Moving the Chicks out to Pasture

Back in This Post from about a month ago, we talked about getting baby chicks delivered to us.  You can see in that post how little the chicks are.  It is about a month later now, and the chicks have really grown.  They are filling up the brooder and yes, stinking up the garage.  It is time to move them out into the chicken tractor in the pasture.

Yesterday, I worked hard getting the chicken tractor fixed up and pushed it through the grass, positioning it right next to the perimeter fence.  I filled up the bell waterer reservoir bucket with water and ran an extension cord to the tractor to power the heat lamp that I hung from the top of the tractor. Let's get them out of the little brooder and give them some room to stretch out.

The Brooder that they have now outgrown

Here is a little Barred Rock pullet that I put on top of my messy workbench.  You can see that she has her feathers now and looks like a chicken now, albeit a miniature one.

Barred Rock Pullet

The brooder was on top of a wagon, so I rolled it to the fence and offloaded all of the pullets into an empty molasses tub.  I lifted it over the fence and poured them out into the tractor.  There were 24 little Barred Rock pullets.  We lost one a few days after they arrived.  That is the only one we've lost.

The Colonel's Bucket of Chicken

Here is an Americauna pullet.  We have four of these to replace some Aracaunas that we lost.  These chickens lay the blue and green eggs.  

Americauna Pullet

And here is one of the guinea fowl.  Baby guineas are called keets.  We have four of these.  They'll live with the chickens.  Once they are older they'll roost up in the trees.  These birds, unlike chickens, are very adept at flying.

Guinea fowl keet

I laid out a little hay right under the heat lamp.  It made a nice comfy place for the chicks to gather and spend the night in their new housing arrangement.  They rooted around a little and I was entertained watching them chase and eat bugs that were attracted to the heat lamp.  As they fell into the hay, the birds quickly ate the unfortunate bugs.

More elbow room in the chicken tractor

I always go and check on them from time to time when I first move them out to pasture.  I'd hate to go through the rough part and lose them now.  As I peeked in on the birds, they were about to settle down for the night.  You could tell that they are happy in their new home.

Home Sweet Home

I'll push the tractor to fresh pasture each day and when they lay their first eggs in the spring, I'll open the door and let them roam free on the pasture.  The chicks are happier out on the pasture and my wife is happy now that the stinky birds are out of the garage.  That's what you call a win-win situation.