Day Two - Baby Chicks

Yeh, my night wasn't all that great. I woke up in a panic and couldn't really sleep all night. I was afraid that the babies were gonna die and afraid that they had. I pretty much only slept for a few hours at a time. It was pretty bad.

But come morning? Their little heads popped up from behind the little stuffed bear that I gave them to snuggle and were just fine. I turned back on the heat lamp/light to start warming them up more and they were just fine.

Granted, they wanted a lot of my attention so needless to say, I couldn't leave the room without hearing them start screaming.

Well, then comes all day long of making sure that they have enough attention. Making sure that they have enough food. Making sure that they have clean water. The temperature is all good inside.

And of course, on this second day I have found that there food bowl is wrong. They water bowl is good, but I keep having to clean it. They enjoy getting in their food dish and scratching everything around. Not so fun. Oh well. I found another bowl since they can't stay out of the little one, then everything gets promptly dumped out of that one.

Old dog dishes that I bought for my little dog Amber, back before my mom bought her Shih Tzu, Chewbacca. I only needed something small for Ambers food. Now, it works great as a food dish. But as you can see, they don't stay out! They think they need to be in the food - hehehe. Course, I thought they'd do so, but I figure that the bowl will be the correct size so that when they scratch stuff around, it will stay inside the bowl.

Posted a question on one of my favorite sites for chickens called, Backyard Chickens, to ask what breed they are. I will give you a million dollars if you tell me what breed they are. Only kidding of course. I have no million. Though, that seems to be the million dollar question. What are they?

My mom went to pick up new bedding. The store had given her Cedar shavings, which they said were the ones that their babies were in, and that they used. I told my mom that as with the parakeet, and most small animals, the cedar is bad for them. I looked it up to make sure that what I remembered was correct. Yep. It was. So she went and picked up Pine Shavings. Course, the book says that you should wait until after one week to use the shavings, otherwise they might confuse it with food. Yep. Thanks. Hadn't noticed that :p

Once again, she comes into the kitchen with a box. What was in the box going *peep* *peep* ? Can you guess? Here is a hint ...

Two New Hampshire Red Pullets (word refering to female (hen) chickens under a year). And no, that second pic isn't dead. It is it sleeping - oh my god they are so cute when they sleep. They are all fluffy and cute and ... Where was I? Oh yeh ...

Once again, called the feed store to see when their birthday was. April 30, 2008. Two days younger than the bantams.

So now, I had to find a bigger water bowl. Tried jsut upgrading the size, then placing some rocks inside it like the first time. Yeh. Not good. Even more dirty. The New Hampshires (The bright side? They know how to drink out of the bowl :) ) like to climb inside the bowl with their dirty little toes and get stuff in the bowl. Combine that with the bantams kicking the food all over, and into the water bowl, that doesn't work well. Grr...

So, fine. I grabbed some [small] rocks to place around the bowl so they'd have to walk up to get to the water. Hmm ... Still no good. Now, the bantams are pecking at the rocks. Albeit small rocks, still. I am afraid they will damage their still growing beaks. Fine. Took out small rocks. Now what?

Ooo!!

I took and placed a smaller bowl inside the other dog bowl, upside down. Yay me! The water is a trough, but they can't drown, nor can they get it so icky by stepping in it. What do they like to do?

They want play at who is going to be Queen of the water! Bow down to me they say! hehehe

As you can see behind them. I had to place a long index card between the two dishes to keep them from kicking the food into the water though. So now when they drink and eat they have a private room. It is folded down slightly at the bottom (about an inch) and shoved under the dish, then the sides have tape on the aquarium to keep it from moving, and keep it upright.

What next?