GS Farm Musings: We've got babies...

I could not contain my excitement when we finally decided to pick up 8 baby chicks (3-4 days old) today. They are 4 Dorking (pure breed) and 4 Chantecler breeds (cross-bred with a Dorking cock) Actually it was supposed to be just 6 chicks but then we got a phone call asking us to pick up the other one Dorking because it was suffering from separation anxiety. And we thought we wanted to have an even number of chicks so why not make it 8. I don’t know their genders yet. I just hope they are not all roosters as I’m really just interested in laying hens. They hatched last week according to Frances (owner of Hastings Feed and Farm Supplies). She hatched them herself in an incubator in her bedroom. Upon arrival at her farm, I was amazed with her almost brand new chicken coops. She had lots of chickens, ducks and geese greeting us. It felt so welcoming there.

Frances is a very nice person and you will feel comfortable with her right away. She led us upstairs in her house to show the chicks we can choose from. Her farm is amazing. If I have the money, I would build a castle-like chicken coop. Her house is very nice and looks newly-built but that’s not the interesting part. She led us upstairs and I was surprised to see 2 ducks in an open box (yes you read it right) and at least 2 others in her bedroom. The 2 ducks in an open box were squacking at us as she explained more about the chicks. I’m impressed they didn’t run around considering they were just loose. Apparently, those ducks in her bedroom had to stay indoors because they cannot survive the winter. They we’re almost frozen dead when she found them so she had no choice but to take them indoors. But it’s unusual to see ducks in a bedroom. Amazingly enough her house is very clean and tidy. She’s willing to give me 2 adult ducks when I mentioned I’m considering them because they are very good in eating weeds. But I told her we still have to build a coop for them.

She gave us tips on how to raise chicks. She also sold us pine shavings for bedding, water and feed dispensers. Luckily she did because we just realized we’re not 100% ready with our supplies. And she gave us some organic feed to get started. And not only that, she also gave us 4 duck eggs and a dozen chicken eggs (some are blue in colour). With that many fowl in her backyard she has too many eggs than she can consume and she even feeds the eggs to her 2 dogs.

I’m very protective of the 8 chicks because we have 2 cats at home. So please don’t think we’re crazy but we have the chicks set-up inside our bedroom so the cats (Dusty and Copper) won’t hurt (or play) with them. I tried introducing Copper (our orange/white tabby) to the chicks. He stares at them but I won’t let him get much closer. He just stares and eventually leaves them alone. I still would not let him near the chicks unattended. I don’t trust Dusty near the chicks at all. He’s more agile and has a predatory instinct.

One thing I’ve noticed about the chicks is that they start chirping when I’m not close by. So I have to talk in a soft voice and they stop chirping. Maybe they think I’m their mother hen. I’m seeing various personalities even when we just have them for a couple of hours.

So here are the 8 chicks. I only show 6 in the first 3 pictures because that's what we originally bought. Then we got the extra 2 (last 2 pictures). They are little eating-and-pooping machines. I don’t have names yet for them. Want to help me give them names?

These are the first 6 we originally bought (3 pictures below this)