Chicnacks

Good afternoon, Chics! I pray you are staying warm in this crazy winter weather. Let's talk about chickens and how to keep them warm. I think you'll be surprised at the ease with which this is accomplished. When we first got chickens it was toward the end of winter. We didn't have a coop yet so we kept them in the house in a brooder. One of the most important things a baby chick needs is warmth. But what about full-grown chickens and their ability to survive temperatures at or below freezing?  Did you know that mature chickens have a normal body temperature of 105-106*F? A chicken no longer needs supplementary heat after around six weeks of age when their feathers have come in. There are things you will need to do for chickens to keep them comfortable when the weather is really hot or cold. Our chicks are almost two weeks old now. They live in a brooder with a heat plate and we keep the room between 60-65*F. In about four weeks we will remove the heat plate. We will likely ...

Good morning, Chics! A little after 7a.m. I received a call from the post office letting me know it was time to pick up the baby chicks. I love walking into the post office and hearing those sweet chirps! We welcomed them to Oklahoma in below-freezing weather. I'm pretty sure they were laughing at us because it's probably far colder in Wisconsin.  They were very animated on the way home and so ready to get out of that little box. All fifteen female chicks were taken out one by one and looked over for any obvious signs of distress or illness. I put their little beaks in the water to teach them to drink and let them down into their new home.  We will do very little with them for the first twenty-four hours because the little babies were just born on Wednesday, stuck into a box, and mailed to a new home; that's enough stress for a few days! We have a baby monitor in their brooder (thanks, Sis) so we can keep an eye on them from any room in the house. I can't seem to keep m...

We would like to welcome you to the Chicnacks Everything Blog. We are hopeful that this is the beginning of a long and wonderful journey. Our intent is to discuss life and all that it has to offer.  First, however, a little about us. We are a family that lives on a small parcel of land in Oklahoma where we are learning to grow our own food and raise a small flock of chickens. We would like to share the lessons we have learned and continue to learn every day.  In doing so, we hope that you learn along with us.