The Chicks Are Ten Days Old!

Our chicks seem to have settled nicely into their penthouse suite in the garage, and we have settled into chicken parenthood.  In just the week that we've had them they have nearly doubled in size.  They didn't want to stand up and pose for a picture (since it is way to cozy snuggled up next to the heat light), but you can see that their wing and tail feathers are coming in.

Since everyone asks about names, I will note that only 1 of the 2 chicks has an official name at the moment.  The smaller of the 2 (on the right in the above picture), who managed to jump out of the storage drawer twice the first day we had her, has earned the name Amelia Egghart for being a fearless adventurer and not a bad flyer.  The other chick has not been named yet.  We are concerned, because she is quite a bit bigger than Amelia and has different coloring on her beak and feet, that she is in fact a he.  We are waiting another few weeks for sex to become more evident before deciding on a name.  My 3-year-old niece has proposed Chickee Pie, but I have a feeling this hen may grow out of that name rather quickly!  So, we are open to other name suggestions, should anyone have one . . .

The Chicks Have Arrived!

For months, maybe even as long as 2 years, I have wanted backyard chickens.  Chickens?! You may be incredulous.  But, in fact, chickens make the perfect pets - they are relatively quiet, loving, bonding, cute(!), and they give you fresh eggs nearly every day of their laying lives, which can be for several years.  Also, chickens are relatively low maintenance.  You give them mash, easily found at any feed store (which, if you do your research you will probably find there are many in most suburban/rural areas), water and a safe place to live, and they pretty much will take care of themselves.  They love to roam the garden eating bugs and having the occasional dirt bath.  And, bonus - their poop is high in nitrogen and great for the garden!

After six months of convincing my husband that this would be fun and a good idea and many months of reading and doing research on chicken parenthood, we embarked on the journey.  Dennis, my husband, along with friend, Yvette, designed the coop and constructed it.  After researching several local feed stores that carry chickens we originally thought we would get pullets - chickens that are 3-6 months old and are either about to or are already laying.  That way we would avoid babyhood and the risk that the cute little hen we are planning on laying eggs turns out to be a rooster (most urban/suburban cities forbid owning a rooster unless you have a legal farm).

Oh, but those chicks are so cute you can hardly resist them!  So, despite previous plans, yesterday we made the whoppingly big purchase of 2 Ameraucana chicks (3 days old), food and wood shavings, which cost a total of $35.  Heavily invested in this project (can you detect the sarcasm?), we headed home to figure out where to keep our chicks until they are big enough move permanently into the outdoor coop.  Since we didn't plan on getting chicks at all, we needed to find a secure box-like structure that could stand up to pecking and pooping for the next 12 weeks or so until the hens are big enough to move into the coop.

The Chick High-Rise Condo

Luckily, we had a drawer storage unit that we are no longer using that makes a perfect high-rise condo structure for the newest additions to our family.  They have moved comfortably into the penthouse, as you can see in the photo above.  There is clear plastic covering the bottom of the drawer.  We attached a utility light to keep them at a comfy 90 degrees and put down some wood shavings for cushioning. They have their food and a little water bowl.  After 2 escapes by one of the chicks (how she survived for who-knows-how-long under the washing machine is still a mystery), we put a little chicken wire on the corners to keep the chicks in and the curious cats out.  In 2 months or so, we'll be able to move them into the coop.  


Since I'm a new mom, I can't resist a few pictures.  More to follow in the coming days, as our chicks grow and change . . .