Friday, March 22, 2013

Outdoor flock




Last night was the chicks first night outdoors, and I did not sleep well. It was like I had a newborn again and I had to keep getting up to make sure they were still breathing kind of thing. As you might be aware we are currently having a horrible cold front move through and dash away my hope for spring. They are in their nifty coop and I have the heat lamp secured to the ceiling of the interior of the coop, and they all survived their first night out of the basement. Today I purchased some wood shavings for the interior of the coop to make it more homey, warm and better smelling. I think they like it. I honestly would like it, I kind of want to cuddle up with them under the heat lamp and watch them sleep. We put an old thermostat out to the coop to check the temp, and the last reading tonight was 55... kind of cold... but warmer than the 25 degree's it is outside. I would be concerned if they were acting cold but they all looked like they were sunbathing in a comfortable pile of fluff. When chicks are cold and uncomfortable they huddle together tightly to try to get warm and sometimes they can be quiet noisy. Happy chicks are generally calm and can sleep nicely when they are ready to. When they are awake they are curious and active. I did block the ramp leading to the bottom of the coop just to keep as much warm air in the coop area as possible. Drafts are not the best thing for baby chicks but I'm unsure at what point in time drafts are not such a threat.

1 comment:

Liv said...

Cute little chickies!! I hope they're doing alright with this cold front.

I bought eggs this week and felt such jealousy that you're soon going to have them free-ish.