First Eggs

After nineteen and a half weeks my son found two eggs in the chicken coop.

Each breed of chicken has a different average time from birth to the day they lay their first egg. Of our thirteen chickens, my son said the white leghorns would be the first to produce eggs. He was right! He could tell because the first eggs he found were white and White Leghorn chickens lay white eggs. Prior to finding eggs, he had been searching the coop for a few weeks, then on August 7th he found not just one, but two eggs in the coop.

The day he found the eggs, the leghorns were making very strange noises and one was digging like crazy in the pine shavings. After only three additional weeks we were getting around five eggs per day from our flock of thirteen chickens. He sometimes finds them in the nest boxes, sometimes in their roost area and sometimes even on top of the water dispenser. Now every day is like an Easter Egg hunt for my son.

The Move Outside

The chickens moved outside.

When chickens are about eight weeks old, and the weather is above 70 degrees during the day they are big enough to move outside. I was ready for the chicks to move. When they first were placed in the bath tub they were no problem. The cute little chicks peeped around all day. At night we could sometimes hear them, but with the door to the bathroom closed they were no louder than birds in the morning and the older they got the more they settled down during dark hours.

As the got older there were two minor issues having them in the bathroom. When their downy feathers turned to chicken feathers the dust storm in the bathroom was intense. We placed an air purifier in the bathroom and kept everything closed. All the counters and surfaces were wiped down every three days or so as they were covered in dust. Once they were about six weeks old we stopped using the bathroom and shared with the kids. The dust was just too intense.

Baby chicks don't smell. But six week old chickens do. Once they hit the six week mark the smell intensified. Although it was never terribly gross, it was a sign they were ready to move onto bigger and better places. Outside, they would have more space, and fresh air. They were almost ready.

They day they turned six weeks, my son brought his cage to the bathroom and caught each one. Did you know chickens can be difficult to catch even when they are confined to a small space like a bathroom?

He eventually got them all including the grey araucana who did not want to leave.

Building Nest Boxes

My son built next boxes.

Nest boxes provide a place for chickens to lay eggs. The hope is that they will lay in the box making the eggs easy to find. Nest boxes are like small private rooms for the chickens to have a little peace while laying. They should be placed in the darkest and quietest area of the coop and can be made from almost anything. There are numerous images on Pinterest of nest boxes.

We had an old pallet at home, so my son disassembled the pallet and used the wood to build some nest boxes.

Around 3-4 chickens can share one nest box. Since we have 13 chickens, my son planned to build 4 nest boxes. It was yet another opportunity for him to build something useful.

Check out these great blog hops for more educational kid activities.

Brooder Temperature - Science Fair

The temperature in the brooder was lowered each week.

Newborn chicks need the temperature to be around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. As they grow, the temperature can be lowered by 5 degrees each week until the brooder temperature matches the outside air temperature. Once they are around eight weeks they can regulate their body temperatures, their immune systems are stronger and they can move outdoors.


Our heat lamp was mounted with a wire attached to a beam over the tub. To change the temperature in the tub, the heat lamp was raised or lowered. Each time this was done I thought it would make a perfect science fair experiment. "How does the height of a heat lamp correspond to temperature?"

 It was tricky to adjust the lamp properly. Sometimes when it was lowered the temperature would change by 10 degrees. At one point, there was a shoe box under the lamp containing a weak chick which changed the way the heat was distributed. Another time the heat lamp bulb died and had to be replaced. The new bulb was a different wattage than the first bulb and the calibration process had to begin again. At night time the outside air dropped enough to change the temperature inside the tub. Eventually my son learned to change the length of the wire in 1 inch increments to arrive at the desired temperature.

So reading and adjusting temperature was another application which provided a hands-on learning opportunity experienced all because my son got chickens.

Brooder Cover for Chicks

The chicks can fly.

When the chicks were about two weeks old their wing feathers began to develop. The photo of the chick above shows a combination of down and a few wing feathers. As soon as the feathers began to develop, the chicks began trying them out. The would zoom across the tub gaining an inch of elevation. That same day we noticed them eyeing the top of the water and feeder.

The next day they were up on top.

 The following day they got a cover. This was another quick construction project for my son to practice his cutting and hammering skills, but also taught him a lesson in chick behavior.

 I love how this experience has contained such a variety of educational opportunities. In addition to building, caring for and watching the chicks grow, my son has been writing about the experience. Here is a link to his blog - Team Chicken - It would be wonderful if you stopped by and left him a comment to encourage him. - Thank You

Learning Responsibility: Baby Chicks are a Lot of Work

My responsible son is learning to be even more responsible.

