How To Pick Up Chicks.

We are off to Melbourne this afternoon to see some family, some friends, pick up my new computer and do some school holiday stuff.

But before we go there's some preparing to do for the 200 one day old chickens that will be coming home with us tomorrow afternoon.

We spread out a bale of straw to sit their house on.

We used to take the wheels off the house and park it on the ground but the straw acts as insulation.

Liam drives the house onto the straw where it will sit for the next few months.

The wire mesh is the floor of the house.

The heat lamps get hooked up.

These lamps have ceramic bulbs so they get hot but don't light up.

This is to keep them warm but not to keep them awake.

The lights are on pulleys that can be raised and lowered as the chicks get older and taller and hardier.

The corners of the house are rounded so they can't get stuck in them or squash their friends.

Next for the wood shavings.

We use wood shavings for bedding on the floor of the house as its virtually dust free and incredibly absorbant. The chicks will live on these shavings for the next few weeks and we wont have to change them at all.

The feeders and waterers are full, the cardboard is down, so they don't get buried in the wood shavings in the first few days.

See ya tomorrow!!