About 3 nights ago, our power went out for 6-7 hours. We had brand new peeps so I heated a pot of water (gas stove) and put it in the box to keep them warm. They lined up around the pot like it was a mamma hen. However, I couldn't do anything for the 1 month old batch of 25 peeps out in the Outhouse Coop and figured they'd be warm enough anyway. The next day while doing chores, my daughter discovered one of the one month old chicks was missing some feathers and had a little bit of blood on it. We figured that when their light went out on the older chicks, they panicked and piled on top of each other to keep warm. So, we brought the hurt one in and put it in its own box in the kitchen. Things have gone fine though at times the chick has seemed a bit lonely so we would take it out and hold it a while. We showed it to the baby peeps and then would put it back into its own box.

Well, this morning when we got home from church, we checked on the older chick and it was not in its box! It was in with the three day old peeps! The older chick had somehow managed to get around the cover over its box and gone over to the other chicks' box, hopped on the rim and into the box. They seemed to be getting along just fine and the babies were even trying to perch on the bigger chick as if it were a mamma hen and also trying to get under its wings. It was so cute we all just stood there and said Awww, aint that sweet!

On a side note: we bought some pine shavings for bedding and it is working out great, much better than straw and the large package of it was only $5 at Walmart (+ 10% disc. because DH works there). It doesn't take much and the large package should last a long time.

-- Lavender Blue Dilly, Central Maryland (lavenderbluedilly@hotmail.com), April 07, 2002

Answers

Aww, that is cute. poor little darling was lonesome! :)

I've also used pine shavings and they do work great. however this last time, i used sand. oh, how wonderful it was. must be a natural odor eater as i had them in the back bedroom for a week on that sand and only started smelling them on friday.

-- Buk (noaddy@chickensrus.com), April 07, 2002.

Sand is what I have been using for years. A breeder told me to use it. He said to buy a sack of "play sand" because it is sterile. And you're right. You don't have to change the chicks as often and there isn't any bad smell.

-- Jodie in TX (stanchnmotion@yahoo.com), April 08, 2002.