He thought raising chicks would be easy. After all, he has been taking care of the neighbor's two chickens for months and all he has to do is gather eggs and make sure the water isn't frozen. Therefore, he was shocked when he got his own baby chicks.

Making sure the chicks had clean bedding was a big job. At first he tried to scoop the poop but found the bedding was saturated with small droppings throughout. Therefore, once or twice each week he changed the pine shaving.

One common problem with chicks is a condition called pasty butt. Basically, if the poo sticks to their butts instead of falling off it can make them very sick. Although it typically happens when chicks are stressed or living in overcrowded conditions, my son caught and checked each chick every morning. Since they recovered from their initial journey, they were fast and difficult to catch so this simple task took him around an hour. Not only did it take a long time, but it was difficult to identify and remember which chicks had been checked. After a few days of catching and checking chicks without any issues, he decided he would just try to look at each one as they ran around.

 Initially, there were no issues with the pine shavings. However, as the chicks got bigger, they would kick more shavings up into the air as they scratched. These flying shavings often landed in their water. My son's cute little chicks trashed their water so badly that he had to change it over five times each day.

Can you see the piece of wood under the water? The wood enabled him to go back to changing the water only once per day.


Chicks are animals, and animals tend to be dirty. They don't take care of themselves. In addition to these jobs, my son also had to keep the bathroom clean. As the chicks down turned into feathers and they grew the bathroom filled with more and more dust which required wiping down two to three times per week.

He did a wonderful job caring for the chicks and we are so proud.

Chickens: Pine Shavings

The chickens got pine shavings.

Once all the chickens knew where their food and water were my son poured pine shavings over the layer of paper inside the tub.

 The chickens loved it and started scratching immediately.

Chickens Arrive

After over two years of waiting, my son finally got his chickens.

What should have been a very happy moment ended up being a bit bittersweet and a huge learning experience. It is a very common practice for companies to ship newly hatched chicks. Since my son wanted specific breeds of chicks, my husband and son decided to order chicks from the internet. Unfortunately, the night they were shipped was about 38 degrees Fahrenheit. We suspected nothing when picking up a noisy package from the post office, but when my son opened the box, three chicks had already passed.

I was quite upset. There was no heat source and the surviving chicks were huddled together. I still don't understand how they could send the chicks off knowing the meteorologists had predicted a very cold night. So a difficult learning experience......... Don't order chicks through the internet before the weather is warm.

One-by-one, my son picked up each of the surviving chicks and dipped their beaks in water to teach them how to drink. Then they were placed under the heat lamp.

 They were slow for a while as they all must have been way too cold.

 They huddled together for a while to help stay warm.

Then fairly quickly they began behaving like true chicks - pooping and eating, eating and pooping.

Unfortunately, two more chicks of the original 13 passed away over the next two days. It was a very difficult lesson in the facts of life that none of us expect to experience so soon during this adventure. There were tears and we were all unsure as to whether we were doing the right thing.

 Because we had lost so many chicks, we wanted a few more to fill the coop, so this time we purchased chicks at a local store. They were cheaper, looked healthier and I think about a week older then the chicks we already had at home.

They were different breeds than we had hoped for, but are still cute chickens who are known for laying lots of eggs. We are quite happy with the new comers.

Preparing for Chicks

A brooder is a space dedicated to raising young birds. Before our chickens arrived, my son prepared the brooder.

The large tub in the master bathroom finally had a use. It would serve as the chick brooder until the chicks grew old enough to survive outdoors. The base of the tub was covered with paper and the water outlets and drain were covered with cardboard so the chicks couldn't get into them.

Before the chicks arrived the brooder was prepared by purchasing feed, pine shavings, chick grit (little rocks for them to eat to help them digest their food), food and water feeders and a heat lamp.

Newborn chicks need air temperatures around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Each week the temperature can be lowered by five degrees until they are eight weeks old. Then they can be moved outdoors. A heat lamp was hung above the tub on a wire which could be shortened or lengthened to adjust the temperature.

Dog House to Chicken Coop

My husband and son modified a dog house into a chicken coop.

From planning, to hammering, to using a saw; my son learned so much from this project This minor construction job enabled my son to experience all the steps involved in a construction project. They began with measuring and modeling, worked up material cost estimates, purchased materials, and then cut, hammered and installed materials.

Once the model was complete and the snow melted, construction, or rather demolition began.  The picture above shows the storage area. The floor of the storage area as well as the wall to the left was ripped out.

 Several boards were cut away to enlarge the door.

The inside area was much larger with the walls removed.

A list of materials was created before beginning construction.

 Tools were gathered.

 Insulation was placed on all interior walls.

 Two holes were cut in the roof and filled with vents.

Can you see the roof vent?