We were OUT. Like can’t wait 2 days for shipping out. So Zach sent me to Tractor Supply…
Little did he know it was Chick Days!!! As I walked in, I saw the sign. I walked around… maybe I’d just check them out… they are so cute when they’re tiny! So. Cute. We had wanted to get chickens earlier in the summer, but time passed and our window to get chicks came and went. Next year, we said. Next year. What crazy person would get chicks in late summer. In Maine, where winter comes quick and fierce.
Me! Me me me! I got them. I got ten of them: 5 Rhode Island Reds and 5 Domoniques. Then my sister-in-law brought me 3 more leghorns. So. Cute! The little puff balls peeped all the way home. We had all the stuff to keep them — a heat lamp, a feeder, a waterer — sitting in our workshop. I got home and got to work! We kept them in a cardboard box in our workshop for the first couple of days (no heat lamp).
They are cute but they are stinky. As soon as I got around to it we fenced in an area in our barn to set them. With a staple gun, we stapled chicken wire around a section. We put straw on the ground and hung the waterer. Will they be safe from predators? Will it stay warm enough? Well, it’s been three weeks and they’re doing great so far!
Their feathers are starting to come in. They eat all their food twice a day. They no longer poop in their water (Yes!). Now we just need a guard dog…