The chicks arrived! I was out of town for work when they arrived, but Brandon took a photo of them all crammed in their box so he could text it to me. He picked them up at the post office and unpacked them into the brooder. He said he was very nervous. Six of these chicks were for our friends daughter who was anxious for them to arrive, so he was under extra pressure not to let them die. We have never used the artificial hen chick warmer before, so he was careful to watch their behavior and adjust the height of the warmer. The instructions said that it was the right height when most of the chicks were laying down and none were unhappily peeping. This is the video he sent me of the chicks under the warmer.
In the video, you can see them leaning into the warm plate with eyes closed, like they are finally snuggled up with mom after a few days in the mail. Because they were all still standing, he lowered one side of the warmer until it was barely an inch above the wood chips. He left the other side a little higher, so they could figure out how to get under it. So far, it's working wonderfully, even with below freezing temperatures outside.
The orange chicks are meat birds, and the black chicks are a breed called Dominicker, which is one of America's oldest chicken breeds. These will be black and white striped, and will go to live with a friend when they are older. The little brown chick in the foreground is a bonus chick, of unknown breed. See that big white chick in the back right corner? I think it's a turkey!
This chick is much larger than the others, it's eyes seem different, and it has a little soft nodule on it's forehead, like it might grow into that dangley bit of skin on a gobbler. I didn't order a turkey, and it wasn't listed on the packing slip. Maybe the hatchery thinks a free turkey will get me hooked.
The greenhouse had a subdued light with a coating of snow on the plastic. I visit the greenhouse frequently and think about the seeds I bought. It's past time to stop thinking about it and take some garden action!
My old hens have finally started laying again. Once my young hens start laying too, I'll be covered up in eggs. I can't wait! Our good neighbor has over twenty young hens that just started laying. He gave us five boxes of eggs, each with eighteen eggs in it! That's a lot of eggs! I steamed a bunch for snacks, and put the rest in the freezer by scrambling eight eggs together in a quart freezer bag and laying it flat in the freezer. I froze extra eggs last spring, and we used them up when the hens stopped laying for the fall molt. Now I know that I need to freeze even more.
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