# Got my chicks today! *Updated pics*



## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

Yay!
I ordered 25 light brahmas, 13 buff silkies, and 12 white crested black polish, and I recieved 24 light brahmas, 1 dark brahma, 15 buff silkies, and 15 of the white crested blacks, which works out good, as one of the silkies and one of the polish were pretty dehydrated and looking lethargic, but we got some food and water in them right away so they might make it.

First we put them all in one big box but it got a little crowded so we put the brahmas in a different one.

The blacks with white heads are the white crested black, the bownish ones are the buff silkies, and the yellow ones are the light brahmas. 
Opening the packaging lid!









All in one box



























Seperate boxes:
silkies and polish









brahmas









Close ups:


















I will post new updated pics every week probably on Thursdays, so check back :wink:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

I just love them when they are little -- once they get big....well not so much


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## 4hmama (Jan 9, 2009)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Should be getting our chicks next week...hope the weather holds. I LOVE the polish when they are little...they are adorable! Good luck - hope they do well!


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Chicks! :leap:

I had some crested polish like those once, beautiful birds! Unfortionally they all were roos and they were PESTS! Tame as heck though. I eventually gave them away to a pet home, where they are happy and have some girlies. :greengrin:


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

You'll have to post pictures when you get them!

We had two white crested black polish hens, unfortunatly the white sticks out a bit compared to the black body at night, an owl decided they'd be tasty. Not these babies!


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

I'm with Stacey. I think they are so darn cute when they are little, but then they grow up. :shocked: I raised them birds as a child and I hated every minute of it.


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

:shocked:

Really? I love birds! I guess you can blame my mother on that :roll:


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## Just Kiddin' (Nov 18, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

We just ordered a bunch of silkies too. I just love them! We have 50 meat chickens coming in March too. I hate meat chickens! The growth rate on them is amazing though. I'll have to take pics of them every couple of days to show you all. You can notice a difference in their size even in just 24 hours. My sons like them for the fair but it's A LOT of work! My youngest son likes the little Japanese Bantams just because they're smaller. The rest of us are partial to the silkies and cochin bantams.


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

I LOVE my poultry.

Because they're outside. :wink: :greengrin:

Inside birds are sooo stinky and messy! I hate brooding chicks, and can hardly wait to toss them outside! Thank goodness for the Texas warmth!


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## Hailee's Herd (Oct 5, 2007)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Oh, they are soo adorable!!! Where did you order them from?


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

there cute,that is alot of chicks... :shocked: :greengrin:


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

awesome, we have 25 hens and 1 rooster.

white leghorns, americana, spekled sussex, australorp, golden laced wyandotte, and the rooster is a phoenix.!

i'm ordering chicks for may, but cant decide which breed.


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## Suellen (Mar 9, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Very Cute. I raise Delaware Chickens. I have 2 coops totaling 15 hens and 2 roosters. We do it for the eggs and plan to start hatching some. What do you plan to do with so many chickens?
Suellen


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## PiccoloGoat (Sep 10, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

omg cute cute cute ^_^


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## deenak (Oct 10, 2007)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

What do you do with that many chickens? My daughter wants to get ducklings but they are so messy!


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## Amy Goatress (Oct 2, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Yes, ducks are messy, we have a whole flock of Muscovy ducks here!


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Thanks everyone!

Crystal, you'll have to post pictures of those too! We've had whites, blacks and buff silkies, the only time we bred them the hens were eaten and the nest destroyed, hoping to breed these lil guys though. I have heard that silky blood, meat, and bones are a darker color than most, but I wouldn't know. I honestly don't like meat ones as much as the duel purpouse, the main meat breeds today have been altered to much over the years, pretty interesting. I have been wanting to try the Japenese but never really got to it.

Yes, brooding them inside isn't the best choice but with this type of weather its a must. We have a brooder shed, but I have it full of pigeons and rabbits in the winter :roll:

Hailee, I got them from Strombergs, I actually ordered them online, which I have never done before, I must admit I was scared that the order was gonna get messed up or something, but nope!

