Conclusion

It is very sad to say, but This is my very last blog post. This blog post is going to explain how all of this affected me, and how it altered my life. I will also state how the experience was, and what I got from all of this. Well, here we go:

Started from the bottom...

I feel kind of sad to see this all end. I don't really want to give Tweety back. I know I have to, but I've gotten emotionally attached to the little guy. I watched him grow into almost a full chicken. (Well, not exactly, but he's getting pretty close!) I feel as if I've adopted him, and he is mine now. But, I know I haven't. Going into this whole thing, I made a deal with myself saying that when this was all over, I wasn't going to get upset with it. That they are just for an experiment and I can't let them mean anything to me. Well, they do, but there isn't anything I can do about it. I'm going to miss little Tweety when he goes. Even though he can be obnoxious sometimes, he's still my little guy.

Sylvester, however, I got extremely attached to. When I heard news of his death, I can't even explain how upset that I was. My little penguin was gone and I never even got to say goodbye. It made me feel quite glum. I do not like to feel glum. I felt very frustrated, like it was my fault, like I did that to him, but logically speaking it was out of my control. This affected me in a bad way. It made me feel depressed for a few days. I just wish I at least could've said goodbye...

Having my chicks taught me a lot about the actual animal. I knew absolutely nothing about chicken -or birds in general- before I started this. Therefore, technically speaking, I have gained knowledge not only about chickens, but the dynamic of the actual bird. Which is odd for me, because I wasn't really expecting that. I'm not a big fan of birds, they kind of freak me out, but after this experience I must say I seem to have gotten more used to their presence.

This whole thing changed me in a variety of ways; it made me feel more responsible and needed. Without me always changing their food/water/etc. then who would? This also made me annoyed because I felt like I was their maid, or butler, or something in that nature.
In addition, I am so sleep deprived. I regularly have insomnia anyway, but with addition of screeching chicks at night, it just made matters worse. Every time I turn off the lights, the damn bird screams. He actually screams. I'm not exaggerating this statement, it actually happens. He literally screams. I thought maybe I'd get him a night light- that might help. Nope, didn't help. I can't ever fall asleep because he will just go insane for an hour and keep me up. I've been lacking in all of my activities (whether it be school, extracurricular, sports, etc.) and motivations. I've just been so tired...

What did I get from all of this? For starters, I'm not afraid of chicken anymore. I was absolutely terrified before, but now after seeing how they
grow up, I can see that they aren't as evil as I had always thought that they were. I gained the ability to face my fears head on, no matter how small they may be. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true.

...Now we're here.

I figured I'd end my last blog post with some few funny videos about chicken. It may not apply to this specific blog post (however, the loud ones do, because its like Tweety every damn time I turn the lights off at night), but it does apply to the majority of my blog in general, which is what I'm going for, as I do have a humor blog:
http://youtu.be/PPftVQwyPs0
http://youtu.be/obQIdffSQUk
http://youtu.be/NHzTNuO1sow
http://youtu.be/qHZXuMbMPgo
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=01BFCFNU

The Last Day

Well, today is the last day for blogging about my little chickie. (This isn't my very last post, but it is my last post about how Tweety is currently.) Its been quite a long journey having these chicks. It was a very emotional journey, especially the death of my baby Sylvester. I can't believe this is my very last day. (Technically I have Tweety for a few more days because I am going to bring him back on Saturday, and today is only Tuesday, so in technical terms I do have a few more days. But, like I have mentioned before, today is the last day of my blogging time besides the conclusion.) Tweety sits in the corner with his stuffed turtle and his stuffed pug (which actually happens to be one of my old webkinz. Back in the day, you were super cool in second grade if you had a Webkinz. I had probably about 30 of them. My brother did too. Funny story- I named my first webkinz Hungry because when I was registering my Panda online, my stomach was grumbling and I was very hungry. Alas, I named my Panda Webkinz Hungry. Okay now to get back on task).

He seems to be lonely. Tweety, I mean. It makes me sad. I don't want him to be lonely. Its not healthy for him. If the whole thing with Sylvester didn't happen to close to the day that its all over (aka today) then we would have gotten another chick. Actually, in one of my blog posts a few blogs ago (the one about Sylvester dying) I posted a picture of another chick and captioned it saying that this is how he should have grew. That chick happens to be one of Sylvester's brother or sister; they were from the same litter (or whatever that terminology is for chicken). Missy had contacted us, saying maybe we could come down and get that chick, so that Tweety wouldn't be too lonely, as it is bad for chick's growth to grow up alone, without a mother figure or a friend (so another chick). My mother declined, and told her I only had a few days left of the project. Missy lives in the deep dark corners of Alpine. Not really the deep dark corner, but she does live REALLY out there. The drive from her house to mine is probably about 2 and a half hours. Give or take 15 minutes, depending on the traffic pattern.

I took a photoshoot with Tweety today, here's the picture below:

He's been showing signs of behavior as an adult chicken now. He grew quite fast...

