Backyard Chicks Now Tweens
Right about now spring chickens are no longer the cute, fuzzy bundles they were just five weeks ago. Just like human children, they have begun maturing — at first by bits. Now they look like mini adult chickens.
So it’s a good thing most chick purchases are not for cuddly cuteness but for modern homesteading.
For now, new chicks are still dependents, requiring extra attention food, shelter and water. Chicks must maintain a body temperature of at least 90 degrees when brought home, with diminishing temperatures after that. They are pullets, the proper name for hens of this transitioning age, no longer chicks but not yet laying.
Novice chicken farmer Susan Nolan of Lothian has six chickens in her developing flock, two Barred Rock, two Red Stars, one Andalusian Blue and one New Hampshire Red.
From now until early fall, she gives them two heaping scoops of feed a day. Just like the kids at home, the chicks are messy eaters, leaving more on the ground than in their bellies.
By early June, they can leave the shelter of Nolan’s home to live in their own residence, the coop.
Around September, they’ll be feeding Nolan and her family approximately three to five eggs a week per chicken.
Read more on raising egg hens at:
www.bayweekly.com/node/17991.