Chicks!

Now two weeks old, Dave and I received our chicks when they were just two days old. We ordered them from MyPetChicken.com. Unfortunately, one of the chicks died in transit - the heat pack that My Pet Chicken uses to keep the little travelers warm somehow fell onto one of the bantams and crushed her.

Within 48 hours, another chick died. She had been lethargic, and not eating or drinking very much. I tried to give her extra fluids and vitmain-filled wet food with a syringe, but to no avail. MyPetChicken's customer service were very nice people to speak with, and they refunded me for both chicks.

Feeding Sick Chicky

 The other bantam, who we've named Bubo (for the little mechanical owl in the original Clash of the Titans!), started acting slow and lethargic, and Lover said "Let's take her to the vet." At this point, I was already saddened by our other losses, and I didn't want a third death in a week. So, we put Bubo in a shoebox with a hot water bottle, picked out Camilla (named for Gonzo's favorite chicken) to be Bubo's companion, and off to the vet we all went.

Bubo loves dozing on the hot water bottle

 Turns out Bubo was having trouble passing excrement and had gotten very dehydrated. The vet recommended alternating water and pedialyte every hour that we were home.

Bubo bounced back, and is gaining weight every day (we have a little kitchen scale). At the vet, she weighed 20 grams (that's about four grapes). Six days later, she now weighs 42 grams!

T-Rex is a distant relative

 Bubo is so tiny because she is a bantam chicken. Bantams are dwarf varieties of chickens. Just as there are araucana, cochin, and barred rock chickens of the standard size, so there are bantam (or dwarf) sizes of each of these breeds. Bubo is a Golden Sebright, which means she'll have lovely golden brown feathers laced with black.

The three other chicks we have are all standard sizes. Urdnot Wrex (named for one of our favorite Mass Effect characters) and El Bandido Pollo (or simply Bandit) are Easter Eggers, which lay eggs in shades of pale blues and greens. I think Wrex will grow to have bluish gray feathers mixed with orange-red feathers. Bandit looks like she'll be a mix of brown and red. We shall see.

Wrex needed a little encouragement

Urdnot Wrex is the biggest chick

Bandit is the best flyer and most curious

Camilla is a Salmon Faverolle, which are beautiful pale salmon and white colored chickens with beards (called muffs for chickens) and feathers along their legs and feet.

Malai is very curious

 Malai and Quadrapus have been very curious. I wouldn't trust either alone with the chicks, but in my lap everyone just looks and sniffs.

Quadrapus took a sniff, and then decided to lay down and chill

Bandit is a little too curious

I think Malai thinks they're plush toys

I can't wait to see what everyone will look like all grown up! Malai has been acting jealous from time to time, but she knows she's still number one pup!