The Hanna Coop: part two
My brother Jesse used to always be the chicken guy growing up. I never enjoyed them much. Him and our cousin would always talk and trade chickens. Oo how the tables have turned. I’m honestly not sure where the interest or idea came from to start our chicken herd (Sawyer tells me the proper term is flock but I’m going with herd) two years ago but it has brought me so much joy ever since. I hope to continue adding all of the black and white breeds every two years.
I had every intention of blogging our trials and experiences the first time around but I forgot to take so many milestone pictures and never ended writing the blog while it was all fresh in my mind, so here’s to part two. All of my knowledge has entirely come from my brothers, Dad, family + friends, and the McMurray website.
If you’re local to Ringgold, Tryon, Stapleton or North Platte and in search of Farm Fresh Egg deliveries (in the cutest little cartons I might add) please place your order here: The Hanna Coop: farm fresh weekly egg deliveries.
Did you know
baby chicks ship strait to your local USPS? Delivery arrived two days after my birthday on June 23.
Zoeyy adores the baby chicks
from the first time we got baby chicks two years ago she has always been obsessed. She constantly wants to go check on them in the barn + tries to gently herd and mother them.
The cutest little noisy fluff balls
Supplies
newspaper
waterer
feeder with top
marbles
larger sized wood chips
probiotic + electrolytes
sugar
red heat lamp
non-medicated chick feed
little kids plastic pool
we found all our supplies at the local Bomgaars.
Wood chips
It’s important you get larger sized wood chips so the chicks don’t think they are food and try to eat them. Fill your kiddy pool with about 1 inch of wood chips.
Newspaper
Then for the first 24 hours cover the wood chips to help the chicks find the food and water easier. Make sure to remove after 24 hours or the paper can create leg problems.
Chick feed
Fill your chick feeder with feed and close the lid. Then sprinkle some feed (I did way too much because I spilled) on the newspaper to help them more easily find the feed in the feeder.
Sugar, Probiotic + Electrolytes
Mix all in to the chicks waterer for the first 48 hours to help with health after shipping.
Marbles
Add some marbles to the chicks waterer to help them find the water.
Just add chicks
Take the chicks one by one out of the shipping box, gently dip their beak into the water + release the bird into their new home.
Heat lamp
It is suggested to have a heat lamp above only part of the chicks pool space to make sure they stay warm enough but also can get away from it if they get too warm. The first time we had baby chicks we kept the lamp up for the duration of the chicks time in the pool (about 8 weeks.) This second time around we removed the heat lamp after about a week because the chicks were too hot and crowded along the edge opposite of the lamp.
Four weeks old
It always shocks me how quickly the chicks feathers turn from little fluff balls to normal chicken feathers. After only two weeks we could already start to see a difference in their wings.
Experiment time
After a month in the pool we had to add taller siding because the chicks were starting to jump out. At that same time we had a two year old chicken from our first order that was wanting to set. I tried putting her in with the chicks hoping she would take them as here own and help with the later transition to the big chicken house / free range lifestyle in a month. Unfortunately she wasn’t the biggest fan of being shut up with 12 little ladies.