Well, to summarize what my experience has been like so far (without giving away too much of what should be in my conclusion), I've felt kind of stressed while having the chicks around. I always feel like if something wrong happens to them, its going to be my fault (and in the case of Sylvester, I was not even present and I know what really happened but I will not say it on here because I am a nice friend and lets just say it was definitely not my fault at all. Aaaand I am going off topic once again). Balancing school and everything else in my life, and then having to always go back to the responsibility of having this animal in my room that I know aboslutely nothing about kind of freaks me out. I get so tired of Tweety being there never stopping his songs. Singing singing singing away in harmony with the silence of the night... at literally 3:00 am every single morning. Its driving me insane, but at least its over. Its sounds bad, but finally. Its all over...

One of the last link's is an article about history and actually about chicken themselves. I thought it would be cool to check this out and learn a bit more about the animal. Since I know absolutely nothing about chickens, as I have stated before so the link is as follows:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/28/the-it-bird

In Solitude

Tweety is on his own now... Its quite depressing if you ask me. He's changed, for sure. He used to be very stand-offish towards me. Now, however, he only takes comfort when he's in my hands/I'm in his sight. If I just stick one finger into the cage, he runs over and cuddles into it. He seems to calm down by feeling my heartbeat [through my fingertips]. Its quite cute, actually. Don't get me wrong, I miss Sylvester very very much. In fact, its very hard for me to get over him being gone. However, from the start of this project I knew I couldn't get too attached to the little chicks, as I'd be giving them back the minute the fostering session (or project I guess, because technically thats what this whole thing was, even though it became more for me in the end) was over, I would have to be giving the baby chickens back anyways and they would go and live on their farm again. Whatever would happen to them happens. (Don't worry about them being eaten or something like that, its not that type of farm). But either way, of course I am getting attached to the babies (or baby now... not plural...sad...).

He's getting big!

His wings have grown a lot too! (It looks like I was ripping off his wing, but I can assure you no harm came to Tweety during this picture, before, or after (or ever).

I only have I think 1 or 2 more days left of this experience... Its been quite funky so far. They have all these needs that I was unaware of. They have to have friends growing up with, heat lamps, medicated bird food, special bedding, not wired bottoms of cages, etc. Its just a bunch of really funky, random things that they've needed. Its weird, but interesting nonetheless.

I'm having intense writers block at the moment, I apologize, so I'm just going to list the events going on in my life and how having Tweety is impacting that:
So today I had basketball tryouts, and I made JV which is cool I guess. The problem is, we have practice every single day of the week (except Sunday) and that is quite tiring. Its hard to balance school work and that at the same time. For example, practice ended at 9:00 pm tonight. I only came home to change before it started, so I didn't have any time to do my homework. I got home around 9:30 pm, ate dinner (well I plan on doing that I haven't eaten yet), transferred all of my supplies that I used today for school into my regular backpack, (Long story short: Whole family went to AZ this weekend, as you know. Mom came in today and not yesterday like my brother and I. Mom's car was parked in the Airport. My backpack with all of my stuff -homework, notes, school supplies- inside of it, so I had none of my stuff today at school and had to write everything down on a piece of paper and then transfer it and it was terrible, I must say) then finally I could do my homework/study/do this blog. Ah. Blogging. This whole time, I have to listen to Tweety tweeting like a rotten banana (?) right next to me. I'm just like 'wow can you shut it for maybe two seconds please I'm trying to work and I have a lot to do. Thanks friend.'

Okay, long day. I must leave your presence now. Adios amigos/amigas. (Look at me using my Spanish, thanks Profe.)

Today's link is an interesting forum about if Chicken's miss those who have died (this relates more to the beginning of this blogpost): http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/620454/do-chickens-miss-those-who-have-died

Moment of Silence

Today we must take a moment of silence for respect of the fallen. I was given news that Sylvester has passed away while I was in Arizona. The people babysitting them contacting my mom to inform me of this tragic news. I'll show the message below:
"Bad news....Sylvester died!!!! Seemed like he was fine last night when we went to bed? Sad!! Oh man! I feel so bad! Missy was worried that he hadn't grown at all despite always eating and drinking. Would you let Shelby know? And Missy said he probably had internal damage. There's nothing we could have done. :( Megan's crying... Missy told us that He's is a miniature chicken. That breed doesn't get very big anyway. She does have another one like him though. We can replace him if that helps..."

This is how he was suppose to have grown to

Apparently, he's had an issue from the minute that he was given to us. Tweety has been thriving, so we know (and Missy assured us) that we haven't been doing anything wrong to raise them. His lack of growth was a sign that there was always something wrong. (Missy, by the way, is the owner of the farm that we got the chicks from. I've mentioned her many times before- see more about her in my past blog posts).This has been very upsetting got our entire community. Whether it be me, Megan, Tweety, Missy, or anyone who's ever met sweet little Sylvester. He was known as being a nice, gentle, baby chicken. Everyone who's ever met him agreed he was very cute and cuddly, and extremely friendly. Every single person would just fall in love with the little guy the minute that they would meet him. He had a very kind old soul, and its very sad and tragic to see him go. I do not know what really happened to him or how, as I was not present to witness his death, but I'm sure he had a very peaceful passing. They say, when birds pass away, they grow an extra pair of wings in heaven.
Tweety has been quite unsettled since the incident, or so I've been told. They said he's been pacing back and forth and squawking loudly, mourning the death of his brother and best friend. Although at times they didn't get along and had to be separated, they were still best pals and Tweety was very sad to see his friend go. Even know he's very upset and I can tell he's not taking this whole thing well.

