I didn't want to hog the other thread so I'm bringing this to its own thread.
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I am frustrated with McMurray's poor planning (and my own obliviousness to the federal holiday schedule) right now. They shipped my chicks SATURDAY (of a holiday weekend!). They arrived yesterday, TUESDAY. That's nearly four days! Two were (very) DOA and trampled/pecked all over, one died on the way home from the post office, and three more died when we got home.
That's 6 chicks out of a 25 chick order who froze to death or died of pneumonia. My friend ordered 6 fancy breed chicks with my order, 4 of them died (2 cochins and 2 polish). The other two were two of my Easter Eggers. One perked up after eating yogurt and sitting under the warmer, and looked like she was going to make it, then she just laid her head down and died in my hands. It was heartbreaking.
The remaining birds seem to be doing well. They are really adorable! They were a bit stressed out at first but have really calmed down a lot. They were quiet all night, which was nice.
QUESTIONS:
There's one chick who is a bit bigger than the others and a different color -- yellow with four dark stripes down her back and one dark stripe on her head. She is MEAN! We had to put her in chicken jail because she was bullying the single Buff Orpington packing peanut so badly. She pecks everyone! The girls were peeping like crazy, but quieted right down when I removed her -- she was stressing them out and getting them to peck each other. After her night in solitary, she seems to have calmed down and learned her lesson a little bit, so she's in with the crowd and things are pretty good. She pecks on the Buff a little bit here and there but a certain amount of that is probably to be expected ... it's nothing like it was yesterday when I thought she'd kill her!
Anyway, my questions are: Did I do the right thing in confining her or is there another, better method of discouraging the bullying? AND What kind of bird is she? She doesn't look like my Speckled Sussex OR my Easter Eggers. Bigger than average, yellow with dark stripes. Guesses? I'll try to get a pic ...
ETA: I've edited the title and some wording to be less inflammatory. I understand that I bear some responsibility for what happened, but honestly, this is my first time ordering chicks and I assumed McMurray knew what they were doing. Yes, I know what Ass- u- me means. If anyone has some perspective on the second half of my post, I'd love to hear it.
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I am frustrated with McMurray's poor planning (and my own obliviousness to the federal holiday schedule) right now. They shipped my chicks SATURDAY (of a holiday weekend!). They arrived yesterday, TUESDAY. That's nearly four days! Two were (very) DOA and trampled/pecked all over, one died on the way home from the post office, and three more died when we got home.
That's 6 chicks out of a 25 chick order who froze to death or died of pneumonia. My friend ordered 6 fancy breed chicks with my order, 4 of them died (2 cochins and 2 polish). The other two were two of my Easter Eggers. One perked up after eating yogurt and sitting under the warmer, and looked like she was going to make it, then she just laid her head down and died in my hands. It was heartbreaking.
The remaining birds seem to be doing well. They are really adorable! They were a bit stressed out at first but have really calmed down a lot. They were quiet all night, which was nice.
QUESTIONS:
There's one chick who is a bit bigger than the others and a different color -- yellow with four dark stripes down her back and one dark stripe on her head. She is MEAN! We had to put her in chicken jail because she was bullying the single Buff Orpington packing peanut so badly. She pecks everyone! The girls were peeping like crazy, but quieted right down when I removed her -- she was stressing them out and getting them to peck each other. After her night in solitary, she seems to have calmed down and learned her lesson a little bit, so she's in with the crowd and things are pretty good. She pecks on the Buff a little bit here and there but a certain amount of that is probably to be expected ... it's nothing like it was yesterday when I thought she'd kill her!
Anyway, my questions are: Did I do the right thing in confining her or is there another, better method of discouraging the bullying? AND What kind of bird is she? She doesn't look like my Speckled Sussex OR my Easter Eggers. Bigger than average, yellow with dark stripes. Guesses? I'll try to get a pic ...
ETA: I've edited the title and some wording to be less inflammatory. I understand that I bear some responsibility for what happened, but honestly, this is my first time ordering chicks and I assumed McMurray knew what they were doing. Yes, I know what Ass- u- me means. If anyone has some perspective on the second half of my post, I'd love to hear it.
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