The other day I went to Paula’s house to check on the five chicks she is babysitting. One chick’s vent was closed with poop so I took the time to clean it off. I know this sounds disgusting, but when you are responsible for pets you tend to overlook the gross part of taking care of them. For those of you who are not chicken savvy, chickens have one vent or opening through which poop and eggs come out. The bird will die if this opening ever gets sealed off either by an egg that gets stuck or poop.
The birds’ sex organs are not on the outside of their body so hatcheries hire experts to determine the sex of day old chicks before they are shipped to the stores. They look at coloring in some cases. The staff at Concord Feed told me that 95% of their chicks are females. I cannot return the chicks so if I end up with any cocks, I will have to find homes for them on Craigslist as Pleasant Hill does not allow you to raise roosters. Paula is pretty sure that her Production Red chick is a rooster. It is a very colorful bird, totally unlike my Production Red. We will wait a few more weeks before we do anything about this.
No comments:
Post a Comment