Responses after Megan posted a memorial on instagram

As we reflect his life, we cannot forget the great memories we had with him. Whether it be him being like a little penguin, giving him a bath, him falling asleep in your hand, snuggling up into his blanket, cuddling with his stuffed toy, etc. Now, we mustn't mourn and be filled with sorrow about his death; we must celebrate the life that he lived. Sylvester, We all do and will always miss you. Rest in peace my sweet sweet little baby chick. <3 <3

This is his burial ground :(

**Update: I've been told the cause of death was from internal bleeding. If one chick pecks at another chick enough (especially in the head) it can cause the pecked at chick to internally bleed and die. I'm sorry Sylvester had to go through this.**

I also don't know why its randomly highlighting white, so I apologize for the odd formatting.

This guy is going through a similar experience, poor dude.
Sad topic... http://youtu.be/kZbzcUwGoVE

(P.S. NO I DID NOT KILL SYLVESTER. I WASN'T EVEN THERE WHEN HE DIED SO THATS NOT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE WHOLE STORY, ASK ME IN PERSON AND I WILL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU. BUT ONCE AGAIN, I DID NOT KILL HIM. THANK YOU.)

Vacation

As I've mentioned in my introduction, and a few other blog posts before, I'm going on vacation for a few days. (Well it isn't technically vacation, I'm going to my dads house and he lives in Arizona, therefore I must go to Arizona to be at his house.) The chicks are going to be staying at Megan's house (my friend, whom I interviewed, who is also the Niece of the lady I got the chicks from: see my Q & A interview blog with Megan for more information). So, basically I won't be blogging probably just tomorrow. I may or may not be blogging on Sunday, depending on what time I get home, but if not then I'll resume on Monday. Just expect a pause and a day or two skipped in my blog. 

***Yes I am aware this project was suppose to be going on consistently for a whole 14 days (2 weeks), but I have already gotten permission to basically go on pause and resume the blog after a few days. Thanks for the concern though, people, I appreciate it.***

Getting ready to temporarily go

I think the time apart from the chicks will be interesting for me. Because of the fact that I've gotten a little too attached to them, I believe that this separation period of this/these [few] days(s) will be good for both me and the little chickies. When I get back, I can see if they got any type of emotional attachment to me or something. Chickens have been known to be not very bright so probably not, but one can always hope, right? When I do see them again, I can write about the experience of how I felt and how I saw the chicks react to me coming back, or if they don't react at all. I really think this will be an intriguing experiment for me to see if they've actually grown to know me, and maybe they care about me? Do chickens care about people? Is that a thing? I honestly have no clue, but I guess we shall see soon enough. 

Tweety in mid-farewell fly.

When I was dropping the chicks off, they seemed to be fine. They were very nervous, worried, stressed, frantic. I can tell this by the tone of their chirping and when they are running back and forth again and again (they weren't doing that by the way). Megan knows the protocol probably better than I do on how to take care of the chicks, so I feel confident that she will take pretty good care of my chicks. But alas she will only be taking care of my chicks for a little more than a day, so not much can go wrong in that short period of time {knock on wood}. I've been getting updates, pictures, and videos from them, informing me that they're doing alright, so I have full trust in them caring for my baby chickens. 

So, a temporary farewell to my bloggians, as I put my blog on pause. I shall be back very soon. Don't miss me too much :P

Todays link, about leaving chicks alone for a few days on the backyard chicken website: http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/196819/leaving-chicks-alone-for-a-weekend

Chicks Separated!!!

                                                             BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!

The chicks have been separated! I repeat: The chicks have been separated! This is really big news and is very difficult for the chicks and myself. Chicks need to be together when growing up. Its almost essential. However, Tweety has been a bad, bad chicken. He's been standing on top of Sylvester, blocking him from getting any food or water, pecking at him, and not letting him get up. We contacted Missy (the owner of farm where we got the chicks from, and Megan's Aunt) for help. She told us the chicks should be separated, as Tweety was making a bid for dominance over Sylvester. She also said because of Sylvester's submissive ways, he wasn't going to fight back, therefore letting himself be attacked. If we didn't do anything about it, then Sylvester was going to die. We definetly could, would, and should NOT let that happen!
Alas, the 2 birds have been separated.

To separate them, we put snake fencing through the middle of the cage. We took out their little shelter -hut (otherwise known as the Super Pet Woodland Get Away) and that side of the cage has been converted to Tweety's side. They each have a food bowl, water source, and heat lamp. They can rub up against the side of the snake fencing to be together, but Tweety cannot attack Sylvester like he had been doing before. Also (this is really cute actually), we gave each of them a stuffed animal as like a 'mother' figure in their cage. I read online that doing so calms them down and makes them feel much safer. Because Sylvester was intensly freaking out when we separated them, we experimented and gave him a stuffed toy first. Its just a random stuffed animal that happens to be a turtle with long legs that I had somewhere in my room, and Sylvester loves it. Immediantly, he curled up into the stuffed turtle. It was a very cute site to see. It made him calm down a bunch too.

