Spring 2017 first timers post!

[bajabirdbrain]

The coop is 8x8 and run is 8x24. Walls are painted particleboard (with 3" insulation). Hoping they'll be easy to clean, time will tell! We didn't end up with the blue laced reds today

Hatchery got the feed store order wrong and cancelled all the blue laced reds. We were also told that they wouldn't sex those like our other breeds because they were considered a specialty breed.. then they said they were $18 a bird

So, unsure if we will choose an $18 possible rooster or not. We did do 2 silver laced Wyandottes instead.

That doesn't sound like great customer service? What is the name of the hatchery? We will take note and put a "footnote" by their name for future reference. Good luck. BB

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

We picked up our 2 Buff Orpingtons and 2 silver laced Wyandottes today.

I will take some better pics tomorrow

So far the BO are super sleepy, I actually have had to keep taking them out of the MHP and giving them water. One seems more inclined to sleep than anything else. Our 9 yo daughter said on the way home.. mama, I just wanted that baby so bad, she looked sick and I thought we could take care of her! Soo.. we may have brought home the troubled chick of the bunch

. For our daughter's sake (and mine too) I hope this little one snaps out of her sleepy spell. One of the SLW has a red hard lump under (by a few cm) her vent. Have been advised it might be her umbilicus. We will start to treat it with triple antibiotic ointment tomorrow.

So, after cleaning up butts, getting babies to drink and worrying a little bit, I think we are on our way into night #1

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

That doesn't sound like great customer service?  What is the name of the hatchery?  We will take note and put a "footnote" by their name for future reference.  Good luck.  BB

I agree! I will have to double check tomorrow on the hatchery name, with the craziness of today, that piece of info has fallen out of my head

 

[sfd6532]

Good luck with the babies. I had two with pasty butt and they are fine now. I gave them boiled egg yolks and yogurt the first week.

 

[tjbaker70]

Don't beat yourself up. You did everything you could. Its just part of raising chicks I guess. But I understand completely. I forget how are you warming your chicks, heat lamp or Mamma Heating Pad?

I use a heat lamp. I have 26 chicks and have thought about trying to fashion out an MHP this weekend. Other than the little one, they all seem ok. I realized last night that one is either missing an eye or it just never opened. That chick otherwise seems fine and I never even noticed. It's one of the Faverolles. I notice today that they are starting to test their wings out a bit ... they aren't even a week old yet!

 

[tjbaker70]

There's an updated pic

Working on it more today

Gary

I'm really glad to see all these windows on your coop. Our coop came with the house. It's a lovely 100 ft^2 seemingly well built structure and on both sides, the walls are partial windows. Looks really great, but I was worried because so many coops I see are more closed off looking. With our coop, one of the windows is where the nesting boxes are so you can look and in and see the ladies resting and hopefully laying. Great coop you've got coming together!!

Are you also building a run or will you free range them?

 

[tjbaker70]

We picked up our 2 Buff Orpingtons and 2 silver laced Wyandottes today.

I will take some better pics tomorrow

So far the BO are super sleepy, I actually have had to keep taking them out of the MHP and giving them water. One seems more inclined to sleep than anything else. Our 9 yo daughter said on the way home.. mama, I just wanted that baby so bad, she looked sick and I thought we could take care of her! Soo.. we may have brought home the troubled chick of the bunch

. For our daughter's sake (and mine too) I hope this little one snaps out of her sleepy spell. One of the SLW has a red hard lump under (by a few cm) her vent. Have been advised it might be her umbilicus. We will start to treat it with triple antibiotic ointment tomorrow.

So, after cleaning up butts, getting babies to drink and worrying a little bit, I think we are on our way into night #1

So cute! I have four Buff Orpingtons and three Silver Laced Wyandottes. They are almost one week old now. The Buff Orps are super clean with no poo problems at all. The SLW seem to get pasty looking butts, but then when I inspect closer, I see the vent is still clear so I guess stuff is just getting on the lower areas below and I find it harder to see because of their color. Adult versions of both of these birds are so gorgeous!

I need to start taking more pics of my babies before they are all grown up!

 

[tjbaker70]

What are you all doing for pasty butts? Are you noticing there are pasty butts but also just dirty butts where you see poo on the surrounding area but the vent is still clear? Do you find that it is like cement to remove and what are you finding most successful and least stressful for the chicks when you clean them?

I have just started putting 2 tsp of ACV in their water. Today I am going to put a dust bath in the brooder.

I have 26 chicks and I feel like I just clean butts all the time now! It seems to be certain ones only though. Several of my breeds are completely clear of pasty butt signs. The worst are my three Faverolles. The cleanest are the five RIR and four Buff Orpingtons. I don't think I have had to clean them at all!

 

[ImportTheBest]

Thank you so much for posting.  How is she doing now?  Better I hope.  Im surprised it took two days to get your chicks from Meyer if you are only about 5 hours away.  Geesh.  Hmm.  Im in MA and hoping for next day delivery but we'll see.  Anyway I love that they are kind of chip munk patterned.  I don't think any of the other chicks I ordered will have that pattern so I should be able to pick out the Barnevelder easily.  Thanks so much

I was very surprised that it took 2 days to get to me as well but they were all in pretty great shape upon arrival, which is the main thing. The little heat packs in the bottom of the box still had a little warmth left in them. I don't know if you ordered the gro-gel like i did (mostly because i just really wanted to try this green goo) but my chicks wouldn't touch it unless it was to walk on it, lol!

She's definitely been seen eating, drinking, and preening regularly even though i still won't say she's as high energy as the others. No real pasty/poopy butt issues besides a little poopiness on the polish and the salmon faverolle who seems to be predisposed to be a walking poopsicle. I've been cleaning her up but i need to find the vaseline and try and help the new poop to not stick.

FERMENTED FEED GUIDANCE ANYONE?
All of my babies are picky eaters and refuse to eat the fermented feed so I'm doing dry starter crumbles for now because i don't want a weak one to starve from stubbornness! How on earth do i get them to eat FF when they'd rather go hungry??? Should i just wait until they're a week or two old and try again?

 

[TinyLittleChick]

I'm kinda late to replying to this, but I am getting my first chicks TODAY! 6 layers, 10 broilers. So excited!!