They grow so fast!

March 29, 2011

Where has the time gone? I got the first new chicks on March 1st. The last of the ones to hatch was yesterday morning. It has been a month of newborns!

The ducklings were pretty much the same size as the chicks. However, they seem to grow like Edgar did. The rate seems to be double their size each week.

While the chicks have become more brave the ducklings are just terrified to bits of me. I handle them every day but it doesn't seem to matter. I think the difference is that there are three of them. If there was only one, it would bond to me. But they are social birds and I want it to be more natural for them. I want them to build their home in the pond behind the kitchen. Last week I started to clean the brush from around the pond.

Klink doesn't care for chickens!

I can honestly say this farm is riddled with an enormous amount of plants with sticky and prickly things attatched. I am forever getting scratches on my arms, hands, legs and any stray bit of skin that shows. Oh.. and my hair isn't safe either!

Last week I had my first crisis with the chicks. Two of them I noticed had a sneeze. One of the two was actually gasping for breath. I was certain it would not last the night. I went online to try and get some advice at midnight from BackYardChickens.com. I happened to have some antibiotic I could treat them with. After a week of treatment all was well.

Must...sleep...now!



 Tonight I heard one of the chicks I received on Tuesday sneeze. I'm glad I couldn't sleep and I caught it. It seems to put them in distress very quickly. The chick happens to be in with the new hatches from Jonesey. This is of extra concern to me as the youngest is just 24 hours old. At first I thought it was because the ducklings were being kept in the same area and they splash so much water that it can cause respitory infection in the chicks. But I removed the ducklings.

Today I did let the ducklings loose and they hung out in the living room close to the chickens however they did not have access to any water to splash and they were nowhere near the container with the new babies. Could it be the smoke from the wood stove? I've started the new babies on antibiotics just in case. I've never had to give any of the adult chicks antibiotics and only believe in giving them if actually needed.

I wish I knew what was causing the problem. For now I will do what I can to make sure it doesn't spread to the little ones.