I don't really know what to think of all this. Its a lot to take in, you know? I've never known of a little baby chick going like completely insane and aggressive over another little baby chick to the point of separation. I understand when they're older and their adult hormones kick in that they will get more dominant over one another, but neither myself, nor anyone that I have told of this interesting news, have heard of anything like this happening before. Babies are suppose to be innocent. After all, they're pretty much helpless. They aren't suppose to attack each other! This like ruins my perspective towards my little babies chickens... I can't look at them the same now. For Tweety, I look at him hoping he feels guilt, but also hoping that this was just a phase and that they will improve in the future. I really hope he does. Its better for his well being. For Sylvester, I'm always going to be worried about him now. Whenever Tweety would knock him over, he stuggled to get up by himself. Sometimes he would just be stuck on his back like a beetle. Is there something wrong with him? Is this normal? Is he going to be okay? Should I be worried? I don't know what to think of this whole situation, but I can only hope that both of them will get better both mentally and physically.

Article about chickens having aggressive behavior: http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/04/29/breaking-down-aggressive-chicken-behavior/
This is where I found to put a stuffed animal in the cage, as a mother figure:
http://www.theeggfarm.com/blog/2011/11/12/the-care-and-handling-of-baby-chicks/

The Life of Being a Chick

The Story of the Flightless Bird

(Tweety's Perspective)

Myself flying

It was a dark cool night. The heater was on, I felt hot, too hot. I jumped into the water, getting it even messier than before. Although I bathe in it, I drink it too. We're in a drought, might as well conserve the water right? My brother was sleeping in the food bowl again. He always sleeps in the food bowl. I swear all he does is eat, sleep, and poop. He never does anything interesting. He just follows me around, then tires himself out and falls asleep again. Sometimes when he's sleeping, I knock him over and try to wake him up.

"Sylvester! Sylvester! Get up! Let's go play! Let's have fun for once!" I say with excitement.

He usually just goes back to sleep. He's so boring. Me, on the other hand, I don't want to be boring. I want to do something with my self. I see all those other birds up in the sky. I bet their having a blast flying all around. Their wingspan is bigger than their entire body and mine combined! Well, My wings just came in so I think I'm pretty cool. I wanna be just like them. I want to fly!

Myself flying yet again

I spent the next flew days learning to fly. When ever my fabulously stunning owner, Shelby (who happens to be my favorite living organism who I think should be everyone's favorite living breathing thing because she's amazingly amazing) takes me out of my cage, I would go to the highest peak of her room full of adventure and spread my wings and fly! I mean... I can't really... You know... Fly... Because... I'm a chicken... But that's besides the point! My dream has always been to fly. I envy those crows and pigeons in the sky. I've always wanted to be like them. But now... Now it's time for a change! Now that my wings are in and I'm ready to try! I am the Little Chicken That Could! I think I can! I think I can I think I can!

I mustn't give up!

The Story of the Fatter One

(Sylvester's Perspective)

This is me sleeping with my blanket. I like my blanket.

Hi. I'm Sylvester. I like to sleep. I also enjoy eating. Hi.
Sometimes I fall asleep in my bowl bowl. I mean food bowl. Heheh. My brother, Tweety, is so uptight. I'm so chillax, man. He's all like trying to fly and shiz but man I ain't about that life. People love me. Tweety's just jealous of me and my looks. Oops, I fell. Heheh. Some people think that I'm fat. I think they're right. But hey, I'm in shape! Round is a shape! Heheh.

Tweety's always pickin' on me. He thinks he better than me. He thinks he's cooler than me because he's older and already has wings. Well guess what? I don't care what he thinks. I think I'm awesome. Heheh. While Tweety's out flying around like he's a pigeon or something, I like to roll around on my belly like a penguin. Some people say I look like a penguin but I don't see it... Penguins are cool. I like penguins. Heheh. 

I must go now. My People need me. Time to save the world! (And by that I mean I'm hungry and I'm doing the world a favor by eating. Heheh).


A story similar in a chickens perspective, where I got my inspiration: http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/560925/the-story-of-ichabod-from-ichabods-perspective

Interview About the Chicks

Today, I decided to have an interview about my chicks with my friend Megan. I got my chicks from Megan's aunt, Missy, so Megan already knows a lot about how to care for chicks, including all of the dos and don'ts to chick care. In addition, Megan came and helped me set up the cage on the first day and she hasn't seen the chicks since. The Interview is as following:

Megan with the Chicks

Q: How much do you think the chicks have grown from when you last saw them?

A: "I think Tweety has grown a lot, probably about 3.5 centimeters or something. And then I think Sylvester hasn't grown much at all like height-wise, but he's grown outwards. Like he got fatter, but it's cute."

Q: How do you think their personalities differ now between when I first got them?

A: "Tweety was a lot less high maintenance, and more loving kind of, and didn't try to jump out of your arms. But now, he's like bossy and weird... Since he just pecks at a corner all day. Sylvester, on the other-hand, he is really loving. He just doesn't do anything all day. I mean he was kind of like that when we first got him, so he hasn't changed that much, I guess. Maybe he's just a little bit more loving now."

