Baby Chicks

[billl]

A hen has been roosting on top of a 5' cabinet in our carport. This morning, the eggs have hatched (are maybe still hatching) and some chicks are standing around her on top of the cabinet.

I saw this coming, so I rigged up some inflated trash bags, and moved some trash cans next to the cabinet, so the chicks will have a safer time making it down to the ground, once the hen is ready to take them on a walk to look for food. ALSO, this has happened before (but we didn't realize it at the time), and all of the chicks apparently made it to the ground OK (except for two that got trapped, but were OK and I carried them to the others later that day). But I think they were maybe helped by some rags, etc. that were spilling off of the cabinet.

Do any of you country-living people have any idea of how far a chick can "jump down" without getting hurt? It seems, from the last time, that they are pretty hardy, but I don't know.

[Janine]

I raised a baby duck a few years back, but I don't know much about chicks. It was lost and so I just caught it and put it into a big cage with food until it was ready to be released. I would have to say that newborn chicks would need some way to get to the ground from 5'...that is pretty high up! They don't have wings to speak of yet. How in the world did the mother chicken get up that high? I didn't think they could fly much either. I don't think the babies could jump down too far. You might be able to aid them by using gloves to transport them to the ground. I don't think the mother will reject them because, I heard that's an old wive's tale about touching baby birds and the mother rejecting them. Can't you rig up some type of a slide, gradual walkway; so they can work their way down. Maybe a board with sides on it at a very gradual angle. You could also put some cardboard around the top edges of the cabinet, so they have to come down the little slide or walkway.

[motherhubbard]

We have chickens and I have my nesting box about 4 1/2 ft. off the ground. I have nailed two boards and an angle to make a ramp, but they just fall out. I've hatched 100's of chickens and never lost one to the fall. Maybe if you put your shop rags around it would help.

[Lynne50]

Yesterday I saw something very interesting outside the school where I teach. We have been seeing many wild turkeys on the playground. I live in a suburban area, so this is unusual. However, lately we have been seeing more and more of them. Don't they know that Thanksgiving is soon! But yesterday, I saw a peacock. Apparently the peacock,( really it's a peahen,) has been hanging out with the turkeys. I never knew that peacocks could survive in our area.
I thought I was seeing things.

[billl]

Thanks everyone, esp. motherhubbard for the reassurance. nice ideas janine, I actually added to the mess of things surrounding the cabinet, includins a "ramp" (a long screen from who knows what, that was in the shed). Anyhow, the two chicks made it down somehow (I think it was some sort of panic event involving a car backing in at what we thought was a safe distance, I wasn't around but I heard them chirping suddenly while I was in the house and the car wasn't even in the carport), and the chicks and the mom were scrabbling around, and I gave them lots of food, and the temperatures here won't be anywhere near freezing for weeks probably, (if at all this year!). Tonight, they must have found a new roost (for obvious reasons--my ramp etc. isn't enough for chicks to get back up where they were). Unfortunately, there's another egg still up there, and I don't know what's up with that. I guess it might not make it, or it wasn't fertilized, or maybe I'll find a chick there tomorrow or something. If I knew where the hen was I might've tried to bring it over to her, but it's dark now, I have no idea.

btw Janine, I was surprised, but they can fly, but not too high or far. Maybe 10 feet up, and for a distance of 20 feet or so (those are feats that I've witnessed). Mostly they strut around, but they use the flying kind of like a jump (e.g. onto a fence, into lower branches, away from a threat, etc.). This hen migrated over from neighbors--our houses are maybe 20 feet apart, this is just regular U.S. suburbs, and the chickens just forage anywhere around, I love it.

Lynne, that's neat--I wonder if the Peacock escaped from someone's yard or something. I used to see wild turkeys and grouse while hiking--you must teach near some nice country type area.

[qimissung]

That was interesting reading, billl. Did you all see the youtube video abut the man rescuing the ducklings from the roof of a bank? Adorable! Your a great good samaritan, billl. :)

[Maximilianus]

Very well done billl. I enjoyed the story very much!


Did you all see the youtube video abut the man rescuing the ducklings from the roof of a bank? Adorable!

I watched it a while ago in the news. It was really sweet, and he even guided the ducklings and their mother among the vehicles to a safer place. A very considerate guy, same as our good billl :D