Every March I browse the online chicken catalog admiring the various breeds. Every April is baby chick time.
There are so many lovely chicken breeds to choose from. This year I ordered Columbian Wyandotte pullets. The white hens with black heads and necks look good and the Wyandottes are a friendly breed.
Why is April baby chick time?
April is a good month for baby chick time or has been. Spring is supposed to be moving in. Not this year. And the pullets will start laying in the fall for a winter egg supply.
These twenty-two chicks have had a hard time. The temperatures bounce up and down. One day I turn off one light to keep them from being cooked. The next I turn it back on and put blankets over the top to keep them warm.
At two weeks old the chicks are putting on feathers. They belie the breed pictures. These pullets will range from nearly all white to mostly black. The one characteristic most of them have is a black line at the tops of their beaks.
Baby Chicks Grow Fast
Up until now the chicks have been confined to half their little house. It’s easier to heat the smaller area and they don’t need the extra space.
This week the barrier will come down so the chicks have more room. Already they are trying out their wings to fly across their space.
Once the chicks are feathered out, I will open their door so they can explore the outdoors. Bugs beware. In the chicken world, if it moves, eat it.
Baby chick time only lasts a couple of months. My hen house won’t hold all these pullets so most will be sold. The others will move into the big hen house.
And I will start planning for next year.
Hazel Whitmore decides to raise pullets as a 4-H project in “Old Promises“.
