Winter

Winter

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Chicks, again


I went out this morning, knowing that I was going to
have a dead chick. It never seemed to catch up to the
others, and it just stopped growing. Sure enough
when I went in it was gone.
Then I cleaned my cage and put the chicks back into
the box, I noticed another one doing this seizure thing.
It was one of the Marans. I got another box and put
some feed and water into it and then took the heat
lamp and held it over the chick for a bit.

The chick came out of the seizure and started wanting
to eat and drink. My husband had came back in with
another heat lamp for the other chicks but the Maran
was acting normal so I put it back.

My ultra-red light had burned out earlier and I decided
that I would run down to the feed store and get a new one
right then. I talked to the sweet girl about chicks and she
said that with this cold spell, they have lost
chicks too.
By the time I got back, it had warmed up so much in the
garage bathroom where they live with two lamps on them
they were running around, flapping their tiny wings and
eating and drinking.
The one that had looked so sick before, I couldn't even tell
from it from its sisters.

I put a thermometer in there because the girl at the feed
store said it really needs to be at least 98 for them to thrive.
It wasn't, it was more like 70, I have never had chicks this early before.

Now I know. I still feel like a crumb. I hate loosing chicks too.
It makes me feel like such a rotten mother hen.

Have a great Saturday! When it warms up a bit, I get to
attach a hula-hoe to the end of my arm and work the day
away. :)


2 comments:

Kessie said...

Oh no! What color chick did you lose? I had thought that it was oddly cold in there, but then I always raised mine in cardboard boxes, which retain and reflect heat like mad.

Farm Girl said...

It was one of the white silkies and then I went out to feed and your sex link was dead in the hen house. She was fine when I let them out this morning. But I think the little black maran will be dead by morning. I remember when we first got a flock of hens one of them did this weird thing and now this one is doing the same thing. Wow, three chickens in one day. I feel so tired.