It's all about baby love around here right now. We picked up 7 new chicks this week -- so cute! We selected breeds we've found to be good layers and nice to have around.
It's fun to have them chirring and peeping and chirping away in the corner by the stove. For now.
I know it will be about a week before they start to get smelly no matter how many times you change their bedding in a day but until we have an airtight heated shed to nurture these babes, an early start in our house is what they'll be treated to. Thankfully, the days are warm enough to open doors and windows for the blessed cross breeze, Mother Nature's gift to poultry nurturers.
In a reminder that nature is mean sometimes, too, though I was sad to come home to find two missing chicks after my trip to south county today. I found one chirping by my bed and the other laying quietly on my bed. When I walked by our room earlier I thought it was a bone one of the dogs had crawled up onto the bed with. Unless the one I found by the bed has internal bleeding, I think he'll be ok. The other little one we'll have to put down in the morning if she hasn't gotten up and around by then -- she looks broken and I am not holding out much hope, poor babe. We have them basking under the heat lamp and I've tried to coax both to eat and drink. We'll see what transpires.
I'm not sure which dog was the culprit and lesson learned for thinking their lack of interest in the chicks meant they'd leave them be for a few hours. I should have locked the dogs in a room but simply didn't think about it. Darn it.
We'll see what the morrow brings.
Love from the farm,
Teri
