Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome! - Page 3413

Just use it in a plastic, NOT metal waterer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hens and Roos 

Hope all your chickens are okay, we watched it come in by us around 9 am this morning and had just enough time to finish chores, hoping that we will start drying off- we managed to till our garden once and waiting to till it a another time or 2.  Our neighbor is also waiting to till his garden spot.

 

So far the 4 chicks are holding there own

 

After doing some more reading, I think I will start adding Apple Cider Vinegar(AVC)-organic type-to all the water, especially the babies.  I will probably go back to feeding non-medicated feed too.

ive been reading here and there that people find benefits of the acv...but never have tried. do you have any measurements to a gallon of water? And how often would one add it to the water?

Quote:

Originally Posted by gilavina 

ive been reading here and there that people find benefits of the acv...but never have tried. do you have any measurements to a gallon of water? And how often would one add it to the water?

from what I have read, add 1 tsp/qt of water or 1-2 tbsp/gallon of water.  Use only in plastic waterers as the acid will eat the metal waterer and can poison the birds.  I myself add it to the water once a week.

my understanding is that it helps keep the body's ph a bit more acidic, some of the bateria and such can't get as good of a foothold so the chicks protential won't get as sick.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gilavina 

ive been reading here and there that people find benefits of the acv...but never have tried. do you have any measurements to a gallon of water? And how often would one add it to the water?

 I use 5 gallon pails with nipples for watering and I use about 3 "glugs" as the vinegar pours out of the bottle.

When I have the acv in the water, poops are nice & white & firm. If I run out, & don't put it in for a while, they start to get watery, etc. Plus, since I use the large buckets, I don't change the water that often, so the acv helps keep bacteria down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marquisella 

 I use 5 gallon pails with nipples for watering 

re: 5 gallon nipple waterer

how are you supporting the weight of the bucket?  Are your nipples coming directly out of the bottom?  I have the nipples and my one day old's learned how to use them easily when installed in the lid of inverted plastic drinking bottles.  I'm ready to assemble the larger bucket with nipples, but I'm not sure how to support the weight.  The hardware store guys said not to hang it from the handle for long...

I swear that one of the BCM chicks (4 weeks old) has an almost greenish tint to the slate on her legs and tiny bits of copper coming in around her neck and a bit of mossiness on a few of the longest wing feathers...is there a chance this mossiness will molt out?  Just curious after reading so much on here.  Honestly, as long as she lays I'll be happy!   

My Cuckoo Marans has pink legs and lots of S&P feathers on her outer toe and shanks...too cute, but is pink normal for Cuckoos?

I'm really enjoying the Marans, they are some of my most friendly chicks.  They totally know who 'butters their bread'!

Here are the Silver Marans chicks. I think the flash must of washed the yellow out some. The light areas are more yellow in person lol.  The one that looks pure white is very yellow lol. He has the tiniest dot on top of his head. I didn't notice that the other day.

Here are the regular Cuckoo Marans chicks. I ended up with 9. It looks like I got a good mix of boys and girls. They wouldn't all hold still grrr. They are like popcorn :P

Cute Lenette! I can't wait til I get my chickers now. I love how the silvers are so loungy...kinda like... "are you done yet?"