Q: Have you ever had to take care of chicks/chicken for an extended period of time?

A: "No, only when I went to my Aunts farm that I actually like fed the chickens and stuff, but I never actually took them home and had to care for them for awhile. On her farm, I also got their eggs, got their eggs out of the incubator when they hatched, and I played with them so I know how to handle them properly."

Q: Do you think chicks are high maintenance?

A: Yes I do. Since they poop a lot, and they eat a lot, and they drink a lot, and they need a lot to eat, like a lot... (I said that again for emphasis.) And you have to always clean their water bowl. Also, you have to get the poo stuck to their fur on their butt sometimes... which is gross but necessary."

Q: Which chick appears to have grown into more of an alpha-male and which is more submissive?

A: "I would definitely say Tweety is the alpha-male, since he or she, probably he, is always just like doing stuff by himself, and he just kind of leads the way. Sylvester would be like the submissive one, because a lot of time he just follows Tweety around and goes under his wing. He's always just there next to Tweety, and gets upset when he's not. "

Q: What do you know about caring for chicks?

A: "They are really cute and I have to do a lot, haha. I know how to care for them, like I know the basics. When you hold them don't hold them too tight, clean out their water/cage often, feed them the right amount, etc."

Q: Are you excited to babysit my chicks when I go out of town next weekend?

A: "Yes I am! Because I love them so much and their so cute and funny!! "

Another interview about raising chickens: http://youtu.be/a2bxNMH-Q-c

Chicks Update

Well, for the last few blogs about the cage tour, I haven't mentioned much about the chicks. This is because I was just trying to show how to care for the chicks, with some tips on what to use and why, just in case any of you (and by you I mean my one reader who's probably my mom, or my grandma, or something) are ever going to raise chicks sometime in your future and need some help on how to do it. Anyway back to the chicks; heres an update on how the chicks are doing and whats up:

The chicks have been doing pretty well. I think they're more comfortable with where they are now, because they are much, much quieter than when I first got them. (And by that I mean they still tweet all the time but the volume of their tweeting/chirping is a lot less than it was before. I think it was a lot louder before because they might've been stressed out or something from the move.) In addition, I forgot to mention this before, but the breed of chicken that Tweety is, is a Araucana, and Sylvester is a Mottled Cochin Bantam.

Tweety might look something like this when s/he's older

Sylvester might look something like this when s/he's older

Tweety has grown so much. Its unbelievable. When he grows up to be a full grown rooster/chicken (depending on the actual gender of Tweety, since we won't know until Tweety -and Sylvester- are a lot older), he is going to be huge! Like I said before, he is definitely a miniature Godzilla. There is no doubt about that, its a true fact I swear. Also, in this picture it may appear that I am squeezing Tweety, but I would just like to clarify that I am definitely not doing that. Chicks are very fragile and have very thin bones, therefore they must be handled with care and not be squeezed because you might like break them. In this picture, I was holding Tweety for a picture so they he wouldn't move and run away (because thats what happens every single time that I try to take a picture of either of the chicks).

Sylvester is doing great. He's so soft and fuzzy. He has gotten much more gentle and rag-doll-like. I am not quite sure how to explain it, but when he's all floppy and lets you do whatever do him (not in a bad way or anything- it's cute). My explanation is absolutely dreadful but hopefully you get the picture (probably not but thats okay). Sylvester is very submissive to Tweety, and lets him/her be the alpha-male (or alpha-female #GenderEquality). This whole not-knowing-which-gender-my-chicks-are thing is getting very confusing for me because I don't know whether to call them a him or her, and it's kind of stressing me out a little bit. It's just seriously confusing me and I feel bad calling them the wrong gender, because I am probably wrong for both of them. Whatever, I'll find out soon enough. They're growing so fast!

Beginners guide to raising chicks: http://youtu.be/B5MQQcZ2IuI
The farmer people told me which breeds they were, but I completely forgot, so heres the website that helped my classify the breeds of my chicken: http://www.fredsfinefowl.com/babychickidentification.html

Cage Tour! (Part Two)

I've showed you the outside of the cage, but here is the inside and all the things that the chicks need to flourish and grow:

I will start off by showing you their little hut/shelter. It is a wooden Super Pet Woodland Get-Away. (No it is not a fire hazard, I've already checked. I also placed the heat lamp on the opposite side of the cage.) The chicks only come in here sometimes, they are mainly on the other side of the cage. This hut has both the new substrate, and the old substrate from when we first got them from the farm. The old substrate is only in this part of the cage to remind them of home, if they remember.

This is the substrate. We used a pine granule substrate. We were originally given wood shavings (I believe it was cedar, but I am not 100% sure on that) to use as a substrate (which we do have in the hut), but for the rest of the cage, we use this other kind of substrate. The one we used is as good, because its soft enough for the chicks feet (so it does not irritate their feet when they are walking all over it), but yet it is too hard for the chicks to eat (they can eat it, it wouldn't be harmful if they did, but it doesn't necessarily do anything for them nutritionally, so its better if they didn't).

