Baby Chick Hatching in Genesis Hova Bator Incubator

1 week old baby chicks

These little baby chicks are so cute and fluffy!! They are 1 week old Cornish Cross meat birds. They grow quite fast and eat alot!!

Look at the legs on this fella!!

 They are very curious and love to see what I am doing...cause of course they assume I am  bringing them food! 

Dance time!!

Baby Chicks are here!!!

They arrived safely in a ventilated box picked up at the farmers market.

We transferred them over to their cage where they can huddle up under the heat light and keep each other warm

They quickly found the feed and water and dove right in!

Baby Chick Feeder DIY Super Easy Works Great!

We have more baby chicks here on our little farm and they sure do eat alot! Its quite frustrating to constantly be filling their food and then realize its all out again! I love these little feeders that hook to a mason jar but I do not like that you can only fill them with 1 quart of feed at a time. They take up minimal floor space on the cage but are quite a hassle if you have a lot of birds. I kept trying to think of a way to make them easier to fill (from the outside of the cage) as well as easier to keep full! I took our metal feed tray with me to Lowes and found all the lovely parts to make it work like it does in my mind!!

Supplies: 1 feeder tray (I used the metal tray so I could bend out the inside rings so the PVC would slide right in $3.50),  1 4"x2" PVC Coupling (In the plumbing section of your hardware store - $5), 1 4" PCV Pipe (I got the 5' piece and cut it in half so I can make 2 of these feeders - $8), 1 tube of All Purpose Caulking ($2.99)

Total Cost: Under $20! I also have half of the PVC pipe left to make another feeder as well as plenty of caulking for other projects! Or you could make 2 of these (by purchasing an additional feeder tray($3.50 and an additional PVC Coupling $5) for $29.

 Start by crimping, hammering, or pinching your ring so its completely flat (this looks like its got extra crimps, but they are pushed to the opposite side so as to flatten the inside)

Now its time for the caulking. Apply it generously so you get a good firm seal

 Wipe clean any goopy extra that has smashed out. 

 Now cut your PVC pipe if you want. I wanted to cut mine so I could make 2 and I wanted them short so my kids can easily fill them. If they were 5 feet tall, they would hold alot more feed, but the kids wouldnt be able to do all the upkeep. So decide what your needs are and modify as needed!

 Get your drill bit ready and make your wholes to connect your feeder with zip ties. 

Ready for Install!!

Hook up your feeder wherever is most convenient for you to monitor and fill it...also consider what will be easiest and most efficient for the chicks to gather around and eat from it! Dont put it in a corner or the backside of the feeder will be cut off.

 Zip tie the top and bottom in place so the birds dont move it around.

They LOVE it!! They are super curious and it doesnt even have any feed poured in it yet!

Pour away!! Its perfect height for my kids to reach it and peek in to see how full it is. I used an old pot as the cap to keep out bugs. You can purchase a PVC cap, but im sure you have a tupperware or old pot you can use...save the money for feed!

 

 All gathered around and eatin away! I have our feeder right in the middle of the chicks cage. I also have the whole cage up off the ground an inch or so to help keep them nice and clean. I use cheap plastic table clothes (2 for $1) to cover the floor, makes for SUPER easy clean up! I clean it as needed. I can also lift this cage quite easily and set them outside on the ground to get some good outdoors time. This makes for super easy cleanup, just by moving them! They will only be in this cage for a few weeks. In which we will increase their outdoors time till they are ready to scratch, run, play, and defend themselves outside.

Let me know if you use this idea!! I would love to hear how it works for you and what modifications you do to make it work best for your situation.

Thanks!

"The Girls" our Backyard Chickens

Backyard chickens are by far the easiest step to backyard farming. They are relatively maintenance free and quite inexpensive too! Our girls get all of our food scraps and dig around for almost anything else they need. We do supplement with an organic layer feed we get from our local feed store. We have never had a shortage of eggs and everyone is quite healthy and happy! We raised all these ladies from little baby chicks and it has been very exciting watching them grow up to become productive members of the backyard!

