New Country Girl from Florida!

hi there -- we are in sarasota and just received our order of 5 chicks from MyPetChicken this past Wednesday (shipped/hatched on Monday, April 14). Unfortunately 1 of them died last night -- we had thought it was cocci but the folks at mypetchicken thought internal injury from the shipping (she became very lethargic on Thursday and basically slept most the day, barely eating / drinking, and then had white runny poo and died Thursday night). On the happier side the other 4 are doing wonderfully. They are a Silver Laced Wyandotte, an Australorp, a Barred Plymouth Rock, and a Light Brahma. The one who died was an Easter Egger.

We started out with paper towels over doggy pee pads but moved to PDZ which they seem to like more (you can get the Sweet PDZ - granular form at a local farm store). We use the nipple waterer that is vertical (the horizontals apparently are too difficult at this age); initially we put a very shallow approximately 2" diameter jar cap under it filled w/ rocks and some water -- this caught the drips but was also helpful for the first day or so when some of the chicks had not yet figured out the nipple waterer. We did get the Mareks shot but started them on Scratch & Peck non-medicated organic starter. After the death of our EE, we decided we'd rather be safe and have switched them over to Manna Pro medicated starter (available at our local store -- the Scratch & Peck we had to order over the internet). We use the Eco Glow (ordered via Amazon) for warmth as we have 3 young boys and couldn't risk a fire with the lamps.

We are like broody hens. We can't get enough of watching them. They are so cute!!!!!!!!!! We are trying to finalize plans for the coop - we plan to make it a moveable tractor. We rented 2 acres of land just for them (we live on an acre but its in a rather formal golf community that we know won't allow us to have chickens out back). Right now we have them in our house but plan to move them out to our pool patio within the next few days as the weather has been nice.

Anyways, its very nice to see another person new to the chicken world on here from FL. if i can help in any way or if you just want to chat, please don't hesitate to ping me.

regards D

Chicks usually go outside after they are fully feathered but, I am sure your weather is a lot better than ours (Midwest).

You can also start them out on shredded newspaper, because it's like hay.