How long are they super fragile?

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DreamsInPink

DreamsInPink

Songster
5 Years
Feb 25, 2016
591
22
136
Salt Fork Lake Region, Ohio
I am only asking because I just read a board saying a couple of their 3 week olds died. It kind of worried me. I thought after a couple weeks they'd be a little hardier... (mine will be 2 weeks tomorrow)

I had them on electrolytes in their water until yesterday. Do I need to buy more?

I also just moved them into a new, bigger brooder tonight. Will that stress them??

What do I need to do to keep them safe and healthy??

Thank you!
 
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Chicks get stronger by the day, but there's no guarantee. There's no reason not to give them electrolytes, but thats up to you.

Moving to a new bigger brooder will likely excite them, not stress them although i would think that maybe moving them during the day, where they get a little used to their their new surroundings may be better IMO (but it may make no difference whatever).

Chicks simply need clean water, food, a source of warmth and access to grit in some form or other - a sod of grass with the soil attached to the roots will be a good source of grit for them. Putting a couple of perches in the brooder will also be good for them.

Al the best
CT
 
Do they seem otherwise healthy now? If so, no more electrolytes needed.

Moving to a new brooder is a change, and change is a stress. Just monitor them. They may have one or two loose stools. Don't panic. A bigger brooder is a positive stress, designed to reduce negative stress. They'll adjust.
 
CTKen said:
Chicks simply need clean water, food, a source of warmth and access to grit in some form or other - a sod of grass with the soil attached to the roots will be a good source of grit for them.
Click to expand...


If they are being feed a commercial chick feed that has already been ground up (as chick mash is) they have little use for grit at this early of an age...

Warmth, water and food, and then you just have to let nature take it's course, not all will live... But, you can increase the odds by keeping the cage clean and providing a medicated feed that will slow cocci down and give them a chance to build up some immunity...
 
CTKen said:
Agreed re: grit and feed, but having read a number of threads recently, some members like to provide "treats" and hence the suggestion.

CT
Click to expand...


I agree if you feed treats you should absolutely provide grit, but one the other hand if you are keeping the birds in a mostly 'clean' brooder, a sod of grass from outdoors could introduce unwanted parasites and bacteria, best to simply give them some sand or commercial insoluble grit at that age, unless they are free ranging already and thus already exposed to stuff...
 
MeepBeep said:
I agree if you feed treats you should absolutely provide grit, but one the other hand if you are keeping the birds in a mostly 'clean' brooder, a sod of grass from outdoors could introduce unwanted parasites and bacteria, best to simply give them some sand or commercial insoluble grit at that age, unless they are free ranging already and thus already exposed to stuff...
Click to expand...


I think the idea of providing them with a chunk of dirt is to expose them to the ground (and its microscopic inhabitants) that they will eventually be living on. Doing it in a smaller "dose" now will stimulate the immune system sort of like a vaccine, making them more resistant to the larger dose they'll receive when they move out of the brooder permanently. It's actually a really good idea if you time it so that the chicks are otherwise healthy and immunocompetent.
 
Jensownzoo said:
MeepBeep said:
I agree if you feed treats you should absolutely provide grit, but one the other hand if you are keeping the birds in a mostly 'clean' brooder, a sod of grass from outdoors could introduce unwanted parasites and bacteria, best to simply give them some sand or commercial insoluble grit at that age, unless they are free ranging already and thus already exposed to stuff...
Click to expand...


I think the idea of providing them with a chunk of dirt is to expose them to the ground (and its microscopic inhabitants) that they will eventually be living on. Doing it in a smaller "dose" now will stimulate the immune system sort of like a vaccine, making them more resistant to the larger dose they'll receive when they move out of the brooder permanently. It's actually a really good idea if you time it so that the chicks are otherwise healthy and immunocompetent.
Click to expand...


Although what you said could be true, it's a balancing act... The term "smaller dose" that you use is not directly quantitative in this respect as a 'small' piece of sod could in fact have a huge and potentially lethal dose of bacterial or parasites in it just as well as it could have a small dose that would allow the chick to build up immunity, you just never know... A chick born and raised outside it going to be exposed to stuff day one, while an 'indoor' chick in a brooder isn't, I'm not against introducing reared indoor birds to nasties under semi-controlled situations but anytime you do this you run a risk...

Bio contamination can result from very small things... I was exploring some caves last year and they won't even let you bring a camera, cell phone or basically anything in the caves any more for fear of spreading 'white nose' syndrome, and they even stress that you should shower as well as clean all your clothing and shoes before visiting another cave... It doesn't take much to spread nasties... I know many chicken breeders that won't even let 'visitors' enter their coops for fear of cross contamination...

I personally prefer to keep my very young chicks in a more sterile environment until their bodies get up and running fully...
 
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MeepBeep said:
Quote: Although what you said could be true, it's a balancing act... The term "smaller dose" that you use is not directly quantitative in this respect as a 'small' piece of sod could in fact have a huge and potentially lethal dose of bacterial or parasites in it just as well as it could have a small dose that would allow the chick to build up immunity, you just never know... A chick born and raised outside it going to be exposed to stuff day one, while an 'indoor' chick in a brooder isn't, I'm not against introducing reared indoor birds to nasties under semi-controlled situations but anytime you do this you run a risk...

I personally prefer to keep my very young chicks in a more sterile environment until their bodies get up and running fully...

Guess it just goes to show that we all do things differently and its positive to discuss issues and share our experiences.

CT
Click to expand...
 
I've only raised chicks once, so my experience is limited.

I had a case of pasty butt in my chicks. After cleaning off the pasty butt I put a small container of garden dirt into the brooder and that was the last of the pasty butt in those chicks.

Was it the dirt, I can't say for certain but nothing else changed in my brooder except for the dirt.

I have chicks coming in two weeks and I plan to give them access to dirt pretty quickly after I get them. They will be going into an outside brooder with MHP after a few days anyway so they will have access to dirt at that point.
 

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