Chicken Momma

I brought my first chicks home on Monday afternoon.  We loaded up the whole family, dogs included, for the two hour drive to Bloomington, IL for Silkie chicks.  I had already ordered my laying hens online from chickensforbackyards.com, but was undecided on the Silkies at that point.  After more thought and a trip to Niabi Zoo where I spotted a Silkie in their aviary, I knew I wanted a couple for my flock.

A quick search on Craigslist connected me with Diane Weer who raises show quality birds, including Silkies.  We boxed up two splash, which are grey, and one blue chick.  I was concerned with keeping the chicks warm on the long drive home, so we cycled the heat on and off all the way home.  It was in the 70's on Monday and extremely warm in the van at times.

The chicks arrived safely and we settled them into their new home.  I made sure they all took a drink of water and showed them their food.  They nibbled a bit, explored their new space, then fell asleep.



All evening, I never saw the chicks drink again on their own so I was a little concerned.  The next morning I checked on them first thing.  They all got up and walked over to their water and drank, then headed to the food bowl to eat.  No need to worry.  They were adjusting just fine.

One of our cats, Puck, spends a lot of time downstairs with the chicks.  We're not sure what to make of this.  He likes to sleep on a dog bed that is laying next to the brooder.  When we take the lid off, sometimes he'll poke his head over the top, then lays back down.  Hmm...