5th chick dying in my hands right now - help!

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Today was a very hard day. I put down the whole flock with the generous help of my best friend's two oldest kids and my 8 year old son. I am so grateful for such a caring friend and her wonderful family. The meat is being provided to a family in crisis, and I have about 9 dozen beautiful rainbow eggs I intend to use sparingly and with great thanks for the sweet birds that layed them for me. This was one of the most difficult things I have had to do, but I feel it was the right thing to do. 25 MG free Blue, Black and Splash Ameraucana will be arriving from Whitmore Farms April 2015. They should start laying some time between Oct and Dec of 2015. April of 2016 I will begin hatching their offspring. With any luck I will begin having chicks and hatching eggs for sale around Oct of 2016. So for now, I suppose we are on hiatus. RIP my beautiful sweet birds :th
 
familypendragon said:
Today was a very hard day. I put down the whole flock with the generous help of my best friend's two oldest kids and my 8 year old son. I am so grateful for such a caring friend and her wonderful family. The meat is being provided to a family in crisis, and I have about 9 dozen beautiful rainbow eggs I intend to use sparingly and with great thanks for the sweet birds that layed them for me. This was one of the most difficult things I have had to do, but I feel it was the right thing to do. 25 MG free Blue, Black and Splash Ameraucana will be arriving from Whitmore Farms April 2015. They should start laying some time between Oct and Dec of 2015. April of 2016 I will begin hatching their offspring. With any luck I will begin having chicks and hatching eggs for sale around Oct of 2016. So for now, I suppose we are on hiatus. RIP my beautiful sweet birds
th.gif
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Wow! This is just heartbreaking! I am so very sorry that you went through this. I wish you all the best in the future. You definitely deserve the best! Sending you and your family heartfelt sympathy! God Bless You!
 
familypendragon said:
Today was a very hard day. I put down the whole flock with the generous help of my best friend's two oldest kids and my 8 year old son. I am so grateful for such a caring friend and her wonderful family. The meat is being provided to a family in crisis, and I have about 9 dozen beautiful rainbow eggs I intend to use sparingly and with great thanks for the sweet birds that layed them for me. This was one of the most difficult things I have had to do, but I feel it was the right thing to do. 25 MG free Blue, Black and Splash Ameraucana will be arriving from Whitmore Farms April 2015. They should start laying some time between Oct and Dec of 2015. April of 2016 I will begin hatching their offspring. With any luck I will begin having chicks and hatching eggs for sale around Oct of 2016. So for now, I suppose we are on hiatus. RIP my beautiful sweet birds
th.gif
Click to expand...
Looks like a good hatchery to buy from! Good luck with your new flock!

-Kathy
 
Sorry you had to put your flock down :hugs it must have been terribly difficult for all of you.
A nice tribute that they will still be able to help a family in need.
Good luck with the new birds next spring, may you have a happy, healthy flock from now on!
 
Kathy, if you have a minute I have a question or two for you. I know you are well read and have lots of chicken experience so I'd like your opinion. (Anyone else that wants to is more than welcome to add their 2 cents!) I am cleaning the coop out, have dismantled nearly everything so far. I am planning how to rebuild smarter. I plan on building 3 1/2 to 4 foot high roosts over 3 foot high dropping boards filled like a litter box with PDZ. It will be 16 feet long and 3 feet wide with 2 2x4 roosting bars running the length - 32 ft of roost total. I am going to build a brooder under one end of it and build nesting boxes under the other end. I plan on having a cabinet for doing fermented feed. I ordered a Sweeter Heater for the brooder area. I am thinking maybe the Brite Tap waterer or something similar. Going to provide an inside dust bathing area with wood ash, DE, sand and dirt.

Question #1 Any of these things sound like a bad idea?

Question #2 What litter method?

I read this about how great sand is in the coop http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/09/chicken-coop-bedding-sand-litter.html

and this about how horrible it is http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2013/07/the-real-scoop-on-using-sand-in-your.html

:rolleyes: :idunno

My coop (or hen house maybe a better term) is a 21 ft x 12 ft converted carport. I considered using just PDZ as I saw that suggested somewhere but that doesn't seem realistic, and might not be good for them. So I was planning on putting down a mixture of PDZ and large flake pine shavings. But that isn't really deep litter since I am just trying to keep it dry I guess, which would seem like it would prevent composting. So then I was thinking maybe a mix of sand and PDZ. But I don't know what to believe. And it does seem like come next winter, cold sand would not be nice for their feet. So then should I add pine shavings on top? UGH! I just want to do what is best, safest, etc but can't figure out what that actually is. I know it seems to come down to opinion. So, what is your take? My coop floor is dirt. Our dirt is heavy black clay and doesn't drain well. They will be allowed to free range on our 3 1/2 acres of pasture. Primarily they just will be in there to roost, lay and possibly eat/drink. Still trying to decide if food or water should be allowed in the coop itself.

So I guess Question #3 Food and water in or out of the coop?

Thanks so much for your opinions :)
~Melissa
 
jgoldy2 said:
Is all well now? and what is MG?
Click to expand...
The flock is no more, and I am gutting the coop, burning, bleaching, rebuilding and painting :( MG http://www.gapoultrylab.org/wp-cont...coplasma handout for Backyard Flocks 4-12.pdf

ETA
Oh wow, I don't know who did it, but I just received a partial refund on my Spring chick order because an "anonymous donor " just contacted Will, the breeder about covering the cost of 5 chicks. Whoever you are, thank you so much for your kindness. <3 Melissa
 
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