Then There Were Twenty-Four

Over the weekend we got the Meaties out into the yard and within the new Premier 1 Shock or Not fence. They actually had two field trips out of the garage!

On Saturday we transferred them by carrying the brooder out - it needed to be dumped of the shavings anyway - and then grabbed them and plopped them in the yard. They didn't know what to do of course and there was some peeping, but within a couple of minutes they started getting active and started poking around.

It didn't take long for them to start spreading out

These two were not convinced

After about 3 hours in the morning we gathered them up again and returned them to the brooder. Only then did they realize that they were tired and needed to rest.

On Sunday after we returned from church we promptly got them out again and let them have some more outside time. The fresh air was really what I wanted them to have. They stink up their brooder pretty quick. This time they got busy right away and were running around and looking for natural treats in the grass. There is a good sized divot near the far corner and most of the them were crowded in it looking for bugs and such.

Things were going pretty well and I was in and out of the house several time. I think after about an hour I was coming back outside when I looked to the chicks and they were not moving and in complete high alert mode. As I walked over I noticed a couple that were sitting together on one side and then across from them on the other side one of the chicks was dead. Just like that...I don't think that I was in the house all that long a few minutes at most.

After alerting Tom and getting the dead chick out I went to check out the two that were together and one of them moved on, but the other one was extremely still. Upon closer examination I saw that he/she was still alive so I picked it up and there was blood - insert colorful language here - I wanted to cry because now we had an injured chickie on our hands. Tom was still messing around with the dead one when I informed him of the injured one and that we needed to get a bin set up with water and some pine shavings.

A few minutes later as I was observing the chicks some more I noticed one that had some blood on it AND some of its friends were picking its body. Okay - so more than two of the chicks were affected by the attack. 

Long story short we decided the crows that were hanging around tried to get a free meal and tried to make off with a couple of the babies. I think that the one that died must have had a little heart attack or something - that one had no wounds on it. It also seems that the chicks are at a size that makes it difficult for a crow to carry them away in their beaks. If they were a true predator they would swoop down and pick them up using their claws. I learned that crows are opportunistic creatures and will sit and watch until the moment is just right. 

The remainder of the chicks spent the rest of their time out in the yard in their fenced area underneath a bird netting. We may have to install bird netting over their area when they are outside full-time, but I am hoping that they will reach a size that will not be so appealing for a crow to try and get one again. 

As much as this makes me not enjoy having the crows around...they do tend to keep the hawks at a distance by being annoying to them.

The Twenty-Two Healthy Chicks

Our two ICU patients

Overall, getting them out was a success and they really did enjoy getting to stretch their wings and spar with each other along with looking for things in the grass. The fact that we only lost one is amazing...it could have been so much worse. The two chicks will be isolated until they are nearly healed up again - even if they have to stay indoors while we get the rest out of the garage this weekend.

Farm Life Isn't the Easiest.....but Baby Chicks!