chicks at 3 weeks
Here are a few pictures of what chicks look like at three weeks. They are still easy to pick up with one hand but bigger and stronger and they can FLY pretty well so we have to be careful cleaning the cage that they don’t make a break for it (we put them in a small cardboard box on the floor for the duration & they have no trouble getting out).
Their necks have bare spots where they are losing their baby feathers. So far, no pecking. The temperature is a bit lower, closer to 85 than 90, and they seem comfortable.
We give them fresh yogurt every other day; they love this. Other than that we are just feeding them chick crumbles but they eat A LOT more. Since they have started scratching we put some clumping corn cob horse bedding in the cage on top of the towel. We still change the cage daily; this has become such a routine that I can now get it done in under 10 minutes:
1. remove food, water, roost
2. put cardboard box in brooder
3. catch each chick and put them in this box
4. place box on floor (so if they jump/fly out they won’t fall too far)
5. roll up & remove dirty towel with litter and food crumbs inside
6. shake towel out into the compost
7. place dirty towel in a bucket of bleach water
a. when 3 towels are in the bleach water, wash all of them (we rotate 4)
8. spread clean towel in brooder
9. put chicks back into their home
10. rinse the waterer with bleach water & refill it
11. empty food dish; refill
12. place everything back into the brooder
Buckeye
Buckeye Preening
Americauna
Rubber Neck Americauna
Wyandotte
A huge time commitment; reminds me of the turkeys living in your quarters in the Republic of Georgia, Erin! These guys are a lot cuter, though.
Ugh, the turkeys were AWFUL. I was too traumatized to take a picture of them even but here are the chickens that liked to roost in the outhouse in Manavi (Georgia):
Never thought I’d have poultry in my bathroom again…we are definitely putting in a new floor, sink, etc once they move out!!