The Peeps, One Week Later

It has been cold here at night so the chicks stay huddled together under the heat lamps to stay warm. A few mornings ago we lost two of the chicks, either by trampling or cold.  The rest seem healthy and are getting fatter.  They are also getting their first set of fathers.  In a few weeks they will be they will be getting so fat that their feather growth cannot keep up with them and there will be many bald spots.  I will post more picture to show this later.

Huddled together to keep warm

The first real feathers appear

Time for breakfast in the coop

The Peeps Arrive

Got a call today from the PO at noon to come get my chicks.  I was just about to go there anyway to mail some packages, good timing. Picked them up and they all survived.  After getting the water ready, I took them one-by-one from the box, showed it where the water was and placed each of them in its new home.  So cute, but we can't get too attached as they will be dinner in 8 weeks.

The Priority Mailing box with chicks inside

50 little peeps inside the box

The peeps eating

The peeps drinking

The new home until they get bigger

They will be kept here in the coop until they get big enough to put outside into the chicken tractors.

Getting Ready for Spring

The snow is almost gone. I think there is still a small pile of dirt covered snow at the end of the driveway, but its good enough.  Next week we will be getting our batch of 50 chickens to raise as meat birds. The coop has already been cleaned out and it ready with the heat lamps, etc.  The chicken tractors are ready in the front field for when the chicks get too big for the coop.

The inside of the coop ready for the little chicks

We also have already started some seedlings under lights to get a jump start on the outdoor planting.  This works out well and the seedlings are thriving under the 24 hour lighting in a big plastic storage tub..

Cilantro, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers

The critters are also out, we will have to be very vigilant when the chicks arrive to protect them from this red fox that has been wandering about our backyard.

The backyard fox

Its nice to have spring back even though some days is seem like winter has never left!  Warm weather soon.