Peepers - Day 2

Day 2 and the Peepers are getting a bit braver. The wooden step down to the grass of their hutch no longer terrifies them quite so much (they fell off a bit to start with).

 They huddle together and move almost as one organism, or at least on brain!

Chomper comes to meet the chicks. He didn't try to attack, just sniffed...

... and decided that since they were in his hutch, they must belong to him!

Chomsky and Sunshine come to an agreement over ownership of the hutch and it's fascinating occupants.

This elegant stretching is what I call chicken ballet.

Barbara is the smallest, she's a Rhode Island Red and I suspect she may only be 4 or 5 weeks old.

The water dish has been replaced with a sturdier version, complete with beach-rocks from Wai-iti to weight it down so they can't tip it over.

Dred Rock and Barbara share a beak of water.

Sunshine comes over to see what all the noise and peeping is about. You can see how little they are.

 We are tall! This is Manu stretching up to get a tasty sandfly.

Manu and Dred Rock both have a lot more plummage than Barbara. Although none have many feathers on their back.

Gorgeous chickie.

Lots of photos and video today.

Bye!

Peepers - Day 1

The Peepers came home in the cat-carry cage.

 It was hot in the car, and the plastic was slippery so they all ended up bunched in the corner.

Once home, I popped them into the rabbit hutch; no rabbit currently resident.

 They are small and tired, the day is hot. It took them six hours to figure out the water dish!

 The hutch showing the yellow nest area (for them to sleep in), and the little black huddle of chicks in the back left corner.

At night time the wind and rain got up, so me and my husband covered the hutch in a big tarp and tucked it under. The upturned table is to weight it down. The vertical bamboo stick is to help secure the mesh doorway.

Cold peepers at night. Silly things wouldn't go into their yellow nest.

Introducing The Peepers

These are The Peepers; our three adorable new baby chicks.

The one with white spots is a Plymouth Barred Rock named Dred Rock. The black one is a Black Orpington named Manu (this means "bird in Maori, and she is named thus because our older orpington chook, Sparrow, has a basic-type-bird name!) and the red/brown chick is a Rhode Island Red called Barbara. (We thought she was a Barnevelder "Barbara the Barnevelder", but she's obviously not. So now she is Barbara the Impostor. lol)

When we went out to the hatchery to choose them, we were expecting to get full-grown birds at least at point-of-lay. Unfortunately another lady arrived the day before us with 4 cars and took most all of the big birds! So instead we got to choose from the babies - the 6 week old chicks - and I must admit they all looked pretty similar to me to start with. Just a writhing peeping running mass of ugly teenage chicken feathers!

Barbara (the RIR) came from the outdoor pen, while the other two were both still in the brood hutch with lighting and heating. The breeder (Jamie from Avonstour Hatchery) used a board slid through a slot to separate the selected chick from the bunch, then opened the door to catch them. You can hold a chick on one hand.

Jamie gave us directions to a local feed merchant, but we got lost and decided to go home as the chicks were tiring in the car on the hot day (even with air con). Once at home, I thanked my lucky stars that we still had George's hutch. George is a lop-earred bunny that lives with my step-son, and was supposed to travel between houses with him on turn-about weekends. But he only visited once. I think step-son got put off once George peed on him in the car! With the hutch it meant I could pop the chicks safely into quarantine without them being at risk of a severe pecking from the bigger chooks.

Next, water. I gave them a water dish and they bumped into it, got frightened and ran away over and over. Silly peepers. It took them 6 hours to figure out it was full of water. But what to feed them? I knew that the layers pellets my big gals eat was unsuitable, as the pellets are too big for little beaks and they contain too much calcium, and that could cause kidney problems in chicks. I got online and messaged Terry Golson from hencam.com, who assured me that a couple of days on layers pellets wouldn't hurt their kidneys.

To get the pellets small enough for tiny beaks, I put a cup of pellets into the food processor, and threw in a small handful of cat biscuits to increase the protein percentage. Bingo! A suitable temporary chick starter feed. Hungry peepers gave their approval. Of course, that is once they overcome their fear of the big blue feed scoop!