BDutch's bantam flock & natural breeding projects #5 🪺 🪺 and #6

[NanaK]

Junior is a cutie!

I've seen some here tape crooked toes into place and it corrects if done shortly after hatch. I have no experience with it myself.

The toe that hooks under the middle toe would be my concern. I wonder if the toe nail would rub on the bottom of the middle toe and cause bumble foot?
Hope that makes sense?

Maybe as the chick grows the nail could be kept short?

 

[BDutch]

Junior is a cutie!

I've seen some here tape crooked toes into place and it corrects if done shortly after hatch. I have no experience with it myself.

The toe that hooks under the middle toe would be my concern. I wonder if the toe nail would rub on the bottom of the middle toe and cause bumble foot?
Hope that makes sense?

Maybe as the chick grows the nail could be kept short?

Thanks, I can try to make it strait with tape tomorrow evening.

 

[BDutch]

Thanks, I can try to make it strait with tape tomorrow evening.

I don’t need to. The foot is looking normal. All by itself.

Junior is active today and is keeping up with the other chicks without any problems.

 

[Sequel]

I don’t need to. The foot is looking normal. All by itself.

Junior is active today and is keeping up with the other chicks without any problems. View attachment 3497542

That is just amazing! I’m so happy for you and the chick!

 

[BDutch]

Pff, the first days were a bit nerve wrecking. But today it went great.

The chicks stayed in the nestboxes and the portal upstairs til after breakfast. At some point the chicks went down the board-ladder and stayed to play and scratch with the mama’s in the soil all day. At 6 pm, way before dark, they were all upstairs again. Maybe the went up early because it was getting cold by then.

I put food and water in both places.
The other 3 chickens could free range all morning.

 

[BDutch]

The mama’s and chicks seem to have a routine.
After sunrise they stay upstairs in the sleeping area (2 nest boxes and a hallway/platform with food and water).
Around 10 they go downstairs and stay there until around 5 o'clock. The mama’s scratch for food. The chicks eat what the mama’s find + they eat pellets with water. After eating and walking around they take a break and warm up again under mothers wings. This is repeated several time a day. At the end of the day they return to the bedroom area. And hang around until it’s time to sleep.

Upstairs ^

Downstairs ^

 

[Sequel]

The mama’s and chicks seem to have a routine.
After sunrise they stay upstairs in the sleeping area (2 nest boxes and a hallway/platform with food and water).
Around 10 they go downstairs and stay there until around 5 o'clock. The mama’s scratch for food. The chicks eat what the mama’s find + they eat pellets with water. After eating and walking around they take a break and warm up again under mothers wings. This is repeated several time a day. At the end of the day they return to the bedroom area. And hang around until it’s time to sleep.

View attachment 3500851

I just had to read that aloud to DH! They are adorable!

 

[ManueB]

The mama’s and chicks seem to have a routine.
After sunrise they stay upstairs in the sleeping area (2 nest boxes and a hallway/platform with food and water).
Around 10 they go downstairs and stay there until around 5 o'clock. The mama’s scratch for food. The chicks eat what the mama’s find + they eat pellets with water. After eating and walking around they take a break and warm up again under mothers wings. This is repeated several time a day. At the end of the day they return to the bedroom area. And hang around until it’s time to sleep.

View attachment 3500851
Upstairs ^

View attachment 3501230
Downstairs ^

Curious to know how high is the second level ? And how many days did it take the chicks to all successfully manage the ramp (apart from the one who did not manage to get back up ).

 

[BDutch]

The first floor is about 50 cm high. I put a stone underneath the end of the ramp to decrease the angle and made a step up at the bottom.

The mama’s kept the chicks upstairs the days after they hatched. Thursday was the first hatch and Saturday the last. On Saturday a chick escaped and I found her peeping downstairs. And put her back up. I checked several times to be sure there were no peeps getting cold.

On Sunday the mama’s went downstairs with 7 chicks. I didn’t witnest this. But checking, I found two that were left behind (Junior and a tiny Dutch) . They didn’t seem to understand how to follow. And to make sure the mama’s would see them, I ‘pushed’ them both downstairs. The tiny Dutch had no problems walking around but Junior did. The mama’s were not looking after him when he peeped being cold. That’s why I took him inside and made sure he was warm.
The bunch stayed downstairs till about 5 pm. Checking on them I found the mama’s with 5 chicks upstairs’. But two were still downstairs behind a carton with nesting material I put on the ground floor to make a comfortable kind of nesting box downstairs, so they could stay downstairs if preferred. It seemed stupid that I did offer this choice.
Because two chicks were behind this box having trouble finding their way up. I put them upstairs and put Junior in the nest box with the mama’s.
Checking again later, but no chicks went downstairs again.
Next day MDH kept an eye on them. All went well. The chicks all learned how to use the ramp. Even Junior being only 2 days old.

 

[BDutch]

Time for a bedtime story.