6.07.2007

Goldie Gets New Housemates

By Monday morning, I had thirteen hatchlings. Here they are outside of Goldie's residence awaiting their big move.


I imagine they were quite happy to leave this big mess behind. They left the remnants of quite a wild party for the landlord to clean up--and I never even got a security deposit from the crazy little tenants.


Here's the last one being moved into their new home. The heat lamp casts a warm, red glow over everything, making it look a little like the warming rack at Arby's--but they seem to like it.


You can just see their small feeder and red chick-sized waterer on the left.


Five yellow, one buff, and seven multi-colored chicks.


Eggsperiment Tabulations

Eggsperiment #1
: Two hens + 30 eggs = 1 chick, Heath(er)
03.3 % hatch rate

Eggsperiment #2: One hen (Goldie) + 10 eggs = 8 chicks
80% hatch rate

Eggsperiment #3: Still air incubator + 24 eggs = 13 chicks
54% hatch rate

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

sweetness incorporated!

Anonymous said...

That's still a lot of chickies when you add them all up!

I have to find out if I have bantam babies in their high-rise nest this morning, and if so I have to execute an air rescue to get them down to our altitude.

Keep the pictures coming!

Chris said...

That is a LOT of chicks, ultimately.

Obsidian Kitten said...

heehee! Isis *really* wanted to play with them while they were still in the house making that irrisistable peep-peep noise, but i just wasn't convinced she understands the concept of "gentle," especially with those Huge Feet and Boundless Enthusiasm of hers.

mrspao said...

That's a lot of chicks :) Poor cats must be going mad wanting to play with them! Mine are desperate to catch the birds in the garden which they can see from the house.

Anonymous said...

SO CUTE.....SO SWEET

GREAT PICTURES

Jeanne said...

I never stopped to think about cats. That would have driven mine wild, and ultimately my hatch rate would have been 0. Does the lid lock on?

Alpaca Granny said...

So glad to have found an almost neighbor.
Your 9-11 shoe store story is very touching.

Beth said...

Love the chickens!
Is that incubator reuseable? Is it hard to clean?
Just wonderin'

Obsidian Kitten said...

the lid doesn't lock...but the chicks were in my cat-proof craft room. =)

and yeah, the incubator is reusable. (the things are expensive, so it better be) i hosed it off really well right away so it won't be too hard to clean now. it looks really gross in that photo--it wasn't quite as bad as it appears. lol

i'm thinking a soft cloth (so as not to wreck the styrofoam) and some warm water, dish soap, and maybe a little vinegar. supposedly you can use, i dunno, ammonia and stuff, but that sounds awfully harsh. mostly you just want to keep any bacteria from breeding in it.

RheLynn said...

So cute and what a great percentage has hatched!