I am posting this for a friend of mine who doesn't know much about the chickens she is raising. She has written that her baby chicks feet are curling in and then they die. I have been looking up diseases and came across curly toe, but do they die from it? If it is curly toe she wanted to know where to get b-2? Also I think she is free ranging them because most foods would have b-12 in them I would think. She wanted to know what food to feed them and said they get grass. Thanks for your help.
I only feed my baby chicks chick start mash. I don't know how old your friends baby chicks are but if they are not fully feathered does your friend have the chicks under a heat lamp? If baby chicks get cold they die. Just last weekend we lost electric to the room I keep my baby chicks in (in the chicken house) and because they didn't have the electric for the heating lamps all 6 of my baby chicks died. The electric was on when I went to bed and when I went out there in the morning they were dead.
No feed? In that case, then that's why their dying. Plus the heat factor. Chickens shouldn't be fed too much grass- chicks not really any. I hate reading aboutpeople who buy chicks and then think that they can stick 'em in a yard and pour some water in a bowl. I don't think that chickens can die from curly toe, so thats probably another matter. For more disease links, here. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=424922 edited for added information
Please tell your friend that chicks need supplemental heat, and chick starter food. You can't put baby chicks out on grass, in the winter, and expect them to live. Most of us raise chicks in a brooder. Search the site for brooder suggestions.
Hi, thank you all so much! Maybe she isn't using heat, and her letter says, "baby chicks." I wish I could afford to buy her a book about chickens but what I see costs over $100, if not $200. I would go with a $25 book to help her. I just looked online and they have cheaper books than the disease books. Does anyone here recommend a book on raising chickens that includes diseases and how to treat them?
Storeys Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow is a book a recommend to friends getting started with chickens. She also wrote The Chicken Health Handbook, but I don't have it in my library to recommend it. Check out half.com for less expensive books. one of Gail Damerow's books listed for $5.75 +shipping on Half.com
That's to bad that she's losing them! Tell her to bring them in the house and place them in a plastic tub or something with a heating pad underneath on one end set on medium if she can't afford a heat lamp. Chickens for Dummies is a good book and it covers a bit on diseases also! I think it runs around $25.00 to 30 or so. She might consider feeding them the medicated chick starter since it helps to refrain cocci from breaking out.
Thank you so much. I ordered the books used. Also where can she get b2 and how much should she give them if it is curly toe.
