Winter babies

Well, they have been a lovely winter surprise...BUT the cold weather can complicate things a bit. Outside in the chicken enclosure, the babies were staying warm under mom a LOT which led to a condition called "pasty butt". Check out more info. about it here: https://the-chicken-chick.com/pasty-butt-in-chicks-causestreatmen/

So, I had to bring the babies inside and give them warm baths and of course I had to keep them inside until they were dry. This led to setting up the indoor enclosure using a large dog crate. In comes the crate, the feeder and water dispenser, in comes the straw, in come the chickens! (there is one Mama and 4 babies) Then a cold front moved in, with the wind chill factor it felt like it was below zero. Long story short, the babies will be inside until they grow their grownup feathers. They already have some coming in. Notice in the video, this chick has feathers that look like normal bird feathers (sleek and uniform) and it also still has lots of baby feathers (fluffy). Once the adult feathers come in they can tolerate colder temperatures better. These are reasons we don't intentionally let our girls hatch eggs in the winter...but there are bonuses too!

Negative=farm smell in the house

Positive=SO MUCH CUTENESS in the house

Assessment: Totally worth it!

The babies pop in and out of the dog crate, but they don't go far because Mama can't fit...and they won't leave mama.