BYC members in Massachusetts?

[ChickAsThieves]

Obviously, I have not seen your chicks, so I don't know what stage of feather development that they are at, but I would imagine they are not fully feathered at 2-3 weeks. I have chicks in the brooder that are a week old today, and they only have wing feathers. Fully feathered would mean absolutely no down left on them, in my opinion. I'm going to guess that the first time I brooded chicks and moved them to the coop it was probably late May and they were 5-6 weeks old.

Do you have other birds in the coop, or is this your first flock?

 

[Mom2Sav]

They have hardly any feathers right now. In a week or so I will transition them to a crate in the back where it gets cool but still inside and will obviously use a heat lamp. I do have 12 hens but was thinking of segregating them from the chicks once outside. Is that a good idea? My husband is going to build an addition to the coop for that purpose. Altogether I would have 14-16 growing chicks that will need to be transitioned to outside coop. Please help! Lol

I'm getting a bit flustered. Thanks

 

[Mom2Sav]

Incidentally I lost a hen today. She was older. She had been staying close to the coop for a few days but some of the older ones do that. She didn't seem to want to eat much yesterday. Today she just was lethargic. I brought her in (maybe I shouldn't have) cleaned off her bottom and tried to give her water. She just let it run out of her mouth. She went down hill rapidly. Then she convulsed a bit and died.

Any thoughts as to what happened? Everyone else seems fine. I lost a chick day before yesterday so now I'm getting paranoid.

 

[Rozzychick]

Hi Aimee! 

Im new to chickens too but mine are due to hatch in 11 days   I live in Upton so very close to you.  Actually I was in Millville the other day.  Its even smaller than Upton.  I was actually at those antique mills in Uxbridge looking for windows for my coop and someone there gave me a tip for a place in Millville with windows so off we went.  I didn't find anything so unfortunately I'm still looking for another window.  I really wanted a speckled sussex but there were none available for my hatch date.  Where did you order from?  Have you built your coop yet?  Im almost done with my coop and it has been quite the adventure.  I ordered from Meyers and I got 15 plus the meal maker but I plan on giving 8 away to a friend.  I would love to keep them all but I don't want to overcrowd my coop.  I really think it would be wiser to start smaller and then maybe add a few next year but I couldnt resist all the different breeds.  I already want to add some blue egg layers as I was unable to get any for my hatch date.  I ordered:
2 Buff Orpingtons
2 Lavender Orpingtons
2 Barred Rocks
2 Partridge Cochin
1 White rock
1 Swedish Flower Hen
1 Light Brahma
1 Gold Laced Wyandotte
1 Barnevelder
1 Meyers Meal Maker

Can't wait.  Dont forget to post pictures!  

Definitely start small! They lay better if they have plenty of room. I also part-time free range.

 

[Rozzychick]

They have hardly any feathers right now.  In a week or so I will transition them to a crate in the back where it gets cool but still inside and will obviously use a heat lamp.  I do have 12 hens but was thinking of segregating them from the chicks once outside.  Is that a good idea?  My husband is going to build an addition to the coop for that purpose.  Altogether I would have 14-16 growing chicks that will need to be transitioned to outside coop.  Please help!  Lol I'm getting a bit flustered.  Thanks

Definitely segregate them! My older hens did their best to try and murder the new ones last spring. Do some reading about introducing new ones to the flock. They young ones need to be I think at least 4-5 months to hold their own. Good luck! Sorry for your losses.

 

[windyridgefarm]

Incidentally I lost a hen today. She was older. She had been staying close to the coop for a few days but some of the older ones do that. She didn't seem to want to eat much yesterday. Today she just was lethargic. I brought her in (maybe I shouldn't have) cleaned off her bottom and tried to give her water. She just let it run out of her mouth. She went down hill rapidly. Then she convulsed a bit and died.

Any thoughts as to what happened? Everyone else seems fine. I lost a chick day before yesterday so now I'm getting paranoid.

Might be a good idea to do a necropsy. Older hens can have a problem when they start laying again. I had a hen acting very similar to what you describe. I was feeling so guilty I wasnt able to help her, until I did the necropsy. I found out that she was backed up from egg production with the entire egg track filled with a scrambled egg like material. Once I determined the cause of death and realized there was nothing more I could have done to help her my conscience was clear and I was able to make homemade chicken and rice dog food.
In the past I would just bury any chicken that died of unknown causes and spend the next couple of weeks wondering, as you are, if everyone else would be ok. Since then I have found that I can usually figure out the cause of death and learn something from it. The biggest benefit is that it cuts down on the anxiety and guilt of wondering. Why?

 

[windyridgefarm]

You have my sympathy. Always hard to lose a chick.

Someone did something to my incubator and somehow the temp got set down from 37.6 to 30 deg C right before they were due to hatch. Was hoping I caught it in time and gave them an extra day to catch up. Gave up this morning and opened the eggs to find 24/24 perfectly formed little chicks hours from hatching. It is still heartbreaking especially since some of the eggs were from the chicken I lost. She was a beautiful blue Ameraucana and laid extra large bright blue eggs. I was so happy to keep her line going until I didnt.
The good news, most likely the people who purchased hatching eggs from me the last few weeks, are hatching some of her eggs.

 

[windyridgefarm]

That's them! They rent incubators AND hens! I guess it's so people can try out chicken keeping. They said it's been really successful.

Hi Do you mind if I ask...Do you know how much they were renting out the incubators for? I was thinking of doing it as well with a few smaller incubators I have.

 

[Mom2Sav]

You have my sympathy. Always hard to lose a chick.

Someone did something to my incubator and somehow the temp got set down from 37.6 to 30 deg C right before they were due to hatch. Was hoping I caught it in time and gave them an extra day to catch up. Gave up this morning and opened the eggs to find 24/24 perfectly formed little chicks hours from hatching. It is still heartbreaking especially since some of the eggs were from the chicken I lost. She was a beautiful blue Ameraucana and laid extra large bright blue eggs. I was so happy to keep her line going until I didnt.
The good news, most likely the people who purchased hatching eggs from me the last few weeks, are hatching some of her eggs.

Oh, I'm so sorry! What a heartbreaking loss.

 

[windyridgefarm]

Oh, I'm so sorry! What a heartbreaking loss.

Thank you, It is not the first time I lost chicks in incubator and probably wont be the last, but it is usually something out of your control like a power loss or part of the learning curve. This would have been funny if it had turned out differently. The person I suspect did it came to me like you picture a guilty child would... "When are the chicks supposed to hatch??? and Um uurr What temperature is the incubator supposed to be at??... for hatching egggs???" I checked and raised it right away ,,, but guess it was down longer than I thought.