A couple of questions

[Robbinita]

Hey all! Been around for a short time, enjoy reading all the posts! I reply when I can but I'm so new that I don't know most of the answers to this stuff! Haha! I have had my first ever chickies for 4 days now. 6 of them, 3 red stars and 3 EE's. They are all doing really great! I am attending a backyard poultry workshop today in my city that I just can't WAIT for!!

I just had a couple of questions first.

The chicks are all really feisty, and definitely don't like me much. They are scared to death of me. I wanted to try to hand feed them some treats soon, so they gain trust and tame a bit. If they are on chick starter feed, do I have to give them grit in order to digest the treats? Or does the starter feed supply them with that?

Also, read somewhere that pasty butt is sometimes the result of wrong temps. My temp is at 95 but they don't really sleep huddled under the light anymore, they are all over the cage constantly, and they sometimes spread out to sleep. I am beginning to think it may be time to lower the temps, a little sooner than all the info says. They are also having poo stuck on their bottoms. It hasn't gotten to the point of blocking things up yet, but do you think it may be because it's a little warm in there? They aren't panting or anything- but the other things going on make me want to lower the temps some. Thoughts?

Thanks so much. Thanks to you guys, my chicks have made it the first 4 days - thriving!

 

[easttxchick]

First of all

and congrats on your new babies!
Secondly, even if you don't know the answers yet, you can always just add a word of sympathy or encouragement-these are really appreciated and I'm sure we'd all love to hear from you. You have more to contribute than you know and after your workshop, bet you can teach all of us some things!
OK onto your real questions:
I wouldn't add treats until they are about a month old-at that time, you will need to give them chick grit.
I would lower that brooder temp to 90 degrees and then go down 5 degrees a week until they are ready for ambient temps. Clean those little pasty butts VERY GENTLY with some warm water and q-tip. If not tended to, pasty butt can be fatal.
As far as them not liking you, my chicks are a few weeks old and even though they see me several times a day, they still look on me as a murderer and run screeching from me any time I stick my hand in the brooder. Don't take it personally-none of our chicks like us at first.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

I would lower that brooder temp to 90 degrees and then go down 5 degrees a week until they are ready for ambient temps. Clean those little pasty butts VERY GENTLY with some warm water and q-tip. If not tended to, pasty butt can be fatal.

Good advice there.

Although I handled my chicks every day, they really didn't become tame until they were several months old. Even then, some welcomed handling, some hated it. At almost a year, four hens will jump into my lap. The two Wyandottes, will not. I think it is just their personality. Have fun with those little fluffballs.

 

[teach1rusl]

When you pick them up, try scooping from the side; it's less threatening. Whether they want you to or not, I'd be sure you picked each of them up and cuddled them every day, more than once if time permits. I did begin giving mine treats at week one...just a little hard boiled egg chopped up. If you give them a few crumbs of egg every time you hold them, they'll begin associating your hand and being held as a positive thing. That being said, I still had one who seemed to think I was an ax murderer each and every time (didn't stop her from scarfing down the egg though...lol) I picked her up, while I had two who would literally jump up on my hand when I held it there. There other two were in the middle.

With egg, you shouldn't really NEED grit, but I still salted their feed crumbles with it...never too early, just in case. Food definitely seems to be the motivator when it comes to chickens.


ETA: Oh...and one of my girls started getting a build up of poop on her rear end. Like yours, it wasn't blocking her vent. But once the glob started, any time she had more liquidy poop, more would cling to the glob. It was past the point of wiping with a warm, wet rag. We held her rear under warm, gently running water to soften things up, and I kept working at it with my fingers. Since we had her there, we clipped a decent amount of the fuzz away back there, under her vent area. She never got globbed up again as a chick (although now, as a 6 month old, her fluff still stays dirtier than the other girls' for some reason).

 

[Robbinita]

Thank you for all of the advice! I'll be more persistent with cleaning their little booties. Okay- I have to admit- I feel a little weird about feeding them egg. Am i crazy?

 

[midget_farms]

I bought mine grub worms or meal worms from the pet store @ 2 weeks. The small ones. They love it. Several have become tame & most come running now when they see a person. We even threw in a worm we found this morning. They had to play tug of war over it to be of eating size but they loved it.

The birds will tell you when the temp is right too. Just make sure there is a lamp available so they can warm up if necessary.

You may want to start thinking about a large brooder soon too - they will quickly outgrow a small aquarium. I used storage containers from Walmart for a while - then I built a large brooder out of some old storm windows.

Good luck & welcome!

 

[zade11]

i'm enoying being able to read all these posts and learn so much about my new chickies too! thank u everyone so much both for asking questions i have and answering them

 

[Bandit]

We have 5 day old babies and i have started just putting my open hand onto the bedding with some of their regular food on it. Some of them run over right away and love to peck at the food so they are getting used to the hand being in the brooder. Some still run screaming, though.

 

[henni penni]

I know the whole egg thing makes you feel like its a canable thing..lol...

I know my Mamaw would give her chickens the shells.

As for the heat I went by the way they acted...If they spread out from the light and panted...too hot

If they chirped, scratched and acted happy and were under the light and not under the light....just right