Spring Chick Update

On Sunday I moved 35 Cornish Cross chicks outdoors.  I had to do some repair work on their little house, because the nesting box portion of their house in falling apart.  I got the house on Amazon, one of the last purchases I ever made from them.  I had a gift card that more than half covered this house, but it’s the true definition of flimsy.  Never the less, it does the job, as long as I stay on top of repairs.  And it’s perfect for this batch while they’re still small and getting used to being outside.  They will soon outgrow it.  And as I’ve learned through experience, chickens get attached to their homes and don’t like to be moved.  But for now this will do quite nicely.

The 15 Buff Orpington chicks and 1 (smaller than the rest) Cornish X were moved into the newly vacated brooder and are happy with their new space, it being double what they were in.  The single Cornish X is starting to grow at last and getting feathers and will soon join the rest outside.  The young Buff Orpington chicks will continue in the brooder for another two to four weeks depending on how fast they grow and weather conditions.  Then they’ll go outside too, in the Birch Grove Cottage I built for the October Buff Orpington chicks, which are now 5 months old and are in the process of being integrated into the existing layer flock (Buff Orpington chicks from last June).

Everything cycles.