A Delivery of Brand New Baby Chicks!
Today on my television show, we’re celebrating Earth Day. The very first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22nd in 1970 and 20-million people came together to protest environmental destruction and raise awareness for a healthier, more sustainable planet. Since then, Earth Day has grown to be an annual global event with one billion people around the world joining together to draw attention to the environmental issues we face today. One of my guests on the show is Traci Torres, founder of My Pet Chicken, making her second appearance. My Pet Chicken offers advice and tools to urban and backyard chicken owners and she wanted to explain to us all of the “green” benefits of keeping chickens, as well as what you need to know and have to keep a backyard coop. She also brought me a special gift of 38 rare breed baby chicks including Black Silkies, Blue Silkies, White Silkies, Buff Brahma Bantams, Black Copper Maran, Blue Splash Maran, and Partridge Penedesenca. Who doesn’t love a baby chick?
1 After appearing on my television show, Traci Torres from My Pet Chicken, drove with this peeping box of chicks from New York City to my farm.
2 This beautiful flock of chicks was one-week old upon delivery.
3 Traci brought a brand new breed that My Pet Chicken will be carrying next year called Cream Legbar - It is a blue egg laying variety originally from England.
4 The Cream Legbar is an autosexing type of chicken, which means that it's fairly easy to determine the sex of the chick at birth. The males have a pale dot on their heads, while the females have a brown stripe, like this one.
5 Cream Legbars were developed in the 1930s, but because there are so few people breeding them, these chicks are presently hard to come by - a real rare chick!
6 This little one is a Black Copper Maran, a rare and fascinating breed producing one of the darkest chocolate-brown eggs known.
7 This sweet little chick is a Blue Splash Maran, which also lays dark brown eggs.
8 An adorable White Silkie chick, a white egg layer.
9 Chickens are relatively easy pets to own, but they do require regular care and commitment.
10 Baby chicks can be purchased from My Pet Chicken, your local feed store, or other online resources. The chicks will be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service, just as they have been for more than 100 years.
11 Raising chickens has become extremely popular. Traci explained that when she started her business 6 years ago, the most popular breeds would have a 5-week waiting list, and now her most popular breeds are sold out for the entire year by January!
12 Chickens are fun to raise and when people see their neighbors having success, they feel compelled to have their own flock.
13 Plus, there's nothing like eating your own fresh, organic eggs. Backyard eggs taste better than commercial eggs and they're much more nutritious, too. They're lower in cholesterol and saturated fat and are up to 7 times higher in Vitamin A, E, D and beta carotene!
14 Chhiring carried the box of chicks into a specially prepared hen house. This is one of four chicken coops in the chicken yard.
15 The floor was lined with newspaper, the chick feeders filled with organic feed, the water feeders filled, and heat lamps in place.
16 One-by-one, Chhiring very gently dipped the chicks' beaks into the water so that they would know where to find a drink.
17 After their initiation at the watering hole, the chicks quickly found their food. They were hungry after a long day on television and being on the road!
18 These little chicks will eat, drink, and run around for 4 to 6 months before they start laying eggs. When they do start laying, the eggs are small and grow larger as the pullet, or young chicken, grows larger.
19 There's so much joy in growing your own food and so much satisfaction in knowing where your food comes from.
20 If you think you may be interested in raising chickens, research your town’s zoning regulations first. You wouldn't want to fall in love with a new flock only to find out afterwards that your town won't allow it.
21 And spend some time reading about what's involved in raising chickens to make sure it's a good fit for you and your family.
22 You'll also need a predator-proof coop to protect your chickens at night. The coop will be your biggest investment. Traci tells her customers to plan on about $500 to get started.
23 A visit to the chicks three days later
24 Some very curious hens were sitting on the stoop right outside the house where the chicks are.
25 The chicks seem very happy in their cardboard surround. These interlocking double-walled cardboard panels protect the flock from drafts and are tall enough, making it difficult for the chicks to jump out.
26 The red heat lamps are important for heat, of course, but they also cast a red glow. Chickens are drawn to red and will peck a chicken raw if it's bleeding at all. The red glow makes it difficult for them to see blood.