Thats Is a great mix of birds you have there Katrina, what will you be using your birds for?

Suellen, I am planning on using a select few for 4-H and plan to breed them until I can accumulate a several breeding trios, then I plan to sell chicks and birds to make some extra money. Like we really need more birds though, we already have 200 chickens, but we've never kept breeds seperate, so almost all the chicks hatched here are mixes, we have several that would be classified at actual 'breeds' that are being created by mixing, its really interesting and confusing trying to figure out feather types and genetics.

And yep, ducks can get pretty messy at times. How many muscovies do you have Amy? Currently we only have two pairs but plan to aquire some more females and raise a nice sized flock for meat.


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## MissMM (Oct 22, 2007)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Hey Amos..... I convinced the DH to let me get some Bronze turkeys, Cornish Xs and some more Rode Island laying hens    We'll have about 150 of a combination of the above arriving by April 1st. Boy we have a lot of rehab to do on a neglected shed, but it will work. We're gonna turn our existing chicken barn into the brooder house, split our buck pen in half for the turkeys (Timber's Pride and Chance say WHAT?? :shocked: ) and fix a 30x40 pen into a laying hen shed / meat chicken pen (divided, for sure). We're in the chicken business now!!

If our organic egg/chicken meat market dries up in the next 6 months, I'll be wishing I was of the poultry family cause my @@@ will be in the frying pan for sure!!!!!!!


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## Just Kiddin' (Nov 18, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

We're getting blue, black and white silkies. I talked to a breeder who's really big into showing them and she said the buffs are really really hard to show. I guess it's hard to get the coloring on them right. I know what you mean about them altering the meat breeds. That's why you can't breed the cornish X and get a true breed. They've messed with them so much. My kids do really well with them for poultry meat pens though. Every fair they've raised them for they've won Supreme Grand champion. They're are very messy disgusting birds though! 
Have you ever been on eggbid.com Amos? When you get your breeding pairs and start hatching them out you should check it out. It's like ebay but for chickens LOL. I told my sons they need to start hatching silkies and selling them on there. They had 1 silkie pullet sell for 1200.00 and another sell for 750.00. The silkies go for some pretty high prices on there. We've bought some awesome show birds off there too. I have to stay away from there or I spend money like crazy!
Also, have you checked out Welp hatchery? If you order anymore chickens from a hatchery you should check them out. We've got really nice birds from there and their shipping is free. All of our champion meat pens came from them too. Even if their birds come out to a few cents more the free shipping still makes them cheaper. I really like them. Last year I ordered 25 meat birds and only 13 got to us. I don't know where the other 12 jumped out at LOL. I called them up and instead of just sending me the missing 12 they sent me a whole 25 more for free. I really like them!
Just a couple of ideas for you  As soon as we get ours in I'll start posting pics. It's amazing!


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

MissMM, that is great!!! I hope you have fun! Certain breeds of turkeys are pretty hard to raise for some people, a couple years ago we bought a large mix of turkeys and lost 90% because our electricity kept getting cut off about 6-10 times a week, our entire road was having electrical problems that year. To be honest, until several months ago, I had no idea there was much of a market for home raised eggs and meat, turns out, there are many people in our general area who have great luck selling that type with *websites!* Here we were, a couple years ago, throwing entire refridgerators full of eggs away because we couldn't find buyers.

