Baby Chicks at the Learning Farm

Our Baby Chicks Have Arrived!

by Sharon Gaughan, PCLF Education Program Director

During the past few weeks, we’ve been spending tons of time preparing for the arrival of our new baby chicks!  This is not my first time to be involved in raising chicks at the Learning Farm, but it is my first time to plan, coordinate, and manage the effort.  Who knew there would be quite so much to do?!?!? 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.  I was very much looking forward to this opportunity.  But taking this on while also continuing to care for our current adult flock of chickens, as well as our small “backyard chicken” flock – well, it’s a lot to juggle!

Long before we started our chick preparations, I spent innumerable hours reading, researching, interviewing and taking copious notes on the best ways to raise chicks.  Of course, no two experts agree on how to best do everything – so to help organize it in my own mind, I decided to make a table (which grew to 8 pages in length!), comparing the various words of advice and suggestions.  From there I could more easily compare and choose what made the most sense to me.

One huge task was simply cleaning up our winter hen house (now to serve as our “chick house”). There was also equipment and supplies to procure and prepare.  We already had some items here on the farm that had been used with previous flocks of chicks; they needed to be located and then cleaned and sanitized.  Other items needed to be purchased new.  Once everything was gathered and ready, we began the set up the brooder. 

About 9:00 a.m. last Sunday morning, I received a phone message that the chicks had been shipped. If all went well, they would arrive on Monday morning (and I would receive an early morning phone call from the post office letting me know that I could come pick them up).  I came into work on Sunday afternoon to finalize preparations, and by late Sunday afternoon, all was ready and waiting.

 

I went to bed on Sunday night with the anticipation of a child on Christmas Eve.  Sure enough, at 5:30 a.m. the phone rang.  “Your chicks are here!”  I assumed that I would be able to come and get them right then, but the post office staff said that I needed to wait until they opened at 8:00 a.m.  L

After a quick breakfast, I got dressed, made a stop at the farm to make a final check on the temperature of the brooder and to let Anya know that she could now fill the chick waterers – then headed to the post office! 

 

One hundred chicks shipped in one medium-sized box.  Wow!  I had forgotten just how small chicks are when they’re only 1-day-old!

 

I timed the arrival of these chicks in part so that our first two summer farm camps – Little Sprouts and Sweet Peas – could have the opportunity to see them before their camps ended.  I knew that timing would add a lot of work to an already busy time on the Learning Farm – but I wasn’t fully prepared for just how much work these babes would be!  Which is why this post is a bit belated – coming nearly a full week after the arrival of our chicks.

My goal is to make briefer, more frequent posts during the coming weeks – along with photos – so that you can share in the fun, watching our new girls grow up! 

 

 

 

 

One hundred chicks to care for and raise to adulthood!  What a journey it will no doubt be…