Thriving!

This will be their last weigh in as chicks.  They seriously don't like it and it is harder to get them to stay bloody still long enough to take a photo that includes the leg ring.

While some are considerably heavier, they are all putting on weight.

Snowball 1

Snowball 2

Snowball 3

Snowball 4

Snowball 5

Snowball 6

Snowball 7

Snowball 8

Snowball 9

Snowball 10

Now they're under the workbench and they can stay there until they have all their feathers.  Some are really being quite aggressive.  If start to show aggression toward me, they'll be first on the chopping block.

 I can't have chickens that will peck humans.  Not if I have small visitors coming.  In the meantime, they're still cute.  They can enjoy their youth. 

Moving on up!

The chicks were a week old yesterday.   In celebration, they all got coloured leg rings.  I still don't know which ones are male and which are female, but it doesn't matter.  The Snowballs are doing well.

Today after dinner, I found one of them had found its way out of the box that is on top of the workbench onto the floor.  Okay. . . time to move them to a safer space.

Thinking quickly about WHERE they can go, I devised a plan.  I cleaned out the area under the workbench, blocked the area off with scrap plywood and hey presto, we have a safe place for the chicks.  The heat lamp is suspended for them.  They have food and water and much more room!

The back half of the tool shed is now off limits for a few weeks.

When the chicks no longer need that heat lamp, they will move outside.  I will make a week long introduction to the four remaining elder hens and then their life as full on chickens will have started.

Weighing in

The chicks have been growing well.  True to their name, they are starting to develop a bit of attitude.  When I put my hand in, I will get pecked.  It doesn't hurt as the chicks are still less than a week old.  But some are making a "challenging" pose and square up to my hand - even though they're only little.

When they were three days old, I thought I'd weigh them. The heaviest was 65 grams and the lightest was 50 grams.  I was surprised at the variance. The average weight was 58.0 grams.

I weighed them again today - what a difference two days makes!  The smallest today was 60 grams and the heaviest was 83 grams with a group average of 72.4 grams.  Average increase in 14.4 grams.  The largest chick gaining 18 grams in weight and the smallest gaining just 10 grams.

I wish I had leg rings for them so that I could check the progress of each individual chick. . . .but that window has passed.  I will just have to work on averages.  I would love to be able to chart the growth of each chick.

I have no idea which chicks are male and which are female at this point.  I am just guessing that the heavier chicks are male.   We'll see.