Injured Chick

Not long after we lost the runt we had a baby chick get a piece of bedding stuck in her eye, folded down into her bottom lid and covering the whole thing. She happened to (now) be the smallest of our chickens and the same breed as the one that had passed away. Whatever type of chicken she may be has not proven to be hardy in our home. I scooped her up and soaked her eye and the bedding attached to it in warm water, gently pulling the foreign object out as it softened. I dried her and put her back with her group. Over the next day or two her eye seemed to have a film on it and she still wasn't able to see our hand if we reached for her on that side.

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They Don't All Make It

I mentioned in an earlier post that the first week is the most challenging (thus far) of raising baby chicks, mostly because they don't all make it. I was happy when we first opened our box of birds and all 16 chicks were alive and moving. We opened the box of chicks up around 4pm and watched them all evening, we ate a quick (and late) supper and then watched them some more. We noticed the strange sleeping and looked that up online. But then I noticed one of the smaller chicks who seemed to do nothing but sleep. I re-dipped her beak in the water and in the special gel that the chicks came with and watched as she laid her head down in the gel and went back to sleep.

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Chick Haiku

Sweet, cheeping little chicks

eat, drink, stink, dashing madly

the brooder is home

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Chickens are chicken

Yes, it is true, chickens are indeed chicken. They are scared of everything. They are scared of us. At least our baby chicks are scared of us. For some reason I didn't expect the babies to be afraid of us, and especially not me. I am the one who feeds them, waters them, and pets them.

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Chicken Lemonade

When we were first preparing for our baby chicks my three year old helped me mix up their special water and immediately dubbed it "Chicken Lemonade"

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