YEAH BABY!Chicks arrived this morning and are doing well. I'm glad we got things set up last weekend since we got to work out at least a few of the snafus. The chicks were pretty active from the beginning - learning to drink and eat immediately. My daughter (and wife for that matter) were beside themselves with excitement as the chicks came in.
The birds here are happy to be at 100 degrees after 2 days in various USPS trucks and buildings from Missouri to Wisconsin.

Here the birds are roaming around. Note that they are pretty spread out which is a sign of good heat distribution.

If the area under the lamp is too hot they will scatter to outside the light circle, and if it is too cold they will cluster in the middle. I think the distribution indicates they are pretty happy with the temperature. The big red plastic container has chick feed, and the white container on the left has warm sugar/electrolyte water in it. We have a few other saucers out for them - 2 with water and one with egg yolk.
Here is a birds-eye view of the whole situation. I
am my father's son which means that I am drawn to puns. A small weakness (peccadillo).

The chicks really require the most care on the first day. Starting tomorrow, there will be much less monitoring and fussing. I'll start raising the lamp - by the end of the week, the area under the lamp will be ~ 90 degrees. Then over the next week I'll probably let them sit at 90, before replacing the 250 W bulb with a regular 100 watt bulb and lowering the lamp down again so that it is about 80-85 degrees under the lamp. By the end of three weeks, I plan to have them at about 75, which is faster than Cackle hatchery recommends, but ok according to my friends who raise birds.
BTW, thumbs up for Cackle hatchery - great looking birds, professional service, and low prices.
I'll add a post on
things I'd do differently in a few days, and give some updates on the birds.