Moving Chicks to the Brooder House; Part I

February 24, 2021 (Wednesday) - Today I FINALLY got around to getting the first set of chicks I picked up to the brooder. While it seems like FOREVER since I picked these 17 up from Jenks Hatchery in Tangent, Oregon, it has only been a week! But what a week it has been! In that time, I have sadly lost one of my ColorPak chicks and, what is extra sad about this, is that it was at no fault of the chick’s. Worried about another ice or snow storm which would mean a power outage, I started the chicks in a black tub in the garage so that they would be closer and easier to check on. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop a power surge from happening, creating my original worst fears, but thankfully I didn’t lose any chicks to that. What I did lose a chick too was Boots the farm cat.

I had proactively covered the cat door that led to the outside knowing that Boots had been enjoying relaxing during those wintery days on my Carhartt jacket that had been left on top of one of our meat freezers. Knowing he would take easy pickings of the day old chicks, I knew I needed to lock him out. What I didn’t count on was his resourcefulness, as I had covered the garage door on the inside - bad idea. Using his large size on the outside, Boots shoved the covering off the door, snuck into the garage, obviously had to inspect the chicks and grabbed a ColorPak chick as I walked into the garage hearing the commotion of the cat door cover falling off.

I can’t be mad at Boots. It’s literally his nature and job to run clean up around the place, but my heart went out to the lost chick and I haven’t forgiven myself yet!

With that being said, I still have 10 Dark Copper Maran chicks and 7 ColorPak chicks - still more than the 8 of each I had originally ordered! They were quickly outgrowing their box so it was time to move them to the brooder box in the pump house and bring the remaining chicks I purchased from the local breeder over from my parents’ farm. Typically we raise Cornish Cross chicks in the brooder so it’s set up to handle 100 chicks at a time. There is plenty of room for these laying chicks to grow and get bigger and I am excited to watch as each of them raise. The only laying chicks that I have raised were Novogens and, while standard, they were always a tadbit wild!

I have tried to proactively hold and handle the chicks, and even considered tagging them. Fear of forgetting a zip tie, however, has stopped me from going ahead and doing that. As I moved and handled each chick into the new brooder, touching their beaks to the water and settling them next to the food under the heat lamp, I tried to get photos of each chick for my records. I feel a little silly because I don’t know if the discerning different marks on each chick of each variety will even be noticeable in the future but I will see how it transgresses as they grow!