Pages

Sunday, 20 April 2014

The Great Chicken Adventure: Two weeks old

Wednesday was moving day! All the chicks are happily settled into their coop now. The afternoon sun was nice yesterday that day so I unplugged both heatlamps inside and got them going in the chicken coop to warm up for a couple of hours. After about 3 hours the thermometer was reading 19oC just a slight ways away from the lamp. We moved the chicks out in a cardboard box, with the flaps down to keep them protected from the cold. Once inside their coop they were eager to spread their wings and dart around in what would have seemed to them like a football field!  They had to get used to a new feeder and a new waterer, to accommodate their growing size. Now Ive figured out a new routine with my chores, I take food out twice daily - morning and night, combined they consuming about 4-5 cups per day. I change their water at the same time, but they don't go through very much of that. I have a thermometer in the coop to monitor the temperature. The past couple of days have been warmer, and tonight the temperature read 25oC, so we unplugged one of the heat lamps. They weren't panting but they were lifting their wings a lot. With my new cow chores up the road I haven't had much time to keep track of the changes in the hen house, but theres no doubt about it they are growing! We also had a comeback run on the maple syrup - we collected about 300L in the last two or three days and again, that takes a lot of time to deal with.
Enjoy the photos of the "interior decorated" hen house (the rooster pictures on the walls are to encourage my hens to lay eggs quicker and the roosters to grow fancy feathers!)

 Here is the nighttime glow of the heat lamps - it makes for a strange sight.




No comments:

Post a Comment