5 week olds too big for a chick feeder????

[Qi Chicken]

I was watchikng the chickens tonight (of course) and noticed that it seems like they couldn't get their whole heads in the hole for those long chick feeders. I wonder if the ones I was watching were just kind of pecking for the heck of it or if they really couldn't get the feed out?

I don't know if I made a serious mistake by hand feeding them egg as little week old chicks. As 5 weekers it is seriously scary. They BITE, not peck your hand and they all attack at once. If I put it in a bowl, it seems like they are going to hurt eachother. 16 chickens trying to get egg out of a bowl is a little scary. they also fly up on my shoulder/arm hand. When I try to take the feeder out to refill it they all jump on top of it so I can't get it out. I know I know I know. They WILL be going out to the regular coop SOON. Their crops stick out so much it looks seriously unhealthy. Is chick feed adequate??? Reading the thread on what should I feed my show birds I feel like I'm feeding them french fries all day long.

It is too dangerous for me (and them, they'll fly out and get eaten by the cat) to give them egg by hand so I sprinkled it on their wood shavings tonight. Will this cause them to east more shavings than they already do being as they are the same color?

I took the pebbles out of their water tonight. They are old enough right??

These chickens are serioiusly mysterious creatures!

 

[Tala]

Well, if their crops are full and the feed level is going down -- they are obviously able to get the feed out of the feeders

The problem that I have with those long feeders is eventually the birds get heavy enough to stand on them and flip them over, so that's when I stop using them.

Pebbles in the water dish are really only for the first week to prevent them from drowning so easily. I use a Quail base on a Mason jar and I never ever use pebbles or marbles in it.

 

[briteday]

IMO, 5 week old chicks aren't babes anymore. By that time I have usually moved the brooder out to the coop giving them a bit of extra heat only if the nights are below 45 degrees. Once they move out to the coop, around 4 weeks old, I give them a 15 pound galvanized feeder and put it in a big black feed pan so they can't waste. Be sure to put a lid on it or the chicks will sit in the food from the top. Water is provided with rabbit bottles from the start so I just move them out to the coop with the brooder.

I don't feed anything except chick starter for the first 8 weeks. Then they go on Flockraiser so they can soon be integrated with the existing hens in the coop. Once the 8-10 week old chicks are introduced to the hens ad are in the run with them during the daytime then the chicks have access to the kitchen scraps that the hens get. Everyone in the coop stays on Flockraiser (laying hens are provided oyster shell for calcium in a separate container) until I get the first egg from the new girls. Then it's back to layer pellets for the entire coop, until next year's chicks come in the Spring again.

I usually take the marbles out of the waterer after the first week. Once mine move from the original cardboard box that I keep them in when they arrive (at a few days to a week old) , they go into a brooder that has rabbit water bottles so that the chicks do not waste or mess in the water. Also prevents them from drowning in it.

 

[Qi Chicken]

You're funny! THanks for pointing out the obvious!

Sometimes I over think things!! I guess since I've been filling it 2-3 times a day I wondered if maybe they could only eat to a certain level, then were hungry, then when I refilled it ate more than was good for them. Yes, the pebbles didn't seem to be serving much of a function anymore. I screwed the long feed to 2 stacked 4 x 6's because they were knocking it over so much. I don't want to get them anything else until they move to the big house. Thanks for knocking some sense into me!