Here is Ump, the cat, watching over our 2 brooder box hatchlings. Our hen hatched them but did not leave her nest, so I moved them indoors. I usually have 1-3 hatches to restock for our farm each year.
The chicks got much bigger and I moved them out of tubs and into a used leaky stock tank. You can see I added a stuffed Olivia pig in their with them. Soon their pin feathers were emerging and the dust level tripled inside my kitchen.
After almost a month it was time to get them outside into the coop. The smell of 8 chicks get stronger no matter how many times you change the litter. Chicks smell, end of story.
I had 7 hens and one rooster in this hatch. Now all of them are in the coop learning how to grow up into productive poultry for our farm. Ours are a mix of Americana, Cuckoo Marans, Rhode Island Reds and the always present Leghorns. Every year we get a new rooster to add new blood to the mix. This year we will add some bantam hens for hatching, Americana's for blue eggs, and some perhaps Cornish cross roosters for meat.