27 The chicks are eating well and seem strong and healthy.
28 There are more than 400 breeds and varieties of chickens, from tiny to quite large.
29 Some breeds are geared toward cold climates, some toward hot climates, and some are meant to be just pets!
30 At My Pet Chicken, http://www.mypetchicken.com/ you can find a chicken breed calculator to help beginners determine which breed is best for them.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
Happy Earth Day.
Posted by: ann | April 20th, 2012 at 1:42 am
Martha, will you please do a follow-up blog post that shows what the chicks look like when they are full grown? Will you show us their egg colors too? I would particularly like to see the blue and dark brown eggs. Is it possible to only have one chicken? Why do you have to have a flock? I've read that it is hard to keep up with their production so one would seem to be enough for a family, wouldn't it? Why do they peck other chickens if they are wounded and bleeding? It's like bullying in the animal world!
Posted by: Karen | April 20th, 2012 at 5:50 am
Hello, Martha, what an adorable blog posting. Here is a link I shared a few months ago that is from The Fancy Farmgirl Blog. It shows her Designer Coop...just precious and shabby chic surrounding for her cool chickens. http://www.thefancyfarmgirl.com/heres-the-coop/
I am so surprised that delivery of the chicks by US Postal Service! Glad you mentioned that it is a 100 year tradition...guess the chicks don't mind.
Posted by: Sandra McCurry Chitty | April 20th, 2012 at 6:16 am
So sweet and precious! It makes me miss our hens so much! I think that's the thing I miss most about moving from the country. I do hope you will show us what they look like as they mature!
Posted by: Jennifer | April 20th, 2012 at 6:40 am
Hi Martha,
Those baby chicks are cute. Can't wait to see them when they are all grown up. I have to say that I have tasted eggs from your farm and I have never seen eggs whose yolk has such a rich vibrant color as yours. And, they taste soooo soooo good.
Karen
Posted by: Karen Tracy | April 20th, 2012 at 6:56 am
Hi Martha,
Those baby chicks are sooo cute. Happy Earth day, I can't wait to watch your show online. Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | April 20th, 2012 at 7:30 am
What a fun post Martha. It's very trendy now to have backyard chickens, look what you've started! The chicks are very sweet, in picture #11, how cute is that one chick with it's wing around another chick! Looking forward to your Earth Day show today and I am beyond excited about your new cooking show on PBS this fall! Have a great weekend everyone!
Posted by: Cindy F | April 20th, 2012 at 7:52 am
The different breeds are interesting. You're making it hard for me to be patient until I'm ready and not run out and get chickens now.
Posted by: Julie | April 20th, 2012 at 7:59 am
Hi Martha,
I think we’ve seen at least two shows of yours on baby chicks. You walked around the chicken coop with the little chicks scurrying around your feet and then you showed us how each one needed to be shown where the water was. I thought that was so cute and it still is. I would call you an expert at raising chickens and apparently Traci Torres agrees or she wouldn’t have given you 38 of her precious little babies. Happy Earth Day which I think is something we should celebrate every day with ‘Good morning and Happy Earth Day’! Enjoy your babies and I look forward to watching the show. Trish
Posted by: Trish | April 20th, 2012 at 8:56 am
Hi Martha - I just wanted to say that I love, love, love your blog! I've been reading your blog everyday for over 2 years and it's something I look forward to every morning. I especially enjoy the pictures of your farm and Skylands (and I will be in Bar Harbor the last week of May!). Thank you for sharing your life with us and for providing continued inspiration - keep up the great work!
Posted by: Walter | April 20th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Hi Martha, I remember seeing you on your original TV Show getting some baby chicks and preparing them all in your chicken coop in Westport, Conn.! How fun to see this delightful new bunch of baby chicks from Traci Torres who will be on your TV Show today! Her website is awesome and I know your TV Show will be, also! These photos are just darling and the 38 baby chicks are so cute! How great to see Chhring being so careful handling those baby chicks! That wonderful chicken coop sure is a great place to get them started and will love to see them as they mature! I'll bet your delightful hens will enjoy them, too! Thanks for the 4 terrific tweet you gave us this early morning! I do love your blog, The Daily Wag, your TV Shows, The Everyday Food show on PBS where your New Show will be this fall, seeing your beautiful Bedford farm and everything else you do for us! It did rain another half inch here near Puget Sound and will rain more today-sure hope your rain dance works and you get some rain Saturday! Hope you have a great day and a WET weekend! Off to see F,S,&GK doing more exploring in Newport, Rhode Island!!! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | April 20th, 2012 at 9:54 am
Oh these chicks are just beautiful.... sure hope your photographer has gone and taken pictures of each breed as they grow. I am looking forward to an in depth article about this breeds .... with photographs .....