Crystal, I must admit, I have never show chickens before, even though we have ALWAYS owned them, this will be my first year for showing any, and I think i'm ready to take on the challenge. I have heard that about the buffs too, and that sometimes they can look too pale or too red, I already have atleast two that I know won't be show material, maybe three. I would say that I'd think blues would be harder, but for silkies its probably not true because they're quite fluffy. Yes the Cournish X are so messy! Last year my 4-h group lost (can't remember the name, basically matinence of animals and pens), and I had shown pigeons, but unfortunatly, the cage over was a pair of Cournish X, who there always disgustingly dirty, and the kid only cleaned out the pen twice at the fair. He was the only thing stopping us; I even asked him if I could clean it for him and he said no. 
Yes, I have been on eggbid, I seen you post something about those spendy silkies before so I had to check it out, pretty radical. I don't know if I'd be able to buy on there because of trust issues, but I have seen alot of very interesting breeds. No I haven't heard of Welp hatchery.. sounds like I should look into them! I'm glad they sent you another batch for free, that is great. And even better that your sons win with their birds. Can't wait to see your chicks!

Oh, and I must tell someone; on Sunday my mom and I drove over an hour to a huge poultry sale, and finally got another pair of peafowl! We used to raise quite a few 3-4 years ago, but we sort of stopped once our last breeders pairs died and we could never find any close breeders, always had to go long distances to get any, but my uncle found a guy who raises them closer and sells eggs, so we decided to get a new pair to start it out, and this spring we're going to sell buy some hatching eggs from the guy, if not the birds themselves.

This year will be busy!


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## Rainboweggs (Feb 8, 2009)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Congratulations! I've just got 6 chicks coming as part of someone else's order in April. We now have 12 hens and one rooster, various breeds. The rooster is a silkie that we hatched here. Someone sent me fertile eggs and I borrowed an incubator. Out of 8 eggs three hatched and survived. Of course they were all roosters! We found new homes for two and kept the gentlest. This year we ordered 2 each of Buttercups, Buff Orpingtons and Easter Eggers. We had several batches of chicks in the house last spring plus two pairs of ducklings at different times. I'll take the chicks. I love my ducks, but man, that got old fast! 
Enjoy those babies. They sure grow fast.


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## Just Kiddin' (Nov 18, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Oh Amos you'll have some fun showing them and learn A LOT! My kids LOVE showing their chickens. When that lady told me about the buff silkies I thought the blue would be the same way too. I guess the blue are easier. I'm thinking that maybe it's because you can show splash silkies which is the blue and white so maybe when the blue color messes up you really can't tell because then they just look like a splash? I really don't know. 
I think you're talking about the clean barn awards. Yeah we know better than to try and win that one in the chicken dept. when we have the meat pens LOL. My kids clean those pens every couple of hours and they're still messy in no time. That's too bad that the other kid made you all lose though. 
I worry about trusting people on eggbid too. I usually try and buy the ones that are within driving distance so I can go pick them up. Then I can see what I'm paying for before I hand over the cash and I don't have to worry about people taking my money and not shipping the birds. 
My oldest son is driving me nuts about getting some peafowl too. What is it with you boys and peafowl?? :ROFL: That's cool that you're going to hatch your own though. I bet that's interesting! You are definitely going to be busy!


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

*Re: Got my chicks today!*

Rainboweggs, sounds like your chicken addiction is coming along good! We often have that problem too, with getting too many roosters, we need to butcher some as it is :roll:

Yes, I hope showing goes well, the county fair is in August so I have a ways to go. I've been thinking about taking the showmanship, I'm usually in the stands when thats going on and I usually know every question the judge asks, but I just know that if I get up there and I'm being asked I'll freeze and get nervous and make a fool out of myself. Its a given. yeah, I wouldn't really know about the blues.. I know theres blues, splashes, and grays, so I'm going to stay away from that, although the grays look so cool. Yes, I remembered; they're called herdmanship awards up here, the 4-h group I below to is pretty small, but we usually have the animal catergories filled up and usually have someone acting as one of the judges so we usually win that. Last year I served in that with someone, its only one time then someone else does it the next day. I remember we forgot to bring straw for bedding so we had to use saw dust; we got to the goat section and first thing the guy says to me is 'Wow, that ones really messy' and he points to my pen, and I was like 'It is? Thats mine!' Apparently my goats like kicking, rolling, running, and playing in sawdust.  
I can never find many birds in my state on eggbid, so I'll have to do without buying on there I guess.. I seen a couple pair of Dark Cournish for over $100.00 on there last night, thats what your sons should be doing! Mention the awards they've gotten and you could probably get several nice bids  
Haha, I think my mom said the exact same thing when I used to bug her about getting them, but its ironic how the second we got to the poultry sale my mom points at some peafowl and is all 'Merle, look at those! We need to buy those ones! Hurry up!' They'll get you hooked on those soon enough XD


