Justin and I have been taking care of our 13 chicks that hatched almost a week and a half ago and the speed at which they’re growing is amazing! Justin saw a post on Facebook from the family that sold us our maran eggs that they had some Easter egger chicks that had just hatched last Wednesday. I was so excited with my dark brown eggs, but I have always wanted some blue eggs too so this was perfect. Easter eggers are chickens that are mutts—not a recognized breed—that have the blue egg gene. We traveled to Smithville last Friday night and picked up 11 more chicks (9 EEs and 2 more marans). They are only four days younger than our chicks we hatched but the size difference is amazing! That brings our grand total up to 24.
These yellow fuzzy chicks are adorable!
The next day, Saturday, Justin was working so I was on chickie single mama duty. I noticed two of the chicks seemed like they were a little slower than the others. After some quick internet research on the Backyard Chickens forum, we decided one had a spraddled leg and one had curly toes. We followed everyone’s advice and created some homemade assistance with medical tape. The spraddle leg chick is adapting to its legs being taped, but Baby Curly Toe is resisting its assistance. The toes aren’t staying straight but it doesn’t seem to be affected by them so we are letting time tell. The shiny tape was catching the other chicks’ attention and they were pecking at them so they both got their own brood box for rehabilitation.
Monday, Justin brought home a brood box someone had given Amanda and Michael. Justin added more wood to the sides and some scrap tin to block the cold wind. We experienced 30 degree cold that night but the sides and heat lamp kept the chicks toasty and warm. He even fitted our quart jar waterer with a large half-gallon Mason jar. These chicks are eating and drinking machines and I was having to refill their water jug twice a day with the quart jar.
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