Posted by: Susan | April 20th, 2012 at 11:54 am
http://www.mypetchicken.com is the best site for info on raising backyard chickens. This site has helped me survive raising chicks up to my year old 4 Ednas - a flock of 2 Barred Plymouth Rocks, a Rhode Island Red and a Buff Orpington.
Posted by: Debra Nelson Luraas | April 20th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Thanks so much for the posting and show. I'm picking up 2 Silkie chicks myself tomorrow and after seeing these photos I really can't wait! I've raised chickens for 5 years now and I'm still just as crazy and excited about them today as I was in the beginning. They're just so cute, cuddly and fun!
Posted by: Janice | April 20th, 2012 at 2:31 pm
Martha,
Loved the new little chicks. We have 7 hens and one very rude rooster. We get 6-7 eggs a day from our little bunch and I have begun freezing the excess. They make wonderful scrambled eggs, very fluffy. I did not know that raising your own makes the eggs healthier and never considered what might be added to their feed. I would like to add some new chicks that would lay different coloured eggs, ours lay brown but occasionally they go from cream to a speckled. We made cascarrones from the shells of the eggs I freeze for Easter and that was a great success. What would be the best place for info to keep our little process going? When would we introduce new chicks and from one of the above notes, why do they peck some of the hens until their feathers come out? We have two in that condition and I keep wanting to protect them but don't know how. Thanks so much.
Posted by: Barbara Wilkins | April 20th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Glad to hear that you are going to be on PBS. I haven't been able to watch your show since you changed to Hallmark. But hopefully when on PBS I will be able to watch your shows again.
Posted by: Caroline | April 20th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
They are beautiful, Martha. Enjoy!
Posted by: Therese Marie Gaudet | April 20th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
I love, My Pet chickens, because I can get hens without roosters. But my comment is really about how Martha told us that with all the money she has put into her chickens, her eggs should be $10. a dozen, joking. But then she said, no it is really important, to be green & organic. Please,most of us in the real world are having trouble buying a dozen eggs at $2.00. This going green is made up. I was 16 yrs old arguing with my father to turn off the lights, he disregarded me because he knew the truth. I was mad at him at the time, but now I know he was right. Its 40 yrs later & we are in the same spot we were back then, even worse. Going Green is a trick to keep us under their thumbs, or we would all have green homes right now. They do not want is off the grid, or they lose control of us.
Posted by: Debbie | April 20th, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Hello Martha, I am just now getting a chance to watch today's show. You are so wonderful with those baby chicks. Hoping you will continue to show their progress on your farm. Also, thank you for all you do!
Look forward to you every day Martha,
Carla De La Cruz
Posted by: CarlaFromTexas | April 20th, 2012 at 9:02 pm
The baby chicks are so sweet!
I'm getting chickens for the first time this year and I can't wait. My husdand and I are in the process of building a coop now.
We aren't supposed to keep chickens in our city For a small city in the Napa Valley, CA - you'd think we might be more "green" than that! People keep them here anyway. Soon I'll be one of them...
Posted by: Tracy | April 21st, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Hi Martha! I wanted to thank you for coming to the Home Depot in Collierville, TN this a.m. I so enjoyed your presentation. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for the gift card to Home Depot. I would love to have a copy of our picture together if possible! Love, Audrea Taylor
P.S. Pat Kerr Tigrett is a family friend. I have a copy of the Weddings book you spoke of this morning with you on the cover in one of her gorgeous designer gowns!!!
Posted by: Audrea Taylor | April 21st, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Fantastic blog post, Martha! Traci and Derek from MPC are my heroes; they have been most supportive in helping my daughter and I develop our flock of chickens. They are a wealth of information and truly care about their customers.
