2018 Newbie Chat!

[Joyschickens]

Hi. I’m super new to the site and even more to chickens. We just got our first four this past weekend, so they should all now be around 1.5 weeks (I think).

We have a brooder set up and they all seem to be doing well, but a couple days ago one had some dried poop around her vent (idk if it was pasty butt, when I googled it that seemed more intense?), but now today a different one has the same thing. Should I be giving them more grit maybe? Or mixing in more probiotics? (Any tips on keeping their water shaving free for more than two minutes too? They’ll still drink even w/all that junk in there right?!)

We have one buff orphington, one pearl white leghorn, one Rhode Island Red and one black australorp. For now...

My husband thinks I’m over reacting and over analyzing everything, but I want them to be happy and healthy and they are my new babies. Glad I found a place where I can ask questions and stress with other chicken folks.

I was having the same issues: one of our less than week old chicks has pasty butt - she has been a trooper when we clean her up. I found using a cotton ball with warm water helped the most, holding it for a few minutes on the area and gently wiping it away.
And for the shavings in the water - I transitioned the chicks to a vertical nipple on day 2 of having them and they picked up on it within 10 minutes. I watched to make sure all 5 knew how to use it with ease. So much easier and cleaner. Good luck with your little ones.

 

[BBZZZZTT]

im new here. how long till i can take the heat off the little guys.

They need to be weaned off slowly. For more specifics on age check out the learning center on this site. There are a lot of good articles.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/learning-center.11/

 

[BBZZZZTT]

The tiny rooster crowing is adorable! Even though he doesn't sound like an adult that little neck stretched out makes him look like a tiny chicken trying to do big chicken things.

All mine are fully clucking now. Lilo yells at me for treats. This morning as I was waking up I heard a full on "buck-buck-buckawk!"
I was in there a little while ago and they all went up their little ramp to the coop in a line all going "buck buck buck buck buck"
Its like all of the sudden they realized they can make adult noises. They grow up so fast! -sniff sniff- xD

 

[CannedMonster]

The tiny rooster crowing is adorable! Even though he doesn't sound like an adult that little neck stretched out makes him look like a tiny chicken trying to do big chicken things.

All mine are fully clucking now. Lilo yells at me for treats. This morning as I was waking up I heard a full on "buck-buck-buckawk!"
I was in there a little while ago and they all went up their little ramp to the coop in a line all going "buck buck buck buck buck"
Its like all of the sudden they realized they can make adult noises. They grow up so fast! -sniff sniff- xD

Speaking of little chickens doing big chicken things...little Frodo was tidbitting for my little Silkie yesterday. He kept picking something up and dropping it and she ate it. It was too cute!
I remember asking my friend, that had chickens before I ever got any, when they stop peeping.
She didn’t know.
My older ones didn’t do the egg song until a few months after they started laying.
I love the sounds they make

 

[PNW_Peepers]

Moved my five week olds outside today. They’ll have their brinsea for a few more days just to make them more comfortable.

I swapped Wally and Gingko. Gingko needs to be monitored more closely, she’s been very melancholy and hasn’t been eating much.

Wally will be reintroduced late this evening. I’m hoping he integrates back in but I think he’s going to get his butt kicked by my alpha hen.

 

[llombardo]

Put in another 6 hours on the enclosure today. I'm hoping to finish it or come really close tomorrow. I'm not kidding, my whole body aches. The last thing will be the duck house, which someone is doing for me. So tomorrow I'm hoping to start early before it gets hot, because I don't do well with hot. Meanwhile they are getting quite creative in the bathroom. They took down the towels to lay on. I guess the pine shavings are not good enough. I can not wait to scrub and paint the bathroom..lol

Anyways, I walked into the bathroom unexpectedly and found Rain on the sink staring at herself in the mirror. I couldn't help but laugh, she turned around and looked at me like..do you see that pretty chicken too?

 

[Cbarr00]

So someone definitely tried to crow Sunday morning. We aren't sure who tho. They were all in the coop while we finished taking down our deck. No one was fighting and everything was calm. Then there it went. The little screech. They tried once more after that. I really think it was our SS Casper. I'm waiting to catch him doing it again but haven't just yet. He's at the bottom of the roo pecking order so he would be the first to crow.

 

[llombardo]

Well here is a newbie mistake..I ordered the wrong hardware cloth. It's been sitting here for about a month and I'm ready to put it up but something tells me do more research. Sure as poop, I got 1/4 inch 23 gauge and I should have got 1/2 inch 19 gauge. I ordered it online through Walmart but it was sold by Wayfair. So I lug 100 ft rolls to bring back, get there to be told oh I'm sorry we can't return that. So I lug it back to the car, cursing all the way. Spend 45 minutes on the phone to return it..only to find out return shipping is like $90. Luckily the man understood I have raccoons and 23 gauge won't wirk, so he took $70 off the shipping. Now I wait for return to go through to order the right wire. I was so excited that I was going to finish this in the next couple days and now it's more like a couple weeks...lesson learned here--safety first. They really can't destroy the bathroom anymore then it is..ughhhh

 

[llombardo]

So someone definitely tried to crow Sunday morning. We aren't sure who tho. They were all in the coop while we finished taking down our deck. No one was fighting and everything was calm. Then there it went. The little screech. They tried once more after that. I really think it was our SS Casper. I'm waiting to catch him doing it again but haven't just yet. He's at the bottom of the roo pecking order so he would be the first to crow.

I possibly have two roosters. This morning one was crowing. I was super quiet and opened the door as the crowing started, the one possible boy(with the luck I have it's more then a possibility)was right there and nothing coming from him, so being the brilliant person I am I figured out it was the leghorn who was Daisy but is now Duke...

 

[BBZZZZTT]

So far no crowing here!
(I think)
I had heard some strange sounds a couple of mornings but I don't think it sounded even like undeveloped crowing. I figure just some animal somewhere.