A GREAT DAY -OUR NEW CHICKENS ARRIVE SAFE AND SOUND

After waiting for two months, our new Swedish Flower Hen chicks arrived yesterday, safe and sound. This was a great relief because we had received a delivery in early June and the chicks were all dead. That was a very sad day. It happens.

This is our second time around as chicken keepers. In 2014, we received four Buff Orpington chicks, referred to by many as the golden retriever of chickens. At the time, we kept them in a cardboard box for the first couple of weeks. This time, I decided to make a “brooder” out of wood with viewing windows and sufficient security to keep out our two cats. I sized it so the chicken brooder would fit into our grow light stand in the office. The goal was to build this out of materials we already had on hand. The plastic windows were cut out of clear plastic domes that fit over 10″ x 20″ seedling trays. I have a habit of never throwing out hardware if it might be usable in the future, so I had hinges, rat wire for the top, even handles for the sides to make the “brooder” easier to move. Notice the little clasp holding down the cover? Yup, had that also. It was a really fun building project.

Needless to say, Catherine and I are ecstatic with joy. We have enjoyed keeping chickens in the past, and with the pandemic and social distancing and all that, it’s also a break in the routine. Even the cats are paying attention.

If you have some new chicks, we would love to hear from you. If you’d like to share a picture or two that would be welcomed. There will be regular updates on the progress of our chicks as they grow. In two weeks, we will move them to a larger pen out in our workshop, where they will live for a couple of months. Then, they will move into the coop, which has been unoccupied for the last year. I need to make a few repairs and make it cat proof. Until the next time:

All the best,

Greg and Catherine Garnache