And this here is "Funny Goosie". Addie LOVES her so much and will carry her around the yard showing her everything! She is an Americana and lays quite large greenish blue eggs. 

Now of course a delightful poached egg on top of toast is the perfect way to start the morning!!

Clipping Chicken Wings...so they don't fly away!

Our baby chicks are not really babies anymore, they are 14 weeks old! They are getting so big and extremely adventurous! They have been able to squeeze through the fence and get into the garden and rummage around. That really hasnt been too big of a deal, actually quite beneficial because they have been gently scratching for bugs and weeds without being able to upset the garden beds too much...unlike the large hens who would quickly destroy the beds as well as the tomato plants! Well they quickly grew out of the size to fit through the fences, but now they are big enough to fly right over the 4 foot fence. We have only had 1 other hen who has ever bothered to try and fly out of their area, but now we have 8 little hens who are quite mobile! Its time for a little snip snip of the wings! This process doesn't harm the birds...in fact they don't feel it, except if they fight to get away and have to be held down.

All you have to do is spread the birds wing and clip off the ends of the feathers on 1 wing. This will throw off their balance when they try to fly and they will be unable to get very far off the ground. Do NOT clip the actually wing itself, just the end feathers. It is also important to remember to only clip the feathers on 1 wing...remember the purpose is to throw off their balance and by evening out both sides you would be defeating the purpose ;) A basic pair of scissors will work just fine. 

This is also a very important thing to do for your birds to protect them. If they are able to fly over your fence and get out of the yard they may be in danger. This will not affect your birds behavior at all, it will just keep them from roaming :)

Chicks first run in the yard...5 weeks old!

 Addie loves these baby chicks! She has taken such good care of them. It is quite funny how much they trust her and seem to really like her too. The chicks are still in their own area and separated from the grown hens, but on Saturday we gave a few chicks a run around the yard to see how they would do. They really did quite well! 

Addie picked out 5 chicks to have the first run in the yard and she kept a good eye on them to make sure the grown hens didn't hurt them. She introduced them to their "home to be" (the coop) and then mostly carried them around and showed them the yard one at a time. She likes to carry the chicks under her arm like a little football...the chicks seem to feel pretty safe and don't try to get away. I was afraid Addie would hold them too tight or hold them in a way that would hurt them, but she seems to know just how to hold them.  

The chicks are getting big and starting to have quite a few feathers. We can already tell a few of the chicks that will be roosters because their combs are getting big and red!

Every once in a while Addie would take a break from carrying around a little chick to go sing to one of the goats. Poppy is getting quite large and I can tell she is so uncomfortable...she is due to kid any day now! Addie went and sat in the goat barn with her to pet, sing and feed her. It was very adorable!

Baby Chick update! 3 1/2 weeks old :)

These little chicks are hilarious! Their feathers are growing in nicely and the baby fluff is disappearing from view. They are getting little personalities and making ALOT of noise! 

Addie loves to sit out in the garage with them and talk to them. Occasionally, Sarge will come by for a sniff and to see what all the commotion is about...did I mention they make alot of noise. Its a cute noise...just constant little chirping, but I can tell Sarge isn't too fond of the constant tweets! We do have 1 daredevil chick that keeps figuring out how to get out of their 4 foot tall area. I have no idea how it is getting out, but Addie just goes over and scoops up the baby chick and takes it back to be with the others. It was very amusing yesterday when we were all sitting out in the backyard and all of the sudden this little chick comes waltzing out of the garage slightly curious but slightly confused. Addie jumped right up and said "Bad chicky! Bad chicky!". 

Im excited to see the relationship Addie will have with these chicks as they get older. She absolutely loves them and LOVES to find worms and bugs to toss in their for "Her baby chicks". They, of course, LOVE that! Addie has also discovered that she can stick her finger in through the chicken wire and all "her babies" come running...I keep trying to tell her that they come running because they think her finger is food she is bringing to them! Right now their little beaks don't hurt, just tickle.

So far we still have all 16 chicks and they are eating and drinking like crazy and flapping, fluffing, and chirping constantly. We are very excited to see them grow up!