The chicks are here! UPDATED pictures, hoop coop pic

I got 25 of the brown egg layer mix with 5 buff orpington roosters and they threw in an extra brown layer. I figure we'll eat the extra rooster and keep the nicest two. All 31 chicks made the trip and seem to be in good condition. I was pretty surprised they made it here so fast. They just shipped last night and the tracking number said Friday as the delivery date.

No idea what breeds these chicks are. They guaranteed at least 5 different breeds. I was hoping they would list the breeds that sent but they didn't. Oh well. It will be fun and if these do well I'm going to add some blue layers. I wanted to get some this year but they were all sold out by the time I ordered.

Now, here are the questions. Does that heating lamp look to be the right distance? They are in an unheated enclosed shop building and I don't want them to get to cool. I can pick up another lamp if I need to. The coldest they are forecasting over the next week is 48.

Wow, LOTS of chicks!!!

As for the heat lamp- they look comfy to me. If they are all huddled in a mass they are chilly, and if they are all scattered as far away from the lamp as possible, they are too hot. If they peep loudly something is wrong, but if they make little contented peeps they are happy.

MamaSheepdog":hczhd1bm said:

Wow, LOTS of chicks!!!

As for the heat lamp- they look comfy to me. If they are all huddled in a mass they are chilly, and if they are all scattered as far away from the lamp as possible, they are too hot. If they peep loudly something is wrong, but if they make little contented peeps they are happy.

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Thank you!

They have plenty of room to get away from the lamp if they get to hot. They are in a 4ft round water tank :lol: I stole it from my horses who will be relegated to drinking out of a plastic barrel until the chicks get to big for the tank.

I've had chickens before but they were all game type hens that I got grown from my Dad. They were basically wild, roosted in the trees, and always raised their own broods until the coons wiped them out. We are in a different location now and planning on shutting them up in a good coop at night. <br /><br /> __________ Thu Mar 10, 2016 10:46 am __________ <br /><br /> Hubby is really starting to crack me up! He just asked if we could get a few more from tractor supply to go with these... I was like how many chickens do we need????

He was looking at bees last night...Says he's wanting to get a few hives. I think I may have created a monster. :lol:

alforddm":3lye296d said:

They are in a 4ft round water tank :lol:

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I thought it was a 55 gallon barrel, lol! Spacious accommodations!

Since they have so much room to get away from the lamp, I think I would lower it down and angle it in a bit (if it is the clamp type and you are able to do that) at least when your temperatures are expected to drop. I see little danger of them overheating, whereas if it is too high it might not provide enough heat. :? You can also fill gallon jugs with hot water and wrap them in an old shirt or towel so they can huddle against them if they want.

alforddm":3lye296d said:

I've had chickens before but they were all game type hens that I got grown from my Dad. They were basically wild, roosted in the trees,

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I have never had game hens, but I had Danish Brown Leghorns once. They were very skittish and wild acting, and they could FLY! If they were in the coop and I went in there, they would sometimes panic and I had these big birds swooping past my head. They also liked to get up into the trees and on top of our sheds.

MamaSheepdog":2ivuk7h8 said:

Wow, LOTS of chicks!!!

As for the heat lamp- they look comfy to me. If they are all huddled in a mass they are chilly, and if they are all scattered as far away from the lamp as possible, they are too hot. If they peep loudly something is wrong, but if they make little contented peeps they are happy.

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Exactly that! Their demeanor will tell you everything you need to know :yes:

I messed up with my first batch of chicks . I kept them too hot evidently and they did not do well at all. Very very slow growing and maturing. They chirped loudly all.the.time, but I didn't know any different to realize that it wasn't normal (I thought it was odd, but brushed it off). I was trying to decide what to do with them when a snake decided to go on a killing rampage one night (couldn't actually eat them, too big once it got to the wings, so it just went from one to another)... not sure if or how they would have recovered had they been able to continue on.

I'm having chick fever :lol: . I like to get a few each year so that I have a steady supply of fresh new layers, but usually try and wait for a broody so I don't have to deal with a brooder box, heat lamp, etc... last year I got impatient and raised my own, then ended up with 5 broodys all at the same time toward the end of the season :roll:

I wanted to share an update about our chicks. They are doing great! We've moved them to their outside coop, although we still need to do a bit of work on it. We ended up with 36. They sent up 8 extra and we lost 2. I think the two we lost were both pullets and the extras are all roosters.

A few of the chicks have fuzzy feet. Not sure how that is going to work out yet since we tend to be pretty wet during the winter.

Fun! The extras probably were all cockerels - I have heard them referred to as packing peanuts :lol: . Space fillers for orders that don't quite fill the box

Have you been able to figure out breeds yet? What a fun guessing game! Looks like you'll have a nice, colorful flock - I tried all Black Australorps one year, just to keep it simple... it didn't last long. About as long as my REW trio lasted :lol: . Evidently I like variety...

heritage":1j50ug63 said:

Have you been able to figure out breeds yet? What a fun guessing game! Looks like you'll have a nice, colorful flock

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Thus far, we have some buff orpingtons, there are 7 of them so I'm hoping the 2 extra are hens, I can't tell yet.

A barred rock, some partridge rocks, either black Australorps or black giants, the fuzzy footed ones are Brahmas. There are some solid red ones that are probably either road island reds or new Hampshire reds. I'm pretty sure the whitish ones are all sex linked males.

And then there are couple that haven't been ID'd yet. I'm think some maybe Dark Cornish.

__________ Tue Apr 05, 2016 12:21 pm __________

These are the ones I'm not sure about yet. There are several of the darker ones and only the one of this lighter one.

The one in the middle with her head ducked.


And the darker reddish one in the middle.

The unidentified ones look like Americaunas to me- blue and green eggs may be in your future!

MamaSheepdog":2m8h9d26 said:

The unidentified ones look like Americaunas to me- blue and green eggs may be in your future!

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I don't think they are. McMurray's was sold out of the Americauna pullets or I would have ordered a few to go with these. I would love it if they were though! That would be an awesome surprise.

alforddm":2p6jqvv9 said:

MamaSheepdog":2p6jqvv9 said:

The unidentified ones look like Americaunas to me- blue and green eggs may be in your future!

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I don't think they are. McMurray's was sold out of the Americauna pullets or I would have ordered a few to go with these. I would love it if they were though! That would be an awesome surprise.

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The leg color is too light I believe. Blue layers are fun! I love a variety - for both chicken and egg color :lol: . I want some copper marans sometime, and lavender orps (but those will be harder to find I think, haven't looked too hard). I have tried Buff Orps 3 times now and have yet to get one to laying age - it's not the breeds fault at all though. The batch I mentioned above that I kept too hot were Buffs (a snake finalized that plan), then the couple "straight run" ones I got were all mean little cockerels, then a blasted puppy got all the ones a friend raised up for me last year (minus the lone little cockerel that ended up aggressive - I guess I am destined to have a Buff roo?? sheesh).