Baby Barred Rock Chicks Arrive!

Yesterday morning at 5:30 am it was time to get up and we were awakened by loud ringing, but not from our alarm clocks.  It was the telephone.  Our land line rarely rings anymore and when it does, it is either phone calls from politicians urging you to vote or calls from companies asking you to take a survey.  We usually screen all of those calls, but a call at 5:30 in the morning is not one that you screen.

Tricia picked up the phone and it was the Post Office calling to let us know that we had a package waiting and the contents of the package was ALIVE!  Our baby chicks were in!  We hatched out a number of chicks in our incubator a couple of months ago, but half of those are going to be roosters. Two momma hens hatched out some babies a little while later, but again, half of those are going to be roosters.

Each year we try to 'freshen' our brown egg-laying flock to replace hens that died or those whose age has reduced the amount of eggs they lay.  We want to keep the amount of eggs we gather steady and constant.  So last week I got online and purchased 24 one-day-old pullets (young hens) from Ideal Poultry in Cameron, Texas.  Baby chicks have really gone up in price since we last ordered them. You get a reduced price the more you buy, but I only needed 24, so I paid $2.61 per chick, not including tax and shipping.  It takes about 24 weeks until they lay their first egg, so at the point in time when they lay their first egg, you have a significant investment in each bird.

When Tricia got to the post office in town, the postal worker told her that some of the chicks may be dead.  Apparently when they opened the door to the truck, our box of baby chicks was laying on its side.  Tricia and Benjamin got the package home and opened it and every chick was fine!  Not only fine, but really, really healthy and looking great after their journey.  It always amazes me that you can ship little living creatures across long distances.  You can also order a colony of bees through the mail - that's even crazier!

I'd like a box of chicken, please.

The chicks were sent when they were a day old.  It is important that when you get them in, you unpack them and dip their little heads into water mixed with a little honey so that they can drink and get some strength.  With each chick Tricia and Benjamin repeated the process of giving them some electrolytes.

Have a drink, little chick

The previous day I had received an email that our chicks had shipped, so when I got home from work, I pulled the wagon to the barn and pulled down our brooder and got the heat lamp ready.  I wanted to be all prepared for the day the babies arrived. Benjamin's job was to go to the hay bale and get some hay to line the bottom of the brooder with, making a nice, soft layer of hay to make the chick's new home warm and cozy.  We put a tray of Chick Starter in the bottom of the brooder and as the chicks drank water, they were nestled into their new home.  It didn't take them long to find the feed.

Eat a little and then take a nap

They jumped in the tray of feed and began eating and then meandered over to the water to drink a little more.  It is funny to watch them drink.  They will put their heads down and drink and then point their beaks to the sky to swallow.  The heat lamp that is positioned over the brooder keeps things toasty and the little chicks are happy.

In the brooder

The baby chicks are so fluffy and fat and cute.  You just want to pick them up and hold them.  This is a neat stage to enjoy them.

Cute babies!

They don't stay in the cute stage for long.  Soon they will begin putting on little feathers and won't look as cute.  Then as they start eating more and growing, they'll start to stink.  That's when we move them out of the brooder in the garage and out to the chicken tractor in the pasture.