baby chicks in a tote brooder box with feeder and waterer

A Chayotix Homestead Absence Update (and Chicks!)

It’s been an eventful month! We’re building a larger coop. We got a land survey done and have just a bit more land than we thought. (Fence is in progress.) And we finally bought chicks! In the last month though, there was a violent stomach flu that ran through the house. Intense storms hit my area that caused so much flooding we were almost locked into our home for days. Blogging got back burnered for a while.

Chicks!

But I’m happy to announce I’ll be back to tracking along with Chayotix Homestead’s various progresses! So, here’s my favorite update: the chicks! I very quickly became a victim of chicken math. I set up the brooder box just in case any of the stores might have chicks when I’m there. About a week ago, I bought my first 6 chicks. There were 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 Smokey Pearls, and 2 Production Blues. Unfortunately, the Sussex chicks didn’t make it. They were half the weight of the rest and refused to open their eyes. It was a fast lesson in raising animals.

Chicken Math

I had bought my first batch from Rural King, so they honored their chick replacement policy. They had no more Sussex, so I got 2 Leghorns, a Plymouth Rock, and an Appenzeller Spitzhauben. (Woo! Say that 3 times.) So then I had 8 chicks. Buuuut Marcus went to find vitamins for the sick chicks at Stockdales and got their shipping list there. They were going to have Orpingtons! I’m on a mission for lavender orpingtons. I went on delivery day and there were Orpingtons, just not lavenders. Kentucky also has a rule about buying 6 chicks at a minimum. Naturally, I complied with 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Silver-laced Wyandottes, a Cuckoo Maran, and an Americauna. We now have 14 chicks in our brooder. Which means that tiny coop isn’t big enough. Now Marcus and I are building a larger coop and run to accommodate so many babies.

Meet The Chicks!

The first four chicks are named Crickee (Mulan), Hei Hei (Moana), Meeko (Pocahontas), and Peeper. Peeper was just a name Leon chose since I told him he could pick a name. Clearly, we’re working with a Disney theme. Crickee was and still is the smallest. Hei Hei keeps trying to eat the bedding. And Meeko eats every opportunity she gets. They all suit their names well.

Alice is our Spitzhauben, which I’ve seen get heart marks on their feathers. So, Alice in Wonderland seemed fitting. Cinderella and Snow White are our leghorns. We needed some Disney princesses and those are the first two. And Mor’du (Brave) is our Plymouth Rock. It felt important I get a Plymouth Rock, since I spent a chunk of my life living in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In our Stockdales’ round, we have our Orpingtons Captain Amelia (Treasure Planet) and Lady Cluck (Robin Hood). Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) is our Cuckoo Maran. Roo (Winnie the Pooh’s Easter Adventure) is our Americauna or Easter Egger. And Natasha (Avengers) and Ursula (Little Mermaid) are the Silver-laced Wyandottes. This is where I stop buying chicks unless someone is willing to let me add a lavender orpington to their order. Good to see you all again!

As an aside, feel free to follow Chayotix Homestead on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with the chickies.


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