Paws 4 Hearts Rescue : Chicks and Honeybees

Seven Chicks
© Photo by Tracey R. Simmons 2017

I was going to add six chicks this spring, but not until the end of March or beginning of April. That all changed two Sundays ago when a text came through asking if I wanted some chicks, because twenty-five were coming by mail to a co-worker. My answer at that moment was - "Humm." Some of my reservations were because of horror stories I'd heard about mailed chicks - broken legs and broken necks - and still alive. Broken legs can be fixed, but broken necks are a different story.

My plan was to add certain kinds of chicks that would be great egg layers, since I had more people wanting my organically feed chickens' eggs. Organic feed cost more, so I need to have a good return, when it comes to eggs, for that cost. This led to the question of - what kind were coming, and with that answered, the research began. There were twelve different kinds coming, with a thirteenth being an extra bonus and an unknown exotic.

Of the twelve kinds, I wanted a Black Star, Red Star, Pearl White Leghorn, Buff Rock, New Hampsire Red, and either a Speckled Sussex or Araucanas/Ameraucanas, which I was leaning towards the Araucanas/Ameraucanas for the colored eggs they provide. The other kinds coming were Black Cochin, Dorkings - they have five toes, Columbian Wyandotte, Golden Polish, and Turkens. With these breeds, I studied what the chicks looked like, finidng that some look like others, but made notes hoping I would be able to sort them.

Their first evening home.
© Photo by Tracey R. Simmons 2017

On the following Wednesday, the chicks arrived safe and alive, despite temps in the teens. With that many different breeds, and chicks who do not look the way they will once grown, I sat on the floor looking inside the box of peeping chicks. The ones, I will call weird looking, like the Turkens, who have naked necks, were easy to identify. There was only one "normal" type chick that was easy to single out - the Black Stars who were black with white tips on their wings.

For all the sorting done, the Black Star was the only one I knew I had that I wanted. The rest was a guessing game, or as a friend stated were - "mystery chicks." Nevertheless, I brought home my chicks and fell in love watching them, and listening to their sweet peeping songs.

I noticed how at ease these chicks were with me, which was different than the chicks I'd gotten at a farm store the last few years. I am still learning about chickens, but I wonder if the babies who come through the mail, view their human caretaker as their mommy right away. In comparison, the chicks from the farm stores are kept in huge horse/cattle watering troughs, with hordes of monsterous sized humans staring down at them, and even though it is not supposed to be done - reaching in to pick them up, etc. I think this creates fear and makes it harder for the chicks to not see their human caretaker as a threat. Just my theory.

Six of seven chicks. The Black Star has white tip on her wing.
© Photo by Tracey R. Simmons

My chicks are all thriving and growing. Some are getting more color on their wing feathers, like the two little rusty colored ones in the picture on the left. I think both are the Speckled Sussex. As this mystery unfolds, I will add updates.

In the honeybee department, I checked my hive, and the great news is they got through the winter. We got lucky with the winter, as it was mostly a mild winter. That helped my bees survive with the situation they were in last fall - not enough food. It helped that I was determined to help them anyway I could. The candy boards were a big help. Days in January and February above 50 degrees so that I could check food supply, and change the boards also helped!!

I am providing pictures of the hive, as of Friday, March 24, 2017, including some up close views of worker bees (females) with pollen on their legs. Enjoy!