Spring 2017 first timers post!

[Magnolia7330]

I went to a Purina workshop today at my local feed store. Got a free sign for the chicken coop and a nice handout of what I should do with the chicks each week. I was really hard to not come home with some babies. I watched other people pick their birds. Mine are coming the week of April 10th. It's so close and I'm getting really excited. Next, week I have a class I'm going to on raising chickens for people who are new to chicken raising.

 

[ImportTheBest]

Early this afternoon we lost one meat bird suddenly. Perfectly fine at one check and then gone at the next check. Also the Barnevelder is doing beautifully, now but the Salmon Faverolle is doing worse. She's not being picked on anymore (no damage at all from the previous attempts, I checked thoroughly) but she is really listless and unmovitated to do anything besides stand and sleep or prop herself up between a mass of chicks and sleep. I managed to get a drop of nutri-drench in her and maybe a drop of water, but she refused to even attempt to swallow more... she just called for help the entire time instead. I dipped her beak into her food and set her right at it, her beak literally on the food and she just walked away and tried to sleep more.

I don't want to separate her because I don't want her to die alone. She's happiest when she's snuggled up as the inside of a sort of massive chick sandwich, sleeping.

A video on Instagram of her lack of interest in moving. Black and White because of the red heat lamp.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRhLmeeFMmy/

 

[tjbaker70]

Early this afternoon we lost one meat bird suddenly. Perfectly fine at one check and then gone at the next check. Also the Barnevelder is doing beautifully, now but the Salmon Faverolle is doing worse. She's not being picked on anymore (no damage at all from the previous attempts, I checked thoroughly) but she is really listless and unmovitated to do anything besides stand and sleep or prop herself up between a mass of chicks and sleep.

I managed to get a drop of nutri-drench in her and maybe a drop of water, but she refused to even attempt to swallow more... she just called for help the entire time instead. I dipped her beak into her food and set her right at it, her beak literally on the food and she just walked away and tried to sleep more.

I don't want to separate her because I don't want her to die alone. She's happiest when she's snuggled up as the inside of a sort of massive chick sandwich, sleeping.

A video on Instagram of her lack of interest in moving. Black and White because of the red heat lamp.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRhLmeeFMmy/

So so sorry to hear about your Faverolle! We have three. One has an eye infection, but seems to be on the mend. When I finally had to separate my little Silver Laced Wyandotte because of her wry neck and others pecking at her, we gave her a stuffed animal (suggested here on BYC). She snuggled under it, and I do believe it provided her with comfort. I also held her as often as I could and she would curl up in my hands, which I would cup around her.

Keep us updated on how she does.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

I'm debating what I should use in the brooder. Pine shavings? Sand?

We are using sand in ours and love it. Granted it's only been 1 1/2 days

 

[Wavechickens]

Aw. This is all so sad. I'm sorry to hear so many of your guys chicks are sick/ or not doing well. I hope it gets better. I feel so blessed to have such a healthy batch of chicks, it's easy to forget how lucky you can be until you see how unfortunate someone else's luck has been.

 

[greasemnkychics]

I'm in. We are Grease Monkey Farm in Salem, ct getting new chicKS April 15...we are a new home farm, two goats, one cat and now chick's. We have an old shed we are converting. We got the shed cheap, like Tractor Gary says it's a $200 shed with $1,500 worth of aggravation. We will see.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

Chick pics! This is a sampling of our chicks. We also have Dominiques and Delawares, but I didn't take photos of them yet. Salmon Faverolles Rhode Island Red Silver Laced Wyandotte White Crested Polish Buff Laced Polish, Buff Orpington, Blue Andalusian

Adorable! Our BO's chicks are the sweetest things! They always want humans

Our SLW chicks are very cautious of us and are really smart!

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

Early this afternoon we lost one meat bird suddenly. Perfectly fine at one check and then gone at the next check. Also the Barnevelder is doing beautifully, now but the Salmon Faverolle is doing worse. She's not being picked on anymore (no damage at all from the previous attempts, I checked thoroughly) but she is really listless and unmovitated to do anything besides stand and sleep or prop herself up between a mass of chicks and sleep. I managed to get a drop of nutri-drench in her and maybe a drop of water, but she refused to even attempt to swallow more... she just called for help the entire time instead. I dipped her beak into her food and set her right at it, her beak literally on the food and she just walked away and tried to sleep more.

I don't want to separate her because I don't want her to die alone. She's happiest when she's snuggled up as the inside of a sort of massive chick sandwich, sleeping.

A video on Instagram of her lack of interest in moving. Black and White because of the red heat lamp.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRhLmeeFMmy/

So sorry to hear about your loss and listless chick. I'm a newbie myself, so I only have sharing in your sadness

 

[tjbaker70]

Adorable! Our BO's chicks are the sweetest things! They always want humans

Our SLW chicks are very cautious of us and are really smart!

Thanks! The SLW are super cautious of us too. The ones who are easiest are the Polish, BO, and the RIR. None of them seem to mind be caught or held. The RIR will try to run off when they see a hand come in, but once caught, they settle right in and are calm. It's fun to start seeing their personalities developing.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

So I am really liking our built in brooder! My husband is a genius!!

The littles loved the sunshine today. This little BO was the first one to try her snack in the sunshine