A beginners few questions :)

[kenman]

Quote:
Amen, sister!

 

[fuzz]

Okay thanks to EVERYONE for the feedback, its been wonderfully hepful!

About the durmycin, it is an antibiotic but its for chicks to feed it to them for the first week, Tractor Supply Company told me to put a certain amount in the water for the first week you get your chicks. Is it really going to do alot of harm? I really want to put it in there just to be on the safe side plus if they do have anything because I don't know what their living conditions were before I got them.

So does anybody else have an opinion? I respect it alot and if something bad will happen I will not give it to them. So please, opinions are so VERY welcome!

 

[danielbrown]

Quote:
It's not really like rabbits.
The rooster mates with the hen. Then the hen lays fertilized eggs but there's not anything in them until they are incubated at 100degs for 21 days. Then a chick hatches out of the egg.

As far as eating goes there's not any difference between fertilized egg and a unfertilized egg if it hasn't been incubated.

Just don't incubate the eggs and you won't have any chicks.

 

[pattyjean73]

Lots of good questions and good responses.

 

[fuzz]

Well that solves a lot of problems! Thanks!

Does anybody have an answer to the duramycin question? I'm going to post it somewhere else in the topic it belongs

 

[lisahaschickens]

Although it is standard procedure for some people to give anitbiotics, I think it is a bad one. I definitely think it is bad to use it. That said, it's up to you. Lots of people do use it and lots of people think it's more harmful than good. Do a search on the site about antibiotics and you will find endless discussions on the topic. In general, antibiotics are over-prescribed for humans, and are present in far too much of our food supply. To me, giving antibiotics "just in case" is like taking your only bandaid and sticking it on your arm "just in case" you get a cut. Now, when you actually do get a cut, and it is on your leg, you have to reuse your only bandaid by peeling it off your arm and sticking it on your leg. Only now the adhesive doesn't work so well because it's been peeled off your arm. That bandaid did nothing on your arm and now it's less useful on your truly cut leg. That is the same thing as with antibiotics. Give it to people or animals when they don't need it and we build up our own and the bacteria's resistance to them and when we really need them, they don't work.

 

[fuzz]

I made another post and yea, I am pretty mad at TSC. Giving out information like that. I won't be giving it to them but on the bright side I now have antibiotics

 

[Judy]

You mentioned using a white heat lamp instead of red. Many do, or even use an ordinary light bulb, depending. And many have no trouble with it. However, if the chicks seem too restless at night or start pecking and fighting and pulling feathers, a switch to red my help stop this.

BTW, in case someone here didn't say this (didn't read the thread word for word, sorry.) Many use medicated chick starter. TSC's starter is not medicated but feed store starter, often cheaper, often is. The med is amprolium and it is NOT an antibiotic. It helps chicks develop their natural resistance to cocci, found in soil. It works by inhibiting the growth of the cocci. Some here highly recommend it and others refuse to use it.

 

[cluckinbob]

the last time that I went to the feed store to buy more oyster shells the owner told me that he doesn't stock it because all of the feed that he sells already contains it. Good Luck!