Chick Update

We lost one chick the first night. It drowned in the water bowl. We had gotten a one gallon feeder and it took up quite alot of room. That meant that the heat light warmed the water and the little chick got into the bowl of it to get warm. We have since figured out the heating situation.
The first morning after we got them Jeff found the one dead in the water dish and 2 other ones that weren't doing too well. They were soaking wet as if they had been in the water dish as well. He held them under the light for about 10 minutes and got them warm again. When they started trying to get out of his hand he set them down. I checked on them a couple of hours later and they were not doing well at all. They had HUGE lump on the sides of their necks and were really weak. I separated them from the others since I didn't know what was wrong with them. I put them in the box they originally came in after warming them up. Then I set the box under the heat lamp hoping they would bounce back. But they didn't. I felt so bad. I really hate it when something dies like that. I just felt helpless and didn't know what to do.
After that, I took all the babies and put them in one tub and took the other one and bleached it out and then went and bought them a different waterer and feeder that didn't take  up as much room. By doing this i was able to put them all in one tub. But in just the few days that we have had them they have already grown so much! By the weekend we will have to divide them back into 2 tubs again or build something bigger for them.
We had bought a thermometer to put in there and I finally figured out a way to hang it in the tub. It is really cute to see them with that thing. They will walk by and stop in front of it and peck it a couple of times and take off running. There's also a piece of fishing line dangling that I used to hang it with and they will peck at that too.
The new waterer I bought was a quart size and I have to put 2 of them in the tub with them because they drink so much but the tray is too small to get into. It's more work for me but that's ok as long as I don't lose anymore of the babies. I also got them a new feeder that looks like an aluminum hotdog tray holder. It has a lid with holes in it that they get to the feed. They have all learned how to jump on top of it and several of them are roosting on it each time I go on.
I think if I divide them again or we build them something i will put more things in there for them to "play" with or at least to learn to roost.
On todays schedule for me was getting the information for the signs for the farm. We have my aunt Cathy making the signs and designing our logo. She is almost finished with and it looks fantastic!! Since we were zoned into the city limits we have to follow their rules for the sign dimensions and placement. We can have a sign by the highway that is a maximum of 32 square feet and the top of the sign can be no higher than 8 feet from the ground. It also has to be 12 feet away from the right of way. That is a huge pain because we have a state right of way of 130 feet frmo the highway. We can also have a sign on the market itsself and we have decided 2 foot by 8 foot will be fine for what we need. The part that gets me is that we have to follow the rules of the town and pay them $75 for the sign permit but then we also have to pay the county $50 for a sign permit. If we want to have the sign lighted we will have to pay the county an additional $50 for that along with getting an another electrical permit for it and then pay the electrician to run the wiring out there to it. Money Money Money!!!
Tomorrow i will hopefully be able to get some plants out the greenhouse and into the ground. My lettuce is shriveling up in the greenhouse. I was so worried about it that I place it on the cabbage table outside so that it get acclimated to those conditions. Plus, i was hoping the cool night air might revive them. I've got plants that need cooling off and chicks that need warming up(UGH). Tomorrow I am also hoping to get some more seeds sown. I finally picked out the 4 pots that are going to hold the Clematis that we are going to have growing up the posts in the front of the market. So I need to get those fixed and ready to go.
I am so hoping to be able to get my hands dirty tomorrow instead of spending the day on the highway. I will try to take more pics of the chicks so you can see how they are growing.