You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…

You make me happy, when skies are grey…

You’ll never know dear, how much I love you….

Please don’t take my sunshine away.

Here is a picture of the little chick that Oldest Grand girl named, “Sunshine.”

I think she likes to pose for the camera.

What do you think?

Becky

Other posts you may enjoy:

Youngest Grandgirl Picking Veggies 

Did I think I would be cleaning poop off of the baby chicks bottoms?

I think not : )

But, if a baby chicks has dried poop on their bottoms they can get clogged up and it could cause big problems.

So, Oldest Daughter (who was home sick today) checked all the baby chicks bottoms for poopy feathers.

All the chicks got a clean bill (butt) of health. Relief.

What she did not know is that I  already had to clean one bottom this morning before I left for work. The easter egger chick had some poopy droppings on her behind. A little warm water on some toilet paper and some soft rubbing took it right off.

All the babies are doing fine.

I have been told a couple of the chicks names. Oldest grandgirl named the Easter Egger, “Bunny,” and the yellow Buff Orpinton, “Sunshine.”

They sound like perfect names for me!

I have been a Mother Hen for officially 30 hours.

Whew, I am tired. : )

Becky

Here is the newest additions to the family!

I was so excited to get off work today and go pick up the baby chicks. They came in this morning around 11am from a nursery in Lebanon MO. I had my list of what kind of chickens I wanted to buy. I was afraid that they would be out of the ones I wanted. The feed store told me last week that they would have a 100 of each one coming in and they still would have what I wanted by the time I got off.

The feed store I went to, to buy my chicks had a different brooder set up than the other feed stores. Their brooder was like a apartment complex for little chicks. They had feed stalls set up in the front and the little chicks would poke their heads through the opening to get the feed.

It was so comical to watch them with all their little heads out. There were two other families there buying chicks. It was certainly a family affair! They brought their children and as soon as the little chicks were placed in a box, the children and the chicks started getting acquainted.

I would have loved to stay and enjoy the moment, but Oldest daughter who does not cook, was sick and having car trouble. So I just told the lady at the feed store what kinds of chicks I wanted to buy.

The lady at the feed store, found a nice size box for me and filled the bottom with wood shavings. She sure was fast grabbing those little chicks up and putting them in the box.

Another lady from the feed store carried my little cargo to my car and I buckled them in the front seat. Since Oldest Daughter was having car trouble, I went to school to pick up Oldest Grandgirl.

She could not wait to hold one! She even has names for some of them already.

These are the kinds of chicks I purchased:

2–Rhode Island Reds

2–Barrel Plymouth Rocks

1–Buff Orpington

1– Easter Egger

The first thing we did when we got the chickens in the brooder was put their heads in the water so they could get a drink of water.

I also put paper towels down over the pine shavings to help keep the dust down, from the pine shavings, for a couple of days.

Then we put the little chicks in the brooder. They went right for the water.

I put a little floor thermometer on the floor of the brooder. I need to keep the temperatures around 95 degrees for the first week.

It is suppose to get cold tonight and snow.

My garage can get a little nippy when it is cold.

Maybe I should bring them into the house for the night….

I have room in my bathroom.

Then I can peek at them all night.

See….I really am a Mother Hen.

Becky

Here chicky, chicky, chicky…..

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the big day I get my 6 chicks. I will be picking them up after I get off work. Oldest grandgirl is so excited. She helped me carry all the necessary equipment from my car and into the garage, where we will be setting up the brooder.

I have never done this before, and I asked a lot of questions and got a ton of answers from my friends who already have chickens.  They are just about as excited as grandgirl and I are.

Here is a picture of my cart at the feed store yesterday. I also purchased a red heat bulb and some bedding.

My friends and the feed store, told me I needed a container to put the little chicks in.

I could not decide what to get. The feed store sold these washable cardboard fence things that went in a circle and it had a stand for the heat lamp. I could also use a little kids swimming pool, or, I could talk Company into building some kind of wooden box for me. Yesterday, when I went to his house, he had two very large rubber maid containers he was not using. “Can I pretty please borrow (never return) one of your containers?” So, it about a minute, the rubber maid container was loaded in the car.

Now, what do I need next?

I need a feeder. The feed store recommended this one, because the little chicks cannot roost on it of it and poop in the food, sound tasty…NOT!  It is also too large for the little chicks to knock over.

Little chicks need lots of water. I decided on this water container, because this is what the feed store was using to water their chicks. It is also a little smaller and would not take up so much room in the bottom of the container.

You need some chick food. This is what was recommended to me. It is medicated to prevent disease and help with growth.

You need a heat lamp. This one has a guard that goes in those little holes on the edges.

