Welp.... here they are. The newest members of the Hart Farm. I wanted to wait until they were older and stronger to officially introduce them to the world. We originally had five baby chicks but we lost two of them along the way. It happens.... which is why I chose to wait this time. They are Light Brahmas so when they get older they should be mostly white with speckled black and white wings and tails. They should lay brown eggs. These little guys are pretty fun to watch... it wasn't all fun and games though. I have to say this was the most stressful batch of chicks we've had yet. We have three adult chickens now so we've been through this before... raising them and watching them grow. We've also lost a few along the way before and I know now not to get too attached to them.
We cared for these little guys the same as we had done with the other chicks in the past
(which had seemed to work well) and my Husbear is very knowledgeable about raising chickens living on a farm in Ohio and all. We just didn't expect what happened to happen... I guess I should say.
(Bummer Alert! With a Happy Ending.)
We had a little plastic Rubbermaid container all set up for them with a heat lamp fashioned into the lid. No.... we didn't close the lid all the way. (Duh) We left the lid open so the air would circulate in and out. Well, apparently some water spilt from their drinking container into the ground up corn cob bedding that they were on and with the heat lamp on mold and bacteria grew at an extremely rapid rate without us knowing. We believe that the chicks may have ate some of the mold and that there was possible a build up of Co2 in the cage because they slowly started stumbling around and loosing their balance. They eventually (within hours) started to loose all control of their fine motor skills and began having seizures. We both panicked!!
We changed their bedding and immediatly discovered the mold. We were soooo pissed at ourselves. We did some research and found that some people said that the corn cob bedding that we were using was a big "no no" as well. I was so unbelievebly angry at myself for letting this happen. I love animals and couldn't believe that what I thought I was doing was right and that I had contributed to them becoming ill. This lead to fighting and crying with the Mister. We were both frustrated and felt horrible about what had happened. We drilled little holes near the bottom of the container for more air circulation and just waited to see if they would survive. Oh yeah.... did I mention they started to have "splayed legs" on account of us using the corn cob bedding. I felt sick at my stomach.... we were the worst people on earth!!! About the bedding... we had used it before with two previous batches of chicks and never had this happen! We immediatly got rid of the bedding and resorted to using paper towels and changing them out twice a day.
The two smallest chicks had become very weak and we knew they probobably wouldn't make it... but they kept hanging in there. For three days we watched as they bobbed around and continued to sieze. It was horrible and gut wrenching to watch. They finally passed within a day of eachother. I still feel awful. These three managed to brave the storm and came back stronger than ever. One of the little girls has a curled toe still but they are healthy and are getting so big! This is them below after we came back from the Beach. They grew so fast within just those four days we were away!
I decided this is our last batch of chicks. We already have three other adult Hens that lay on a regular basis and with these three little girls we'll have a perfect round number of six. Not too many to handle but just enough for our little urban backyard farm. If you are thinking about raising your own chicks and having a little coop of your own I would love to hear about it. See the Husbear's eco-friendly chicken coop design here. Also, if you have any questions or want to know where I did my research I can recommed some great sources.
xoxo
