Baby chick care

[6 hens a dozen questions]

Hello all sad to say but We lost one of our chicks, but we were wondering if we need to do anything to help them keep clean or do they tend to that all themselves. If this is anywhere else on here please let me know I am new to chickens and to forums so please forgive my lack of knowledge on both sides... thanks in advance

 

[sylviethecochin]

chicks need three things:
Heat--about 90 farenheit.
Water and feed
A proper floor under their feet.

If you provided all of those things, then that one was probably just sick. Here's hoping the others do well.

 

[6 hens a dozen questions]

Yeah I think the one was just a separate thing but as I was cleaning the brooding pen my wife asked about cleaning and I turned to you all for that

 

[chickens really]

Hello,
Are you asking about dirty butts on the Chicks?
It's called pasty Butt...If they get plugged you can wash bums and apply Vaseline to the butt.
In your Brooder have the heat at one end where they sleep and have the food and water at the cooler end...

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hello,
Are you asking about dirty butts on the Chicks?
It's called pasty Butt...If they get plugged you can wash bums and apply Vaseline to the butt.
In your Brooder have the heat at one end where they sleep and have the food and water at the cooler end...

Sorry to hear about your loss.

@chickens really has asked a good question.
Can you clarify your question - "we were wondering if we need to do anything to help them keep clean or do they tend to that all themselves"

Photos may help are your chick's vents (bottoms) pasted up or do they have poop on them. Or are you asking about how chicks keep their fluff and feathers clean?
How old are your chicks?

With more information and photos (we love to look at babies), hopefully we can give you better suggestions about caring for your chicks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, I’m not exactly sure what you are asking. That’s not your fault at all, I’m glad you asked the question. It got the conversation started. If you knew what information we needed you probably would not be asking the question to start with. We all have to start somewhere in our experience and knowledge.

How old are they? Where did you get them, in the mail, from a feed store, did you hatch them yourself, or maybe some other method? How as the chick acting before it died, was it standing around peeping, fluffed up, and lethargic or was it acting normal like the others? Are the others standing around lethargic? Tell us a bit about where they are living too, in a brooder or something else and what does that brooder look like and where is it? Were there any injuries on it? Do you have older chickens with it?

Especially if it is less than week old it could be what we call failure to thrive. Some are just hatched with birth defects, often internal where you can’t see them, and are not meant to make it. Or maybe a heart defect that caused a heart attack. If it is only one and the others are thriving it’s probably not something you did. But a little more info might help us give better answers.

 

[6 hens a dozen questions]

Sorry all about the confusion, the lost chick was just a note, I guess the fluff and fur was the main thing we had read about chickens giving them selves a “dirt bath” and these are in a pen with pine chips we have already dealt with pasty butt, we have had them about a week and we got them from a farm store I have been getting ready for deer season today but I can post some pictures when I get home

 

[6 hens a dozen questions]

So little

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Sorry all about the confusion, the lost chick was just a note, I guess the fluff and fur was the main thing we had read about chickens giving them selves a “dirt bath” and these are in a pen with pine chips we have already dealt with pasty butt, we have had them about a week and we got them from a farm store I have been getting ready for deer season today but I can post some pictures when I get home

No worries
What sweet littles you have!

You want to make sure that your heat lamp is providing 1 warm spot in the brooder, place the food/water on the cool side.
Have a plan in place for what you are going to do with them - they grow sooooo quickly - do you have your coop ready?
Do you have other chickens?

Chicks love to take dust baths just like adults - you can place a mixture of soil/sand or a plug of dirt with grass/weeds attached in the brooder for them to explore, eat and roll around in. Preferably, your soil/dirt will come from where you plan to house them (their run/yard) this way they will start to build resistance to the pathogens that are in the soil.

 

[6 hens a dozen questions]

Thank for the information we don’t have the coop ready yet and no we don’t have any others just these but on another topic it should be getting pretty cold when they are ready for the coop any advise on helping them keep warm once they have moved out?