Our new chicks have first-class accommodations here at Hilltop House. Chicks are very sensitive to cold and nature intended them to stay with their mothers who would transfer her body heat to them. When you buy a passel of chicks in early November in particular, you could have a rather long time of babying them to make sure they stay healthy.
Frederick's suggestion was that our current batch of six hens could be their mamas. I tried to explain that they likely have other interests. We could have also opted to keep them in the bathtub for a few days under a heat lamp. This is what we did with the first batch of chicks in my household growing up. They literally lived in the bathtub for a couple of days until their accommodations were ready. I have found memories of the chicks in the bathtub but I was about seven years old. Thirty years later, I am much less impressed.
What we opted to do was move a large chicken cage inside, fill it with leaves, put a lamp on top, and cover the whole business with a blanket and towels. It looks terrible but we have a very large house and anyone bothered by the zoo inside our house can go into other rooms. My son checks them throughout the day so they serve a bit of a role in providing child care. And anyone worried about the possible house fire due to the blankets over the lamp-it has crossed my mind as well. Various connectors don't touch the blankets so our risk is reduced somewhat.
As these chicks become chickens, they will provide us with our own source of free-range eggs, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. The eggs are nature's own depression-busting foods, good for breakfast, good in casseroles, and exceptional in dessert. Read my article on Omega-3s and eggs.
