The little chicks are just over a week old and are developing their feathers. They had outgrown their big cardboard box in the porch, where they initially were kept so I could watch them closely. 

Today they went to the new place, the livestock trough brooder. There are two heat lamps in the trough, in case one bulb burns out. There is real hay on the floor of the trough, a big chunk of moist sod, food and some water, though the tray on the chick waterer cracked so tomorrow a new one or two will be in order. The sod is for dirt. They need the soil bacteria to help culture their digestive system and the grit in it to grind the whole organic grain they are being fed. I have ground the grain for the first week and will do so for a bit longer, but they are starting to pick at the whole grains too. 

I observe the little chicks cared for by the mother hens. The day they are hatched she calls them outside and they jump, walk, hop and manage to get to where she wants them to be, sometimes with a great deal of effort, but they do get there, nonetheless. They scratch the dirt, pick up the odd piece of grain and bits of grass and the chicks are exposed to wind, sun, rain and even snow recently. When they are cold, they peep loudly and mother hen warms them until they are calm. She warms them less and less as they develop their feathers and can begin to regulate their own temperature better. 

I have had great success with the livestock trough brooder.This old trough was free because it has rusted through in two places. I posted an ad looking for one and the gent was pleased to have it gone, as it was no longer useful to him for his cows. It is large. I have a smaller one too, and this year it is set up beside the bigger one, for goslings and ducklings when they hatch in the mom's nests. I cannot allow them to free range with their parents because the ravens eat them. There are three geese on about 30 eggs. 

After the chicks are out of the brooder, they go into a hoop coop with a heat lamp still in case of a chill. The hoop coop is 8 x 10 feet to provide ample growing room and it is movable, but the chicks all have to be caught and caged for moving. The geese and ducklings follow a similar path. 

These chicks are top of the line Ameraucanas, Cream legbars (and both those breeds lay blue eggs) and there are 3 white Chanteclers too. I am going to mix them with my existing chickens of those breeds, plus the Partridge Chanteclers I already have.  My aim is to create a wonderful, hardy, foraging flock that will lay eggs and raise chicks from year to year. I think this will be my last influx of new chicks for some time and from now on, just a new rooster will likely be added. 

And to think, upon moving here, I suffered a true bird phobia and was deathly afraid of chicks and chickens, well, all birds to be exact. It took 3 years to fight that phobia and I can finally say, it is gone. Now...back to check on the chicks. 

Some new additions for the Fat Ewe Farm have arrived. They are true Ameraucanas, Cream legbars and 3 white Chantelcers. Ameraucana chickens are my favourite breed. They are hardy, forage well, eat less than many breeds, lay consistently, but not through the winter and have pretty blue eggs. They are not overly friendly, but also not overly flighty. I can easily walk amongst them without causing a panic situation and they do not mind if I enter the coop. They simply look up as if to say, "Oh, it's only you!" and go back to doing whatever they were doing. 

These Ameraucanas originate from two different lines in Ontario and one from southern Alberta.  I am not interested in showing chickens, but I do prefer true breeds to start with, then I mix them up. The best breed so far are the Chantacaunas, or Chantecler and Ameraucana crosses. The birds are larger than Ameraucanas, better setters and brooder and better foragers than the Chanteclers, plus are very winter hardy. 

The cream legbar is a sort of leghorn chicken and the males and females look different at hatching, so they can be sexed right from the start. Unfortunately, I have 7 roosters and only 5 hens then. The chickens lay blue eggs very similar to the Ameraucana in colour, but they are better layers. So to increase the number of eggs per year and hopefully through winter I thought I would bring this breed into the flock. For my set up, which is an insulated coop without additional heat or light in the winter, the birds need to be hardy. They are fed and watered outside, not matter the weather and they do have a larger hoop shelter, which I call the day spa, to hang out in. It has a south facing low window where the chickens congregate to absorb some vitamin d and the warmth of the sun. 

In the fall I plan to sell, if I can, a bunch of chickens. These new additions should be grown up by then and I can decide which ones to keep and which ones to sell. The problem is that people do not want to bother with winter chickens around here, so fall sales are pretty much non existent. I would hate to butcher them, especially since they already cost a pretty penny for these pure lines, so may have to wait until spring. But the cost of organic grain is currently 40 cents a pound and feeding chickens that I plan to sell may mean they won't even bring enough money to pay for their winter keep. 

Tonight the babies are in the porch in a rather small container with a heat lamp for observation. I ran the regular feed of wheat, peas, flax and barley through the grinder and they are gobbling it up. Tomorrow they will go into the large old livestock trough outside with a second heat lamp. There is an old door covering the trough and they can see the sun. In warm weather I remove the door and put a wire over the trough to prevent cats and other birds (ravens, owls) from taking the babies. Then they can feel the wind on their faces and the sun on their backs, and when they feel cold, run under the heat lamp to warm up, just as they would with their mammas. 

I have observed the mother hens with their newly hatched chicks often. They are not in a building. The chicks run after the mothers, over straw and hay, through mud and on uneven ground. The wind blows their little downy feathers and the sunshine and rain falls on their backs. I do not agree with brooding chicks in buildings where there is no sunshine. Vitamin D is necessary for birds as it is for humans. Coddled birds that do not get fresh air, get respiratory problems. Outdoor chicks raised with their mothers seldom get anything. So my set up mimics natural chick rearing as much as possible. When they are big enough to go into a hoop coop, they will grow up there, protected from the owls and ravens, but still very much outside. They get fresh green grass picked twice daily and their organic feed too. 

So, welcome the newest little ones to the farm please if you will. And stay tuned to watch them grow with posts from time to time. Thanks for being with us.