Fluffy Yellow Chicks

7:30 a.m., my new iPhone rings.  I can't figure out how to answer it so I grab my bluetooth, turn it on and stick it in my ear.

Me:  "Hello?" "Hello?"
Post office lady:  "Is this Lisa Owens?"
Me:  "Yes, it is."
Post office lady: "Your chicks are here. Do you want to come get them?"
Me:  (hand covering microphone) "YAHOO!" then thinking No, lady, I want to leave them there so you can take care of them. Sheesh.
Me: "Yes, I'll come get them right away."
Post office lady:  "OK, then." in a see-that-you-do tone of voice.

I could hear them cheeping rather loudly in the background.  Chick season must drive the post office staff nuts.  I know they drove us nuts during the 20 minute drive home.

Bear with me - I want to document that everything went A-OK, so here's the box, and my brooder setup:

They're pretty big birdies, so I'll have to split them into different boxes as they grow.  Crowding is bad for them.



Here they are in the brooder.  They look like they're cold but they were just taking a break from playing "Chick Pinball".

Yes, chicks will eat fermented feed.  They just had to figure out that the feed isn't the red thing, it's IN the red thing:

And here's one of my homemade waterers.  I took a standard waterer, flipped it upside down, drilled holes, installed horizontal nipples, and macramed the thing to hang from the brooder top.  I made the other two out of a couple of Wally World's big creamer bottles.  This one is actually sitting on the catch basin right now but will be raised as the chicks grow.  At this point (5 minutes in the brooder) there are either 2 or 3 who have figured out how it works, or one that keeps coming back for water.  I don't know which:

I remembered something when I saw the chicks going for the catch basin (it's covered with a foil grill pan bent around a plate):  Don't use foil unless you want the chicks to peck at it instead of the thing sitting on it!

I'll be posting a pic every day so you can see how fast the little buggers grow.  Day 1 Chick:

Now I have to go add more feed; they're standing on their heads in the holes trying to reach it.  Jeff & Doug really do have to get the chicken tractor built soon - in just 4 or 5 short weeks they'll be ready to go outside!