, or something else really stupid.
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
I moved the Leghorns & Brahmas outside. Put them in the coop w/the orps. The orps weren't too keen on more chickens with them.. in fact, one of the girls & one of the Brahmas started a "My Head Is Higher Than Your Head" type thing. But the orps should be OK after a while. I'm at work, but DH is home so I'm gonna have him check on the chickens & make sure that everyone's alive & no feathers flying. I'll be moving the 3 silkies upstairs into the hutch the Leghorns & Brahmas were in and keeping the bitty babies downstairs for another week until they start to feather out. I'll be moving them outside soon. I need to build a pen so they can be outside.. I may do that Sunday. I have most of it built, I just have to finish it. Of course, it would be nice if I knew what I was doing...
I'll be picking up (in theory) 2 bunny hutches tonight, so I may use one of those as a start for building the new coop for the Cornish. DH said that once I sell the leghorns & brahmas I could get more babies. That's what I love doing.. getting the babies, growing them up, then selling them to someone who wants egg producers.
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Well, I've now learned the hard way that you don't put younger chicks with full sized chickens. Oops. I put the Leghorns & the Brahmas in with the Orpingtons and.. . well, the orps killed the Brahma with the wry neck, pecked the head bloody on one of the Leghorns, & bloodied the leg / ripped the feathers out of the leg of the other Brahma. Crap! I did get the two bunny hutches.. I'll keep one as that's where I put the survivors (it's a nice 6' hutch). The other I'm fixing the top (it's a little beat up), repainting it, & will sell it.
On a different note, the Cornish X are PIGS. Total & absolute PIGS. They're going through about a pound of food a DAY. 5 chicks! A pound of food! OMG!! So I had to go to Murdocks & buy some meatbird food. It's 22% protein, which is what everyone & their cousin said I need to get. I'll be feeding that starting probably Sunday when they've eaten everything that's in their container right now.
Your best bet for raising chicks would be to get all of them at the same time. I introduce new pullets every year, but I have several coops and a couple of acres of "free range". Close quarters make management much more difficult.
The Cornish Rocks are bred to be pigs. They will eventually get too fat to walk.
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
PPal - I'm thinking that the cornish X getting to that point already. They lay down a lot. Tonight/tomorrow night I'll be setting up their waterer/feeder hanging so that they have no choice.. if they want to eat, they have to stand. They're about 10 days old and already about the same size as my month-old silkies. The 2 leghorns & surviving brahma are doing well in their own hutch. I'll have to bring them in probably tonight due to the cold (supposed to drop to 32 tonight & then 23 tomorrow for the low), but then they'll be fine after that I believe. They'll be (hopefully) sold on the 11th (that's when a big swap happens in Kiowa), then I can get more babies. DH is really liking "the girls" (the Orps), and he'll probably be sad to see them go. But I wasn't planning on keeping them long term. But they're *so* personable! If you go outside & you can't see them in their outdoor run, just say "hey there girls" and they all RUN out of the coop into the outdoor pen, waiting for the door to be opened so they can wander around & do dumb chicken things.
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Got some pics of the silkies. I think I have 1 roo & 2 hens. 1 of them is much bigger than the other two, stands much taller, and has more of a pronounced.. comb? knob? growth on the head than the other two.
All three in the hutch. Definitely in the dinosaur phase right now.
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Well, I think I have sold my buffs to a farm that's kinda a commercial farm / corn maze / public garden thing (Flat Acres Farm http://www.flatacresfarm.com/) and my leghorns / Brahma to a couple who are looking for egg production / young hens. Yay!
The Buff Girls
The Leghorns / Brahma. The Brahma is a pretty girl.
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Sold the silkies too. The Cornish X are getting HUGE. They're way heavier than the silkies and a little taller. I think I have 4 hens and a roo. Only 1 is really really tall, the rest are more squatty & fat. Is it normal for them go to through like a gallon & half of water every day? I'm having to fill their waterer twice a day now and I know it doesn't leak.
The new babies (Buff Orps & White Rocks) are about to be moved (probably next week) from downstairs to upstairs (as soon as they don't need the lamp any more). I'll be working with them lots so they'll be friendly birds. This has been a fun year for chickens! I've enjoyed it immensely!
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Well, DH now is too attached to eat the Cornish Hybrids. Go figure. They're HUGE, disgusting, messy birds. Yuck. They drink a gallon of water every day! They'll drink & drink & drink & drink & drink until their crop is about to explode, and then water will dribble out their mouths when they walk. Then they'll eat more food! Holy crap do these guys EAT. Wow, eat eat eat. And their poo is always a watery brown mess, not a nice solid white mess. Yuck. They're in the dinosaur half-feathered stage right now (almost 6 weeks old.. tomorrow will be 6 weeks) and are weighing in between 4-7lbs I think. I believe I have 2 roos & 3 hens... maybe vice versa but I know 2 are definitely roos as they have much better combs & are developing wattles too. Messy birds.
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
9 weeks old and HUGE birds. They're all able to walk just fine, but go through 2 gals of water every day. They get daily exercise by Waffles.. she loves to herd them around. When I let them out of their pen for exercise, she has to stick her nose under their bellies & encourage them to walk around. They always jump out of their pen flapping their wings.. don't blame them! One of the roo's definitely has walking problems.. or lazy-idus as I call it. He'll walk around for a few minutes, then lay down. I then tell Waffles to go get her chickens & she encourages them to move around.
Name: Toni Denver Metro (Zone 5a) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
PPal - Well, I was planning on slaughtering / eating them, but now DH is too squeemish & can't eat them (I'm not asking him to help me kill / process, just to eat). Thinking that if they don't sell by this weekend I'll slaughter them when he's at judo & just put 'em in the freezer. Bad thing is that he loves going out there and "playing" with them.