Raising chickens in an urban area is challenging. Raising them from day-old chicks in a small apartment with an open layout is an even greater challenge. Our babies have been living in a big plastic tub in the laundry room. This has made washing the laundry particularly difficult. They have tripled in size since the day we brought them home, and the tub is no longer big enough for all seven. They've begun pecking at each other's hinder ends, and the "cute" is wearing off as the "stinky" increases. It's still a bit early to scooch their little butts outside, even with a heat lamp running the coop... perhaps next week we'll try it... but that's only if we have a coop to move them into!
Until then, however, we have to find room for a second large plastic tub, somewhere in the apartment that will be safe from the cats (the laundry room, which doubles as our closet, is the only place in the house with a door that closes except for the bathroom... and the bathroom is too small). I'm fearing that the chickies, if kept in their close quarters for even another few days, will swarm like a colony of bees that has gotten too large for the hive, and we'll find them living like feral cats in the refrigerator or something... either that, or they'll peck each other's butts so bloody that it'll start to look like a scene from a horror movie in the laundry room.
In the meantime, our seedlings are growing, and leaning into the light on the windowsill... I know exactly how they feel...
Okay, it's time to indulge my obsession with "Firefly" and watch another episode... I'm going to be so sad when we finish the series... why only one season?! WHY?!
2 comments:
Oh dear! Not bum pecking!! Ours did that horribly last year. I think nearly every chick had a bloodied rear end, and one was so bad I thought she was probably going to die. I ended up putting duct tape over their tail region and that seemed to do the trick. I think they just get bored, especially if a heat light is on and they've got all that "daylight" keeping them awake with nothing to do. Supposedly a red heat lamp will help with the pecking problem. Here's a photo of the duct tape solution, by the way:
http://insidemysecretgarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/good-day.html I left it on their little bums until it just fell off by itself. Seeing them all bloodied up like that just made me sick :-(
we have a 3 tiered cage that you are welcome to use - it's original use was to house bunnies; so there is a ramp to each new floor and the bottom slides out for easy cleaning.
It would give you a chance to keep the chicks from the cats, and still allow them some room...it's actually in 207 on the first floor (above your apt) if you want to check it out. It's at the back of the house... Let us know if you're interested!
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