This is the chick's water bowl. They use it, obviously, to drink water. Originally, this was used years and years ago for my desert tortoises when they were little. I think they are 9 currently, and now have an enclosure outside, as they are too big to be in a cage. We completely sterilized the water bowl, just in case, and used it for the chicks. Its too heavy for them to flip over, its not deep enough for them to drown, and it isn't small enough for them to get stuck in. Overall, I think this was a good choice of a water bowl for the chicks. This is kept in the front right corner of the cage, across from the food bowls.

Outside of the cage, we keep a water cup to continuously fill up their water. Between the two of them drinking so much, and the quicker evaporation process because of the heat lamp and the heater, I have to fill up their water quite often. I just used a random metal cup, because they say if you drink water out of a plastic cup, you will consume a lot of plastic particles that have come off of the cup itself. So, for precautionary reasons, I use this metal cup to fill up their water bowl.

These are the two food bowls that we use to feed our chicks. There are two for each chick, but usually they both eat out of the same one, trying to eat whichever thing that the other one is eating. The food bowls that we use are just two really cute little blue, plastic food bowls with a picture of a whale on them (non-visible in the picture). It doesn't really matter what type of food container you use to feed your chicks, as long as they can't flip it and get stuck underneath. Also, that they cannot eat the food bowl itself (i.e. if it was twine or something).

Last but not least, this is the food that the farm told us to feed the chicks. It is Purina Start and Grow Premium Brand Poultry Feed. Its medicated for the needs of baby chickens. Its all natural with natural plant proteins, has a strong start & brightly colored plumage, and it supports a healthy immune system. We got it at Mary's Tack and Feed, but it doesn't necessarily matter where you get it. I give the chicks about 2 or 3 handfuls of this in each bowl. (My hands are like really small though, so the amounts may differ).


This concludes the cage tour


Heres a link to another DIY Chicken Coop: http://youtu.be/PJxwCkOaL9E

Cage Tour! (Part One)

After having the Chicks for about 5 days now (I think), I realized I've never given a proper house (or cage) tour! So alas, here is the cage tour of my chicks (prepare yourself for a numerous amount of pictures):

This is the overall image of the cage itself. It used to be a Rabbit Cage for my bunny, Stache (his name is Stache because his coloring has a little black mustache on his nose), when he was a baby. Stache is a lot bigger now and grew out of this cage, so we figured it would be perfect for our little chicks! As you can see, the chicks have plenty of room for fun activities to do such as eating, sleeping, and pooping.

This picture shows the bottom of the cage. The bottom of the cage is basically like a really wide, rectangular plastic bucket. It is a whole bottom and not a wired bottom because the chicks feet can get stuck in wire, and they need the substrate right now. This is because its better for their growth. In addition, if I were to use a wired bottom and put the substrate in, the substrate would get everywhere! Its much better for the chicks, and so that I don't have to clean around the cage every 2 seconds, to use a non-wired bottom.

The walls of the cage are made of a wiring that happens to be coated with a layer of hard plastic, so that the wiring does not rust. The plastic coating, however, does not affect the chicks in anyway (whether it be harmful or beneficial), and actually makes the cage itself look better. In addition, the plastic coating does not melt. This is good for all of the heaters/heat lamps that the chicks need.

This is the heat lamp that the chicks use. It has a ceramic bulb, therefore it puts off plenty of heat, without having a light. This is good for me because the heat lamp has to be on all the time (including night), and I don't think I'd be able to sleep well with a giant bright light in the corner of my room. The chicks spend most of their time under this light to soak in the heat. It is placed on top of the wiring (like I mentioned before, the plastic coating on the wiring does not melt), over the food area. Its placed here because the chicks spend most of their time eating anyways so I figured it was a good place. We originally bought a different heat lamp, as this one was for my Leopard Tortoise, Herbie, but we realized the other one was much hotter, and Herbie needed it instead of this one. Plus, the other one put off a bright red light. Also, this one is better for our chicks.

This is a space heater. I turn it on for the chicks every time we turn the Air Conditioning on. Its a Bionaire space heater that can go up to 85 degrees fahrenheit and down to 40 degrees fahrenheit.  This will be turned on with the heat lamp, because the heat lamp never goes off. (I'll turn it off if I see the chicks getting too hot, because they will lay down with their mouths open until I turn it off.). These chicks have to have a 90-95 degree temperature heater on them at all times. Why? I'm not quite sure, but I do know every week you lower 5 temperatures, until they can adjust to regular outdoor temperatures.



**This is Part One of the cage tour. Part Two will be posted tomorrow.**

If you were to do an outdoor chicken coop, you'd need to see something like this, because my cage tour is for an indoor chicken coop: http://youtu.be/ZGijP0XY8OQ

Affects of the chicks

I have officially come to the conclusion that Tweety is that more aggressive type of older sibling that just picks on his younger sibling ever single chance that he gets. Sylvester usually just takes it... He never tries to fight back or anything. He just gets harassed and is basically okay with it. For example, at about 12:30 am last night, Sylvester was really tired from a very long day, and wanted to sit under the heat lamp and sleep. So, he went and curled up and slowly but surely fell asleep. Tweety, minding his own business at the time, looked up and noticed Sylvester falling asleep. So, he got up and went over to his brother, pushed him, pecked at him, and kept bothering him until he woke up. Sylvester, being disheveled and confused, attempted to go back to sleep but Tweety refused to let him sleep He kept shoving and jumping all over him. Maybe its a normal chick thing to do but I thought it was pretty mean.

