I thought you might enjoy a photo journey of
our chicks’ growth over the first week of their lives. This photo
is a chick fresh out of the hatchery box (probably day two or three of
its life). At this point, they were pure fuzzballs who spent most
of their time sleeping under the light. Heat was critical, and
they got easily chilled by even slight changes in temperature.
By day two, one of the chicks had learned to
scratch in their feed dish. On day three, I noticed the first one
hopping up onto our homemade
chicken waterer‘s mount to roost above the crowd.
In the second half of the first week, chicks began to show a bit of
dominance behavior, run-flying at each other to see who would back
down. They became more active and spent less time sleeping under
the light (and seemed to need the heat less.) I stopped worrying
about them dying, and they all grew in wing feathers.
I wonder what week two will bring?
