We have had our new chicks now for about five days and I have to say they are more fun to watch than TV. You have drama, stand-offs, stare-offs, variety/comedy hour, all rolled into one. The chicks are extremely curious and after a brief scatter when I come into the box, they are pecking at my pants or my wedding ring without a fear in the world.
The ducklings put on quite the show themselves. When I am in the brooder box, they have some kind of crazy attraction to my feet. They will roll their bill all over the top of my shoe, sit on my shoes and stick their bills into the sides of my shoes. It is very hard not to move because I'm laughing so much.
Nicole on "pasty butt duty".
With all of the fun these little guys provide, they are quite a bit of work. Every morning and night we do what we call "pasty butt patrol". A few chicks will get caked up around their vent and if you don't get them cleaned up, it could kill them. Some of these poor little things end up missing some of their down around their backside because of the poop gets dried up and hard. A couple will end up looking like a orangutan, but at least they are clean. Out of the 170 plus chicks, we probably average 3 or 4 "pasty butts" a day. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it!
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