A few years ago when we first brought a set of three chicks on the road with us, it was out of necessity. We didn’t have any good options for their care, and the birds were too young to be left on their own for two weeks. We weren’t sure how they would cope with…
After the tragic loss of our Becky, we ordered three more baby chicks from Meyer Hatchery last Friday. These baby chicks hatched on Monday, and shipped via 2-day Express Mail. We woke up by a phone call from the local post office around 6 AM, notifying us the arrival of the shipment. Peter jumped out…
When we let the baby chicks play indoors, outside the baby box, we keep the basic cleaning kit handy. These chicks are not house trained, and can poop anywhere they feel like. But we try to restrict where they can walk on, such as hard floor and designated bath towels. In any case, cleaning poop…
The secret of training your chicks to be great lap chickens is to spend as much time with them as possible. The best way is to let them hang out on your lap at least once a day. We have several used bath towels just for this purpose. We keep them near our chairs all…
Kiki, the Barred Rock hen, is slowly getting over with the respiratory disease with a help from antibiotics. But she’s still vulnerable, and some other members in the flock are trying to taking advantage of her. On top of that, our rooster Leo has been chasing her and more violent toward her than other hens….
After the tragic loss of Becky, Peter created a new cover for the baby box. It has a smaller opening in the middle, so that we can reach inside without removing the whole cover. Now Shantie and Sophie are able to nap in more secure nursery.
We had a terrible accident this morning. We were busy preparing our breakfast at that moment. Coco, one of our hens, who was visiting inside the house jumped into the baby chicks’ box, and started wolfing down the baby food. I noticed the commotion with the baby chicks and removed Coco from the box as…
Kiki, the Barred Rock hen, has been suffering from lung infection lately. We started treating her with Baytril, antibiotics, since Monday. She laid an egg today. She’s been spending a lot of time sitting in a nesting box lately, but not being able to lay eggs, and I was concerned that she might be egg…
It’s not easy to give antibiotics to a chicken with respiratory disease. I normally have no problem with this with other chickens. I hold her on my lap, wedge her body with one arm, and open her mouth with the same hand. Then I inject medicine with the other hand, gently squeezing the tiny syringe…