Bantam growing

These are a few of the bantam I have been raising. They are looking good and running out of room in the chicken tractor.

Chickens, rabbits and kids, Oh my!

Updates:
24 healthy bantam chicks including 6 Silver Sebrights.

We get around 3 eggs a day from the adult chickens (layers)

As I said saturday; funny bunny had her first litter. At least 6 babies have been counted. But they are deep in the nest and hard to see.

And as if the farm is not enough to take care of along with a dog and a 7 year old daughter we have been doing foster care training. So we're about to take on another child. Girl. Eva's age.

God has been good to us. We want to give back. Please pray for 5th ave farm.

2.5 weeks old

It has been a week or so and the chicks are getting bigger. Apparently the Hatchery (www.cacklehatchery.com) read my request when I ordered the "assortment of bantams" that i wanted Silver Sebrights, because it looks like at least 5 of them are Silver Sebrights. they are the ones with white and black feathers.

Two Sick Chicks

I have 2 chicks that are sort of sickly. One has a pasty butt the other has a bad eye.  The thought process of the mother hen (that's me) is funny. I thought, "maybe I should put some Vaseline on it." After all my mom put Vaseline on all my ailments, either that or Vick's Vapor Rub. But then my next thought was "No. It might peck at it, get petroleum jelly in its mouth and throat and die." Then I thought,"I can put one of those cones around its neck (you know like one of those dog neck cones to keep it from licking its stitches) Then I thought of the humiliation and the poor chick saying, "Oh!! The humiliation of it all." I shared these thoughts with Yvonne. She said, "No, cause the other chick has a bad eye."

I separated them from the rest of the chicks and they slept in my room in a rubber maid container with their own heat lamp and food and water. At one point they chirped so loud Yvonne could hear them on the other end of the house through closed doors. Soon they calmed down and tired out and slept through most of the night. Mother hen (me) kept waking up in the middle of the night worried for them. I will be getting antibiotic feed for them this morning.

The black on has pasty butt the yellow one has a gimp eye. They are a pair.

the heat lamp is not on in the photo because it makes the picture look terribly red.

Survival

The chicks made it through the weekend. Technically they are 5 days old, now. I opened the windows for them to give them some sunlight and ventilation. I am questioning this decision, but God willing they'll be fine. On the flipside, I sold five of them to a friend, and unfortunately all five of them died. I feel horrible about this. But apparently she was not a good "mother hen".

Why I Have Chickens

So I don't have to go to Wal-Mart as often. So I know where my eggs are coming from. Because the eggs are fresh. They aren't any trouble. Not any more than any other pet. You can let them" free range" or put up a easy coop from Sam's or build your own from recycled materials. Using the Deep Litter Method (DLM) you only have to clean the coop 3 times a year. You throw some food at them everyday (just like you would a dog) and you get a dozen eggs a week from 2 or 3 chickens. If you breed and raise them, then roosters make great fried chicken. If everyone had their own we could potentially put the chicken factories out of business. Not to mention the educational possibilities for my daughter (and all children). Consider getting your own.

Hi! My name is Chad and I am addicted to chickens.

I bought 25 chickens. No guarantee that they will be hens, no guarantee the eggs will even be large enough to bother cracking open. They are called" bantam" and best I can tell so far they are just meant to look purdy. But I ordered them so they are coming. So I built a brooder into the coop. You can see it in the pictures. It is 33 x 26 inches by 14 inches tall. I built it with a hole for the heat lamp and two windows for peeking and ventilation.  I hope the other hens like them.  Any way. That's what I did today. Oh, and by the way, if it crows it be comes that evenings dinner.