Today we brought home two little chicks!! They are incredibly cute. We set up a little chickie roost for them ahead of time in a steel tub with a heat lamp, pine bedding pellets, water and chick starter. I put chicken wire over the top and a red blanket over part of the tub, they seem to like the coziness and feel safer there right now. Their new home is by a long window in our office that goes down to the ground. The cats are relocated to the sunroom/workshop indefinitely. They are curious and so far fine about this, but we weren't able to put together a door yet and until then... they are not to be trusted.Jeff in exile, looking for love:
We got our chicks from Wilco, which is a feed store in Cornelius, only 10 miles away. We got our supplies last week from another feed store in Aloha, but weren't ready with our hot roost yet. We may get one more Ameraucana, from them this Thursday so we have a little posse of three. They lay really neat tinted color eggs.These two girls are Black Australorps. The breed is originally from Australia via Black Orpingtons from England in 19th century, they became Australias' national breed. Right now the chicks are mainly black fuzz with a white fuzzy strip running down their chests. When they grow up they will be all black with a greenish sheen and sparky red combs.
They are said to be kind and gentle, lovely layers of brown eggs. While their egg production slows as they get older, they average 10 - 12 years and up to 20! We figure that in 3 to 5 years, we may get a couple more, raise them until they are hens (1 year +) and slowly introduce them to the other ladies until they are all friends.As I am typing this, I am attempting not to obsess over them... I have a serious photo thermometer through the mesh so I can see what the temperature is at and adjust it. As Josh, chickie specialist at Wilco, affirmed, they are the best thermometer - if they are huddling under the lamp portion they are too cold and if they are wedged away it is too hot. I am aiming for the right temperature. It is not 98 degrees. I backed it off, but it ended up dropping to the low 80s and eventually they were under the lamp, so I eased it back down a bit and 90 seems to be pretty happy temperature for them. I have the utility light clamped to a very sturdy red hook I put in the ceiling. I can ease the cord ever so slightly either way and clamp it tight. I see there will be a lot of adjusting as they grow.
They were initially pecking at the bedding pellets trying to eat them. This was making me a 'mother hen'... At the store the were on mesh (for poo purposes) with a food trough on the side, so I put food in a low bowl because they had never seen the standard feeder with holes. In here though, they seem to think - party! It's all food on the floor! Woo Hoo! It's not and I worry they will get sick. I try to pet and encourage them toward the food. I filled the main feeder to the brim so it would be very easy to get at. No luck. Granted they are suddenly moved and it is just the two of them, not their whole herd.
Now I confess.. it was just 6:58pm, I realized the feed store closed in two minutes (technically)... I called and Josh answered. I sheepishly asked if it was okay they were trying to eat their bedding. He said it was normal because it's new to them and so different from where they just were and that he's never lost one because of it. Very relieved. I had forgotten to ask when they hatched. He told me just last Tuesday the 12th, so that makes them 9 days old. Have I mentioned how cute they are? They really give you a good look when you are hanging out with them. It is very calming to watch and talk to them with their little tiny chirps. And when they get sleepy and start to doze off, wow. Adorable.
Here is one of the sites I originally was looking things up on Feathersite. Barry, who created the site has lots of photos and info on any bird you can dream of researching. Another great site is Murray McMurray. You have to order 25 at a time, but they carry a lot of other things, the site is also great for research and if you were able to go in on an order with other people, it's pretty neat. Some day I would love to have a Wyandotte hen. I saw a silver one in France and through much recent nerdiness, just narrowed down the breed.
The box they road home in.. possible names? (the Puff is also in exile on her perch above the grey ball on the left)
Two final notes:
1) We had an errand list, (we try to combine as many things into one concise trip), so we got our Oregon Driver's Licenses today and that helps us feel quite official and then on our way to Wilco, we had a stop planned at the library where I had books on hold. I got two chicken books, Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens and Keep Chickens! (soon the neat little library in North Plains will be part of the Washington County system and that will be awesome, right now we go into Hillsboro).
2) I have a love/hate relationship with the NY Times online, some articles drive me batty and I wonder if their writers understand the deep ironies they lay out, but I enjoy reading these pieces outloud to Neil in the appropriate character voices... I am still a bit addicted to at least checking the front page and the most emailed articles. Tonight I see that in the 9th Most Popular emailed list there is an article called 'All Cooped Up in a Manhattan Co-op' and think - could that possibly be about chicks??? Today? Indeed it is and there is a photo of a fancy apartment and a girl with a black hen on her head and a photo of their multi-story coop. Funny timing. I do have to say I would have been deliriously happy if I could have raised hens in Brooklyn, but I am so glad to be having hens that will get to forage all over the land outdoors here. We have lots of ideas more their mobile coop / tractor. They will have a long deluxe farm life with us.
