Well, at least digging trenches, which is how I spent most of my day today. We had rain this weekend, so the ground was soft and easier to dig, so I dug as much as a I could. I think the trench around the coop and runs is deep enough to bury hardware cloth to deter digging predators. I hope so. I’m beat. My health tracker says that I burned 2,900 calories today.
And here is another chick video. 5 days old!
My husband and eldest worked together this weekend to get most of the framing up for the chicken runs!
The chicks are doing well, and are eating out of the hanging feeders. We are having less incidences of pasty butt as well, hurray! My eldest is also encouraging them to perch on her fingers.
And here is a video of 4-day-old chicks! I put my phone down in the brooder. They like to peck the red record button.
My primary book reference “Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens” by Gail Damerow suggests putting feed on pieces of paper for days old chicks, then switching to a shallow tray once they have all figured out what to peck. I have some card stock I’ve been trying to get through (I thought I was ordering bright white, but what I ordered had rainbow flecks, ugh), so I used some of that to make simple little trays. The nice thing about the trays is they can be thrown away when they get poopy. But it will be even nicer when they eat just out of the hanging feeders. Any who, here is the video:
We banded, weighed, and named all the chicks, and made a little chart. (The marks next to the names indicate who named the chick. Each child named 5, and my husband and I named one each.)
The table that I originally made to the hold the brooder (aka dog crate), makes a great prep table. I’ve been using it to clean up pasty butt. They started out pretty clean, but are getting more stuck to their feathers now. We are making twice daily checks of all 12 chicks.
And here is a video of the chicks at three-days old!
One of the sources I’ve been reading for caring for chicks said when moving chicks to a new location, leave a light on for them so they don’t get lost in the dark. So tonight I left the lights on in the coop. When I went to check in them after dark, they were having a little chicky party; eating and drinking and happily peeping it up. So I went and found some lower key lights. I left a flashlight on while I went hunting for lights. When I got back (with decorative LED lights from a vase inside), most of them had settled down. By the time I had the lights hooked up and the flashlight off, all but one had gone birdie ni-night. Wow. It is not that easy with human kids. Just saying.
It is a pretty fancy night light, but hey, it was free, LED, and it works!
Critters and Craft 