Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara logo

Did They Grow?

I think the babies grew while I was sleeping!  Here they are from last night:

Here they are this morning:

See that little dark Araucana near the front of the picture  . near the feeder?  Look at the little tufts below his eyes.  That breed develops those little fluffy spots there and a fluffy, feathery “beard” under their beaks.  Technically, I think my chicks are Ameraucana, and not Araucana babies.  If interested, you can read about the differences here.  The Ameraucana and Araucana breeds come in two sizes – bantam and full size.  Ours are full size.

There was no way I was going to deal with Speck wanting to eat the chicks all day so I moved them into Vince’s office, where I can close the door.  Since I’m downstairs sewing, Speck had to be down here too and he definitely could have turned over their Rubbermaid container and . . it would have been goodbye baby chicks!  Not gonna let that happen so they’re safe behind a closed door now.  And . . if they should get out of the container in a few days . . well, they won’t be walking around in my area til we discover them, they’ll be in Vince’s office area! 🙂  That thought might cause the coop to be built sooner rather than later.

We’ll put them in the downstairs garage in a couple of weeks, once our temps rise a bit.  They have to be kept at 95 degrees this week, 90 degrees next week, 85 degrees the next week and so on til the temp we’re keeping them is the same as the temp outside.  The garage has heating/air vents but the door isn’t insulated and with it being below freezing this week, there’s no way we could keep them at 95 degrees, even with their heat lamp.  So, they’ll live inside for a couple of weeks, then they’ll me into the downstairs garage for a couple of weeks and then I hope they’ll have a comfortable chicken tractor waiting for them.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. They are just tooooo cute! I’ll bet they will be the best loved and cared for chicks in the world. I am happy that you finally got them. Sue Lord

  2. I’m coming over. I don’t think you have given them the “pecking talk” or “my egg” talk I told you about down below.-I’ve given it before so it will be a little easier on you for me to do it. You’ve got to get it done soon before they get the “we know it all” attitude and put a stop to it before it gets out of hand. I am so jealous I can’t believe it. Hugs, Bobbie

  3. Take all the “baby” pictures now because they grow incredibly fast. I had to move mine outside when they were about 4 weeks old. They kept flying out of there pen. What I enjoyed the most was listening and watching the rooster as he grew. They were all suppossed to be hens, but you know he got in the bunch somehow. They are lots of fun! Enjoy.

  4. Judy, we used to buy the great big rubbermaid containers, cut out the bottom and replace it with hardware cloth, same for the lid. That way, you could set a heat lamp on the lid (on the hardware cloth) and still protect the chicks, or you could set them outside this way in the sunshine and they’d be able to eat grass and peck at the bugs while they’re still tiny. It may not be warm enough by you yet to do this.

  5. Speck is probably curious about the chicks and may think of them as potential playmates., rather than wanting to eat them. It would be easy for him to accidentally hurt them, so they do need to be protected. But give Speck a closer look/sniff so he can see what the fuss is about.

    One of my sister’s dachshunds wants to play with every kitten she brings home and he accidentally killed one. Susie learned to keep the kittens separate from the larger animals when she wasn’t home to keep an eye on them.

  6. We live in a big poultry production area (Perdue, Tyson, Mountaire, Allen). They have hatcheries and take the baby chicks to farmers to “grow” them for the poultry plants. The folks who work there say they go from tiny chicks to full-grown in about 8 weeks…..so I do believe your little guys could be growing right in front of your eyes!

  7. They do grow fast………..they are so cute at this age. If you are worried about Speck………..they will keep him in line when they get older. If a chicken is made mad…….they will defend themselves.

    Karen L

  8. Good for Vince! Great idea on the roost because baby chicks are a fatal accident waiting to happen. You may end up stuffing the tubes with newspaper because the plastic will become irresistible quite quickly and be a choking hazard. I prefer the round feeders for exactly the reason you have discovered. The long ones even with the rockers always end up with poop in the feed. When the chicks are bigger it will work better (the long one)

    The lady I was going to split my order with dropped out and I can’t use 25 this year so I am disappointed. Next year for sure.

  9. Yep, they’ve grown! I can’t help but smile thinking about poor Speck, I can relate because I’m certain Hannes would act in the exact same way. 🙂

Discover more from Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading