Chick Update - 8th Week (Late)

Finally, another update.  This is actually the chick update for week 8.  It was back in September when the chicks I ordered reached eight weeks old.  In this update, I show both the expanded chicken coop and all the chicks in the coop.  The chicks took to the coop very well and very quickly.  They were not sure what to do at night, so I had to teach them to use the latter to get up to the hen house.  My Americana did not seem to happy when I started moving the chicks into the coop.  She was up in the hen house and began clucking in a way that I had not heard previously.  It was obvious she was reacting to the new chicks.  However, there were only a few pecks as the chicks learned very quickly to stay out of her way.

Chick Update - 6th Week

Hello again.  It has been a few weeks since my last update, but there really has not been any new developments.  The new chicks basically look the same, except they are larger.  They continue to grow, and they will soon be transferred to the expanded chicken coop.  Call it coop 2.0 if you will.  It will be twice the size of the existing coop to give the chicks lots of room to move around.

I do have some bad news.  If you recall from prior posts, I lost two chickens to Marek's disease before they started producing eggs.  Then some time went by and my remaining two chickens started producing.  Well, back on Labor Day, my Barred Rock died.  She stopped producing about two weeks prior to that day, but she showed no distress or other symptoms until the day before she died when she became very lethargic.  Since that time my remaining chicken has been producing eggs regularly until this week. She seems healthy and activity, but she is not producing any eggs.  So, I am worried she is ill as well.  Hopefully, she will be okay.

Here's a short video about the coop expansion:

Chick Update - 3rd Week

My chicks are now three weeks old, and they are doing well.  They continue to grow and make a huge mess in their brooder.  They dump their food everywhere.  I now have only five weeks to design and build a new coop to accommodate my existing two chickens and these ten chicks.  Eight weeks sounded like a enough time to get it done, but it is going by quickly.  Here's a short update on the chicks.  See you next week.

Egg Update

Here a quick update on my egg production.  I now have to producing chickens.  In addition to the Barred Rock, the Americana has started producing, and her eggs are green.  Today (Sunday, August 18, 2013), I got two eggs, one from each of my hens.  The Urban Chicken Experiment is doing well!

Chick Update - 2nd Week

It has now been two weeks since I received my baby chicks in the mail, and they are changing every day.  Their growth is quite dramatic.  Their feathers are really starting to show.  They are very active little creatures with interesting personalities.  There are three chicks in particular that actually come to me when I approach the brooder.  They are really looking for treats because I have started dropping a few dried meal worms into their brooder.  These three chicks will take the worms from my hand.  In this week's video, I take you inside the brooder as I give the chicks some of these tasty treats.

Chick Update - 1st Week

It has been just over a week since I received my chicks in mail, and they are doing quite well.  It is amazing how fast they are growing.  Within a few days they their feathers started coming in on their wings, and they are much larger than when I received them.  It is fun to watch them as they are very active and have interesting personalities.  In the following video, I give a complete narrated update.

Let the Fun Begin

I am on my way to expanding my backyard flock. This morning I picked up my new chicks at the post office and moved them into their new home.  They have quickly settled in to the brooder, and I am already noticing interesting chicken behaviors.  They are very active little creatures, and there seems to be a pecking order developing. 

They are quite fun to watch as they are running around as fast as possible one moment, and the next moment they are falling asleep.  When one starts to run, several others do the same.  It is as if they think the first one knows something, and the others want to find out what the something is.

The following video shows everything I did with them today.  It is a bit long, but I wanted to show the first day from start to finish.  It can be summarized as follows:

1. Wake up to an early morning phone call from the post office notifying me that the chicks have arrived (approx. 1 minute)
2. Opening the box of chicks (approx. 1 minute)
3. Placing the chicks one by one into the brooder and showing them where to find the water (approx. 4 minutes)
4. Watching the chicks to see how they are doing and making sure they are okay (approx. 1.5 minutes)
5. Ending the day showing how the chicks have settled into their new home (approx. 1 minute)

Enjoy the video!