Our "girls" are beloved pets, and give us countless hours of entertainment as well as the joy of delicious, fresh, organic eggs to enjoy for breakfast. We love sharing the joys and mishaps of chicken keeping and other adventures in sustainable backyard farming on our blog too, "Simply Chicks."
I admire that you have added so many colorful, exotic varieties to your flock. I am looking forward to the Cream Legbars becoming available, as the auto-sexing helps to ensure we definitely have a hen.... hoping to get a couple of these chicks next year! Keep on blogging!
Cheers!
Liz
Posted by: Elizabeth Beller | April 22nd, 2012 at 6:30 am
You're going to love those Partridge Penedesencas! They're my new favorite breed! They are awesome foragers (my chickens are free range), they're pretty, and their large terracotta eggs are just gorgeous!
Posted by: Wendy Fiddler | April 22nd, 2012 at 7:49 am
Martha,
Please let your viewers know that yes baby chicks are cute as can be but do require work. I find that any time a celeb gets a new animal people run out and buy them without putting thought into the future of these creatures. As a celeb its your responsibility to let your fans know that they are not just cute knick knacks,and that everyone should do some serious research into the care and raising of any living being before taking them in. In the end its always the animals that suffer when due care is not taken ahead of time.
Thank you and please post
Posted by: Terri Cade | April 22nd, 2012 at 9:24 am
Some cities allow 3 chickens,but no rooster,because their crowing would disturb the peace.Minneapolis.MN doesso do many smaller towns.
One is not enough,what if you want to make a cake or even an omelet ?
Mary~
Posted by: Mary | April 22nd, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Awwwww.. Cuteness overload! They are so sweet and so many different varieties. I loved this post!
Posted by: Judy | April 23rd, 2012 at 11:22 am
I love your shows, and the beauty of life you and the show represents.The care that you give the land and the animals; which I love! Thank you. No one has come close to what you have shown us in America...
Posted by: Lois Howe | April 24th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Which coop was pictured in the segment that had a little section for growing plants on the side? I love the combo idea and was already thinking about combining our chicken coop with a green house section and a sugar shack!!
Posted by: Tammy | April 25th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
How about a Hobbit Hole chicken coop from a Maine family business? http://www.wooden-wonders.com/products Look us up the next time you're in Maine!
Posted by: Melissa | May 6th, 2012 at 12:13 am
I was wondering the nutrition content of a Black Copper Maran eggs. Does it have more nutrition than a Rhode Island Red egg? Does free range eggs have more nutrition?
Thank you!!!
Posted by: Dollie Davis | July 27th, 2012 at 1:52 pm
I can't help but notice the newspaper on the floor, aren't you concerned about spraddle leg (aka: splay leg) in your chicks? Experts generally recommend against newspaper on the floor of the brooder as it can cause leg deformities that can lead to death if not corrected.
Posted by: Kathy Shea Mormino | September 19th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Newspaper is a bad thing to put baby chicks on because it is too slippery. They will end up with spradleleg if it is not changed . I recommend pine shavings or rice hull.
Posted by: Liza G | September 19th, 2012 at 1:46 pm
Noticed that your brooder is lined with newspaper. Hopefully that was just temporary and that wood shavings were later put in so that the babies don't develop spraddle-leg on the slippery floor. Also, it looks like your heat lamps are suspended by just their cords. Definitely a good idea, if you are going to use heat lamps, to make sure they are attached in multiple ways so prevent accidents. When I used heat lamps I used the cords plus I would tie the clamp to something as well as a back-up.
Now I got rid of the heat lamps altogether due to the fire hazard and replaced them with these:
http://www.brinsea.com/prod-EcoGlow_Chick_Brooder-239.aspx
Much safer and a more natural way to raise the chicks. I've had fewer problems with heat-related issues such as their vents getting pasted over.
Still, nice to see a respected celebrity embracing backyard chicken ownership and maybe encouraging others to get a few hens to provide their family with fresh eggs.
Posted by: Cynthia Wickliffe | September 19th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Quite a wonderful flock, and a beautiful range of egg colors once they all start laying.
Posted by: Rudy | November 8th, 2012 at 7:17 pm