He likes to get in your face

I always write about what the chicks are doing and how they are, which is good, I guess, to explain their growth and see how their personalities flourish, but I never really explain how getting these chicks are really affecting me. Now I must change that. So.... I feel as if I have become more responsible, I have to make sure their food and water is full, and their heat lamp is on and at the right temperature. I also have to make sure their cage is clean and that they get a good amount of time outside of their cage so they that can run around and stuff.

Keeping the cage clean requires a lot of effort, even there you can tell all the stuff they've kicked into the water bowl (which of course I ended up changing afterwards)

Another way the chicks affect me, is I think I have gotten over my fear for chickens and hens. I have not necessarily gotten over my fear of roosters, as what happened to me when I was younger really traumatized me and I do not know how I'm going to ever get over that, but I'm a lot more okay with being in their presence now. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that they aren't all that scary (chickens, not roosters. Roosters are still absolutely terrifying to me.) My chicks are so cute, fluffy and innocent. I now see this type of behavior is  [almost] every single chicken, ever. If you know the saying "we are all children on the inside," this same thing applies for chicken too. Chicken are all cute little chicks on the inside.

They'll be full grown chickens sooner than later.... They grow up so fast :,(

In addition to both of those, I'm also starting to feel kind of annoyed by them being in my room. I  forgive them for being annoying and obnoxious because they're really cute and innocent, but they are starting to seriously get on my nerves. Last night when I was trying to fall asleep, they were as loud as they could be. They were perfectly quiet all evening until I tried sleeping. Of course Tweety was the main contributor to the loud sound, but alas it was them both... They always end up falling asleep eventually though. So that's good, I guess.

This person has a blog very similar to mine about raising chicks, you can see the comparison on how it affects her as well: http://trevorcairney.blogspot.com/2014/11/raising-chickens-power-of-experience.html

Conspiracy Theory: Miniature Godzillas??

So today has been quite crazy... It was my best friend's birthday, a pipe exploded and my house flooded, its 87 degrees in November, my new iPhone 6 came, and the chicks won't shut it. To resolve my issues: I got my friend a big shooting star balloon plus little mini bundt cakes that were super cute but probably taste terrible, the flood guy came and I think we have to take out all of the hard wood floor and replace it because it warped, Its hot outside and I wore shorts in the middle of november (weird right??), I have to call my dad's assistant or secretary person lady to set up my phone (the iPhone 6 is much bigger than I thought it would be but whatever), and finally, what this blog is all about, the chicks. I don't know how to make them shut up. Morning and night they're chirping away, never pausing for a second unless they fall asleep. If anyone who happens to be seeing this knows anything about raising chickens- HELP! How do I make them shut up for once? That sounds really harsh but they never stop tweeting! Its getting old fast, and its been only 3 days! (Or 2, I can't count).

Did I forget to mention they never sit still?

The chicks are growing very fast. Its unbelievable how much Tweety has grown in such a short time. I definitely wasn't expecting it. On top of their rapid growth, they literally eat everything in their path, everything. All they do is eat, peck at everything (which I guess can be classified as eating as well), drink, poop, poop again, sleep, and eat some more. Oh, they also tweet. A lot. Lots and lots of tweeting... Especially from Tweety, ironically. The reason I think they're like miniature godzillas is because of the rapid growth and destruction of all edible (or not edible) things around them, by the way.

My Miniature Godzillas

My chick's personalities are really starting to show. Sylvester, although needy, is the calm one. He's pretty chill and lets you do whatever you want with him. He's kind of like a rag doll, except much, much cuter. Maybe thats because he's younger, but I'm not quite sure. He eats more than Tweety does, but is less high maintenance. So yeah, he's a cool cat (or chick in this case...).

Sylvester <3

Tweety is, well, kind of obnoxious. Although he looks like the stereotypical, adorable little fluffy yellow chick, he can be a bit on the annoying side. His chirp is so much louder and he just never shuts up. He has a stronger personality, he's more of the leader, and Sylvester is a follower. Maybe its because he's older, but like I said before I don't know that for sure...

Tweety <3

To summarize this amazing (and definitely not rushed) blog:
1) Today was quite hectic
2) The chicks are very, very loud
3) They're growing fast, which means eating and sleeping a lot
4) Both Tweety and Sylvester's personalities are showing through quite a bit. Its like they have their own little pack, where Tweety is the leader and Sylvester is the follower
5) They're still extremely cute!

Have a happy...(what day is it)... Thursday!

