That's wonderful news!!
And yes - it's true that chicks often come with nutritional deficiencies. A lot of people don't realize that breeding birds need a breeder's diet. I didn't realize it when I got into show birds before. It took a weak hatching (or rather non-hatching) batch to show me that the breeders needed more. Then once they'd hatch they were still weak babies (still needed more), and it took more and more "fixing" of their diet to finally get babies that would grow into the feathered stage.
It happens alot. And it's a common mistake. And that's why I push for a lot of nutrition for ill birds - because alot of the time it IS nutrition, and if it's not the nutrition helps support them healing out of whatever it was they had anyway.
As for medication, if it caused birds to lose nutrition, the poultry indu$try wouldn't use it - because they'd lose money. They need all the nutrition in a bird they can get. They just do things differently as far as using more antibiotics etc than we do because they keep closed houses and only one age of bird at a time. And slaughter early.
Cheers on the baby doing so well in your good care. Now you can help others learn.
And yes - it's true that chicks often come with nutritional deficiencies. A lot of people don't realize that breeding birds need a breeder's diet. I didn't realize it when I got into show birds before. It took a weak hatching (or rather non-hatching) batch to show me that the breeders needed more. Then once they'd hatch they were still weak babies (still needed more), and it took more and more "fixing" of their diet to finally get babies that would grow into the feathered stage.
It happens alot. And it's a common mistake. And that's why I push for a lot of nutrition for ill birds - because alot of the time it IS nutrition, and if it's not the nutrition helps support them healing out of whatever it was they had anyway.
As for medication, if it caused birds to lose nutrition, the poultry indu$try wouldn't use it - because they'd lose money. They need all the nutrition in a bird they can get. They just do things differently as far as using more antibiotics etc than we do because they keep closed houses and only one age of bird at a time. And slaughter early.
Cheers on the baby doing so well in your good care. Now you can help others learn.
