Arrival Day

I got a text from my wife, "The post office called the birds are here!" It was perfect timing-I was able to take my lunch break and drive a few miles to the post office to pick of the 25 gentlemen. The chicks came peeping all the way to the counter and were very active. They shipped from Welp Hatchery on the 23rd, just as they promised.

I thought I was all ready for the guys, but my auto watering system has been acting up. The brooder box withstood a five gallon bucket dumping of water when a hole I had taped up failed. I will post some pictures of the system later, but most of the water creeped out of a corner and didn't soak the entire set up. I noticed the leak last night, and tried to patch if before work. The patch was shoddy so, I am currently using a tray for water.

I am using grass hay as bedding and it seems to working pretty good. I am a bit worried about the heat from the lamp, so I am keeping a close eye on it.

The Order

It happened. We ordered 25 Cornish Cross males from Welp Hatchery last week. The gentlemen will be here in two weeks. The brooder is half set up and their tractor is half built in my head. I am really excited about the watering system though. I recently purchased and am awaiting in the mail 10 chicken nipples. I will use them to make an automatic water--I bought enough to put an auto watering system in for our layers, too.

On Saturday I am going down to Patriot Farms to get the meat birds feed. I decided to by their feed based on my choices. The local chain store has the cheapest feed (11.25 a bag), Patriot has quality feed (13.25 a bag), and an organic company in Vancouver B.C. has the label (22.00 a bag). I am choosing local and thoughtful.