Brooding Araucana Chicks
We bought six day-old chicks to add to our egg laying chickens flock, brooding them in May and June and introducing them to the flock in July. Here are a couple pictures of them during the brooding phase, which we did in a large plastic tote in our garage:
We rested the heat lamp on a wire shelf at the top of the tote, but only needed to keep it on at night as the garage stayed very warm during the day. We lined the bottom of the tote with paper and ensured they had plenty of chick starter feed and water available to them at all times.
All except the black chick are Araucana hens, that wonderful breed that lays blueish and greenish eggs and has endearing physical characteristics, including feather tufts at their ears and little to no tail.
They’re not old enough to lay eggs yet, but the pullets are now living with the rest of our flock and are about 1/2 to 2/3 the size of the full grown hens.
This is so cool! I once raise a dozen chicks in a plastic kids pool in the garage until they were about 6 weeks old. Not only does it keep them warm and protected, it’s just so entertaining to have them right there (almost) in the house.
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:38 pmOh, Araucana hens, how adorable! I’ve never seen them that small, but they are still cute when they’re grown up. And of course the eggs are beyond compare.
August 30th, 2011 at 8:21 am