Chicks in a Box

I'm happy to say that backyard chicken keeping is alive and well in Austin, Texas. This hobby has gotten so popular that I was finding it quite difficult to get chicks. I finally staked out my local feed store on shipping day and managed to get the 8 chicks I wanted.

I currently have 10 hens of various breeds including dominique, maran, americauna, australorp, Iowa blue, and penciled rock. They are all okay egg layers; just okay. They were purchased more because I fancied their egg color or thought they were pretty. 

This time my hubby insisted I buy some power layers to beef up the flock, so this is what I came home with: 2 New Hampshires, 2 brown leghorns, 2 black sexlinks and 2 barred rocks. These breeds are all rated as excellent layers, so I'm expecting lots of eggs in about 6 months.

One of the little barred rocks had some pasty butt early on. She is the chick with the little dingle berry in the photo below. Pasty butt can be a serious condition. The poop basically builds up and dries on their hiney sealing off their vent and preventing them from eliminating. Warm water applied repeatedly with a paper towel finally loosened the blockage and she was just fine.

New chicks need to be kept at a toasty warm 95 degrees. A simple clamp light with an infrared heat bulb works fine. I just raise or lower the light as needed and monitor the temperature with a thermometer. I'll reduce the heat by 5 degrees each week until I reach room temperature.

I had not previously considered raising leghorns, but this little leghorn chick is very sweet. Leghorns are one of the best layers of white eggs, but they are known to be quite flighty and are not a good choice for small backyard keepers. I'm going to judge for myself and see how it goes.

After thoroughly cleaning their brooder box, I went off to get my camera and came back to find the box already dirty. These birds are pooping machines. One of the brown leghorns was able to hop up on top of the food container. Yep, this one has trouble written all over her.

I noticed they seemed a little bored, so I put the empty paper towel rolls in the box to entertain them. Chicks are scared of everything, but also very inquisitive. 

In about 24 hours, the box will look like the photos below and the cleaning process will start all over again.

Really gals! Could you be just a little neater?

Just one more week and the chickies will head outside to the baby bungalow. When they are about 16 weeks old they will join the flock. I'll miss their pleasant chirping in the back bedroom, but I'll be glad to be relieved from maid duty.