Link to a video- this guy agrees his chicks are growing fast! I guess this is quite common. Mini godzillas I tell you! http://youtu.be/JbRGUECyGas

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

Even though these chicks are as cute as a button, they're a ton of work!
Their sleeping schedule is quite odd... They aren't nocturnal, but they don't really sleep that much in the night. They kind of sleep in portions throughout the whole day.
Last night, they kept me up until 2 am chirping away. I ended up waking up too late and had to miss first period! (Its okay though, because we had a sub today and my teacher already listed online what we were going to today, so I just did it at home really early in the morning.)
The younger one, Sylvester, (who, as of yesterday, was 3 or 4 days old) is quite needy. He/she/it sings his little songs all night, until he tires himself out and literally falls on his face. He will be sleeping while standing, then he will slowly fall forward and just collapse and fall sound asleep. Tweety, who is a week old, is not as needy, but is much, much louder. He/she/it also tends to collapse on his face when he sleeps. When I woke up and saw them I actually thought they were dead because I didn't know chicks slept like that so I kind of freaked out, but then I accidentally woke them up. I realized they weren't dead and I rejoiced. They are really light sleepers too. The sound of a pin dropping could wake them up!

See, when they sleep they look dead... but they aren't its okay

Update: I've concluded that Sylvester is secretly a penguin in disguise. He looks like a miniature penguin and acts the way a penguin would act (I actually do not know how penguins act but I can assume that it is much like Sylvester). Sylvester likes to lay oh his back and have me scratch his stomach. Its the most adorable thing in the world!

He/she will just lay like this at let me pet his/her tummy
(And I meant fell, not feel)

Tweety is much like a parrot or a canary... He likes to be near you and perched on either your hand, leg, shoulder, or whatever perch you have available for him to be on. He will go up to a super high spot (and by that I mean like a few inches to a foot, because in proportion to them, that is of high elevation) and jump off, attempting to fly. He usually ends up landing on his face because he cannot fly, at all, but its the thought that counts!

Terrible quality photo, but Tweety is in my hand just chillin'

In case you didn't know the back story of why they are named what they are, here it is. Tweety and Sylvester are in a popular cartoon called Looney Toons. Tweety is a bright yellow canary and Sylvester is the black and white [tuxedo] cat that is always trying to get to Tweety. I thought Tweety looked much like my bright yellow chick (hence why I named him Tweety) and his partner in crime, Sylvester looks more like the other chick I got, because of his dark colored back and light stomach and beak. Even though on the show, the two don't get along, my chicks are inseparable.

The original Sylvester and Tweety

Link to a short episode of Sylvester and Tweety:
http://youtu.be/mYhNljS5Sug

I got chicks!

After loads and loads of thought, I've finally decided for my special exotic animal to be chicks. Although they may not seem exotic to some, they are to me. Not once have I ever owned a pet bird or anything like that before! In addition, I've never had a baby animal. Yes, I do have dogs, but I got them from adulthood.
Another reason why getting chicks is so special to me, is because I am absolutely terrified of chickens. When I was maybe 7 or so, I was chased and attacked by a rooster named Sherbert. The damn thing tried to kill me! I was really small, and he was really big, and we happened to be almost the same size. I remember running around a parked car to try and avoid the rooster chasing after me. It jumped over the car and I screamed, and bolted to an area under a trampoline for protection. Sherbert  jumped on top of the trampoline and started pecking through to get me. Long story short, I hate chickens/roosters/hens/anything like that. They have something out for me I swear.
The ones that I got are teeny-tiny cute baby chickens. They seem harmless. I'm hoping that they are NOT secretly plotting to kill me like the rest of their kind. They're actually quite cute and I think I'm starting to like them.

They are so adorable

This is Tweety

To make sure this impacts/alters my life, I am keeping these chicks in my room and they are completely my responsibility. I have to feed them, change their bedding, keep their water full, make sure the heat lamp is on, etc. Its a lot of work. Day and night they are going to be with me in my room so I'm hoping they will actually let me sleep.

This is Sylvester

{The format of these blogs continue to confuse me... But I'll get the hang of it eventually.}

I feel like a horrible person. Thats probably because because I am... When we got the chicks, they put them in this little box. On the way home from getting them, my mom and I got hungry. We went to Carls Jr (which I never do but there was nothing else around). I got Chicken Tenders. I didn't have anywhere to eat them while we were driving, because I was holding the box. So, I ate the chicken tenders on the box of the chicks. I ate chicken on a box with chicken. I bet I was eating their great uncle james or something. I tormented them by eating their kind and there wasn't anything they could do about it. I'm sorry chicks.

My mom thought it was funny so she took a picture. That box underneath had the chicks in it...

Well... On that promising note I'll leave you with a video of the chicks drinking water. If you've never seen a chick drinking water before, then you have been missing out at life. Its so adorable,  I didn't know chicks drank like that. (The video of my chicks drinking isn't uploading correctly, but this is video is equivalent to they way they do it so its ok.) NOTE: THESE ARE NOT MY CHICKS IN THIS PARTICULAR VIDEO ONLY, AND I DON'T KNOW WHOSE CHICKS THEY ARE. ALL RIGHTS GO TO THIS CHICK OWNER: http://youtu.be/eXThQ4I4MG4

Also, heres a link to the Carls Jr. Menu, and let me know what your favorite thing to get it because I am the more indecisive person on the planet, which is why I got the Chicken tenders: http://www.carlsjr.com/menu/nutritional_calculator_landing