The day olds

I brought the 2 chicks home tonight. I hadn't read the parts in the book about chick care because I was planning on getting older birds. Thankfully, though, if the information on the good ol' Internet isn't reliable or helpful, I have the box the chicks came in to fall back on. It has very clear new chick "management guidelines".

Below is proof that the chicks will indeed dirty their food and are uncontrollable little heathens. They were in the larger box for less than five minutes when I looked in to see them bedding down in the feeder. Also, I do remember reading something about how you could tell if the chicks were too hot or too cold by seeing if they huddled together right under or really far away from the heat lamp. Here, they appeared to be in the far, far corner--the furthest away from the heat lamp. This scientific evidence, coupled with the fact that F, the ever helpful husband, said, "They look too hot. Don't fry them. Heh. Heh. Heh." as he was leaving for work, signaled to me that I should move the heat lamp up a few inches further away from the chicks.

Here, below, T is meeting the chicks. We sat here for at least an hour staring down at the chicks. Even I was bored with the chicks after that.

We were not going to name the chicks, because eventually, we are going to kill and eat them. I'm not sure I can psychologically tolerate killing and eating something I have named. However, there was much discussion of the chick that was called "jellybean". T seemed to come up with that name all on his own. If it sticks, then we'll see if "Jellybean" can be slaughtered in 2 years, or if he'll have to be a permanent part of the family.

Here, finally, are the chicks moving more normally about the box. This was after I moved the heat lamp up a bit. At the feed store, I was assured that these were girls. However, I am a bit worried about having gotten the right chicks, because the young man who was "helping" me asked me if I knew which chicks were which and if I could reach in and get them because he didn't want to touch them.

Finally, because I know there will be complaints and comments, such as, "Where was M?" "Poor M, she never gets to do anything...cough, cough, sniff, sniff...", I want it to be known that M was there for the entire hour staring down at the chicks too. It is just really hard to take a picture of her, while holding her up to look at the chicks, while making sure that T doesn't touch the heat lamp--so I have no proof that she was there. In my own defense, I've included the following photo of some oddities that occurred in our home previously, in which M was photographed. You can see from the photo below that she was very obviously having fun and is well-nourished and included in family play.

Don't be alarmed at the paneling.