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

Its Thursday again! I've had the lil guys a week now, the two lethargic ones didn't make it, one died Thursday and the other Friday, which didn't really surprise me.

The Brahmas surrounding the water. (I slept it, I got an ear full from a couple of them :wink: )









The dark one is Steven, I named him after my friend, because it was his birthday the day we got the chicks. If its a girl I'll name her Stevie. I told him we're for sure going to eat it if its a boy, pay back! (he named one of his guppies after me)









Mmm.. Water!









Beady lil eyes.









The silkies and Polish









Curiosity.









Buffs









This one in the corner turned out to have blue wings instead of black! Will be interesting to see how its feathers develop, maybe it will still have a white crest when grown up.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

growing nicely. Some of the expressions on their faces are to funny - is like "whats that thing?" :ROFL:


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## Jenna (Jan 7, 2009)

They are very cute!! :greengrin:


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## Epona142 (May 26, 2008)

What cuties! I've got chicks hatching right now, and I just love them when they're little!


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## capriola-nd (Jul 6, 2008)

They're cute! Well, some of them still are :wink: . . . . they do start going through "the ugly stage" fast.


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## Rainboweggs (Feb 8, 2009)

Wow, look at their little wing feathers already! Can't wait till mine come in April!


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## TheRidingLibrarian (Feb 23, 2009)

What little cuties!!!!!

My order of 25 female "Ornamental layers" should be arriving next week. Plan on keeping them in a cage on the porch till they get their feathers, and then they will get their own Modified-For-Chickens, stall in our little Barn. Once they can kind of fend for themselves, they'll be released to come and go in the Chicken Stall. They've got important work breaking up the horse poop and eating ticks and fleas to attend to. 

Patti


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## Rainboweggs (Feb 8, 2009)

TheRidingLibrarian said:


> What little cuties!!!!!
> 
> My order of 25 female "Ornamental layers" should be arriving next week. Plan on keeping them in a cage on the porch till they get their feathers, and then they will get their own Modified-For-Chickens, stall in our little Barn. Once they can kind of fend for themselves, they'll be released to come and go in the Chicken Stall. They've got important work breaking up the horse poop and eating ticks and fleas to attend to.
> 
> Patti


Oo! Those sound pretty. What does the assortment include?


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## Amos (Oct 2, 2008)

Yes, we must know what kinds your getting!

We seperated them all into their own breeds, but we were short one heat lamp, so I propped one up between the two boxes, and it was very secure, so I thought, unfortunatly not last night, but the night before it fell and I have no idea how. Part of the box and the tape holding the boxes together got burnt, and it fell on top of the water container, the waterer fell over and the heat lamp melted it. If it had fallen a few inches over more it probably would have fallen on the sawdust and caught fire :angry: :help: All the chicks are safe.
We now have it set up so that cannot happen; we've never had this many chicks inside before, and the brooder shed is full of rabbits and too cold for chicks anyway. I'm just so thankful nothing burned up; we don't have fire alarms in the basement so who knows how much it could have spread before we woke up.

Here are this weeks pictures.. 
Scorched cardboard









Melted waterer









Melted plastic on heat lamp









Polish


















Silkies


















Brahmas


















They're all starting to get breast and neck feathers, and the Polish are getting head feathers. :dance:


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## Crissa (Oct 7, 2007)

Okay, I kinda think the Polish ones are cute! And I am so glad that it didn't catch fire! :shocked:


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