The feed store also wanted to point out that I should buy a heat lamp that had a ceramic bulb fitting for safety.

The heat lamp, has a clamp in the back to clamp on something to hold it up, it also has a hanger to hang it up. Whatever works best for  you.

My friends and also the feed store recommended the red heat bulb. It is like three times more expensive, but with the bulb being red, the little chicks are less likely to peck on one another.

Since the little chicks are pooping machines, I needed some pine shavings to line the bottom of the container. This was the kind the feed store recommended and it was on sale…wooohooo! Do not use cedar shavings, as those are harmful to little chicks.

Now I need to set up the brooder.

Oldest grandgirl filled the bottom of the Rubbermaid container with pine shavings. I had her do about 2 inches deep. I am going to check tomorrow if I need newspapers on the bottom underneath, or maybe paper towels. But, I don’t think I  need them.

We filled the water container up and put it in the corner. We wanted the water to be at room temperature when the little chicks get a drink so they do not get chilled from drinking cold water.

Grandgril filled the feeder with the chick crumbles, and we set it down against one side of the container.

Now, we had to figure out how to set up the heat lamp. The heat lamp needs to be in one corner of the brooder. The chicks can go to the corner to warm up, but can go play around and chase each other in the rest of the container. The heat lamp is low enough to get the temperature up to 90 to 95 degrees for the first week. Then you can raise the lamp, thus lowering the temperature by 5 degrees every week until the temperature gets down to 70 degrees. (at least that is what my book says.)

Anywho, this lamp kept causing me problems. I put the brooder next to a built in work bench and I thought I could just clamp the lamp to it. The thickness was a little to big, and even though I got the lamp clamped on, it was lose and I was afraid it would fall in the brooder. I contemplated nailing the clamp down, which would work temporarily, but if I needed to adjust the height of the lamp, I would have to figure something else out later.

I finally settled on this little wood step stool that was just the right height (for now) and the board was the right thickness to easily clamp the heat lamp to. I think when I need to raise the lamp, I can just put bricks or wood on the floor and put the step stool on it to raise the height.

Here is a peek inside the brooder with the red light on. You can see that the wire guards are on now.

Waaalaaaa….here is my brooder! All ready to go. Now, if the chicks get too big for this container….well….I will worry about that tomorrow ; )

Now, all I need is some chicks.

I hope I know what I have gotten myself in to.

Becky

It’s alive……..

Last October or November, Grandgirls and I planted garlic and onion sets at the end of Company’s garden spot.

when I checked on them in December, they were doing great. See all the green tops popping out of the ground.

When I checked on them a couple of weeks ago. I could not see any life. Even though we put straw down to protect the new sets, the negative degree winds took their toil on the green tops. I was afraid we had lost them all due to all the snow, sleet and zero temperatures.

But…..

A couple of days ago, I was able to actually get into the garden in the place the grandgirls and I planted the sets and moved back some of the straw.

Look what I found!

It is either onions or garlic that is coming up.

Company hopes that it is garlic….he hates onions.

The girls and I are rooting for the onions….: )

Hopefully, we will be harvesting garlic in July and onions in May.

Breath mints anyone?

Becky

Company took the coop home with him to put together.

He was having a little problem with putting the coop together.

I took one look at it and told him what was wrong.

I told him he had one side upside down.

Here is a picture of the roof pieces of the chicken run. He had the piece that connects to the chicken house and run upside down and inside out.

How is that possible?

He still did not quite believe me and wanted to look at the instructions (with pictures) to double check.

This is what he looks like when he is thinking……

and thinking….

and thinking….

Company finally said, “it will only take 6 screws to fix it.”

So….is that his way of saying I was right?

Becky

Did you know that Sam’s sold chicken coops?

Oldest daughter who does not cook was the one that told me.

I had to chirp on over to Sam’s Club and take a look.

I have been talking about getting backyard chickens for about 6 months. I am hoping it will be a fun family adventure that will reward us with eggs.

The coop at Sam’s looks like a little doll house on top, if you don’t count the nesting boxes. It has a little stairway and a door way into their little house.

You can reach in and pluck (steal) eggs right out of the nesting boxes from the outside. Cool…ugh?

Why raise chickens?

They forgot to list, “cause you want to show your neighbors how crazy you are,” on the box

Here are the dimensions of the chicken coop.

Here is the box in back of Company’s truck.

Yes, I bought a chicken coop!

Shhh….don’t tell my neighbors. (though I can have up to 6 chickens in my back yard, but no roosters)

My neighbors might BAAAKKK at the idea.

Fresh Eggs in 4 months.

Woot Woot!

Becky