Chicken Update

It's been a full week since we first got our two little chickens. They've grown considerably, although you can't tell unless you compare it to a baby picture, or a baby chick, which we now have examples of both.

My parents went to town on Saturday and called me from the local country store. Well, apparently I inherited my impatience from my parents, they were calling to see how I would feel about buying some more chickens. My mom, T.Burnett, told me they had Americanas at the store and asked how many I wanted, so I said all of them. She also got two Rainbow chickens and four Gold Star, with our first two that makes thirteen chickens! The five Americanas are not Ameraucanas, the rare breed. These are Easter Eggers with a tricky name. I had to do a little research yesterday to figure out what the difference was, but Easter Eggers or fancy chicken, I'm excited!

These chickens were more stressed out than our first two. One had a pasty bum and that was dried and caked on, it was terrible. After cleaning her, she relieved herself and has been acting normal since. I put some Apple Cider Vinegar in their water, one tablespoon, I read that it helps keep their rear ends clean, so far so good. 

One of our Easter Eggers wasn't doing so well, however. She had an infection, evidenced by thick, bloody feces and a hydrogen peroxide swab. We quarantined her and dropper fed her some mashed up chicken food, honey and water and I bought one of those pedialyte for chickens things to put in her water. She didn't make it through the night, unfortunately, but we got the medicine for that problem, tetracycline hydroxide, today so we'd have it on hand next time. I was a little distraught over it this morning, but it's a good reminder that no matter how hard  you try to help, sometimes these things happen.

On a happier note, the other twelve chicks are healthy and my parents surprised me with a new chicken tank to put them in, it's a big solid, metal affair. It's 2'x4'x2', which is more than enough space for 13 chicks. We may have to keep the other chicks separate for a while when they get here, so we may still need to put them somewhere, but we'll just play it by ear for now.

Gold Star Chicken

We replaced the bedding with sand and hay, like my friend, Jesse, suggested. They didn't have regular hay at the store, so we just bought what they had, which was alfalfa hay. The chickens went nuts for it, so we may throw some alfalfa in once a week or something like that.

Aren't they cute?!