Chick having trouble standing

[Sparrow Farm]

You are doing good, yes the paper towels will drive you nuts. I keep babies on it till it just gets to be too much and that could be 3 days or 5 days depends on how many I have. Last batch I had 200, 100 in each swimming pool and I think we were out of there in 2 days. I am in the rebuilding process since my flock got AI last October. That was horrible! Yes June July August September most of October November it's HOT here. My husband does A/C work so good for him. But I like the cold. What I do for the food and water is I put in a water system and the cups are high so that the majority of the kicking of wood chips stays out of the water. You still have to maintain it but at least it won't get so bad that they don't have water. I put little lifts in so they have to jump up on say a block to reach the water. The feed you can do the same put it up on something to keep the chips out but the feed is not a big an issue as the water. As for the wood chips. You can just keep adding a new layer of wood shavings over the other this keeps them on the new fresh stuff. UNLESS ITS WET! Wet has to go. Take all this stuff when you move them to the big coops and put them around your garden trees, bushes, or just dump it in a pile and let it mulch down. It is dynamite for the plants. Watch the temps. but also listen, if you can lend an ear to them without them noticing you and stopping what they are doing your ears are just as important as your eyes with the birds. You should hear happy little peeps, it's very soft and well happy. If you hear more of a screech high pitch panic sound they are not happy. I can always tell approaching something is not right, no water, ran out of food, someone stuck. Now, if they get suck for too long they will stop any sound so it's good to check on them.

Wow! I can’t even imagine having that many chicks! Do you guys raise them for meat or just as egg production? I am sorry to hear AI wiped out your flock. I am sure that was devastating. My husband does HVAC too. We just bought our house in January. It has baseboard heat and no ac, so he has some work to do, but there is so much on the to do list, we decided not to worry about it this summer. I imagine by August, we will regret that decision!

 

[jjaazzy]

Oh man, it was horrible, we really don't suffer much loss here, a bird here or there for whatever reason. But very low percentage. Monday, rolls around and I have 2 dead, something is up. Midday I have more birds looking sketchy and another dead. Now I know something is going south fast. My first thought is poison, I put in a poinciana tree which I had a customer tell me she had issue with but it's way out in the field and they go there but it's not a hang out area. So I go to Walmart and get charcoal and start making moves to find a lab to send them. By Tuesday I had 4 fresh dead birds in a cooler I just purchased from Walmart and packed it with ice and off to Fedex it went. By Thursday they called with the horrible news. So they were dual purpose birds and I had 100 super egg layers. We raised the dual purpose to get people started for their own backyard flocks and I help with the decisions that go into setting up. Along with other stuff like fertile eggs. So they came the following Monday and euthanized the remaining birds. It was just the worse, I was out there for a while it was so hot, and they were in their bunny suits and I know they were doing the best they could, but they were handling them a bit rough, and I just couldn't stay out there so I went inside. my Son stayed and helped them. We had a huge team here close to 400 birds took a very long time and lots of garbage bags. (frowny face)

How cool congratulations on the house, we are working also on our house, a fixer! I won't tell you how long we have been doing that lol but do live in the house before you make any decisions. I agonize over all decisions. I use Houzz for ideas, they used to be a wonderful site for information, and how to help, but the snarky people have taken over, the great people have left, and the ones left are of zero help. They just create self-doubt and anxiety. lots of anxiety! If you ever need help with bathrooms, I can maybe help you with some decisions and water proofing. I have done 3 bathrooms now and working on my 4th and we have done a kitchen remodel too. With your husband doing HVAC I am sure he is multi skilled.

 

[Sparrow Farm]

Oh man, it was horrible, we really don't suffer much loss here, a bird here or there for whatever reason. But very low percentage. Monday, rolls around and I have 2 dead, something is up. Midday I have more birds looking sketchy and another dead. Now I know something is going south fast. My first thought is poison, I put in a poinciana tree which I had a customer tell me she had issue with but it's way out in the field and they go there but it's not a hang out area. So I go to Walmart and get charcoal and start making moves to find a lab to send them. By Tuesday I had 4 fresh dead birds in a cooler I just purchased from Walmart and packed it with ice and off to Fedex it went. By Thursday they called with the horrible news. So they were dual purpose birds and I had 100 super egg layers. We raised the dual purpose to get people started for their own backyard flocks and I help with the decisions that go into setting up. Along with other stuff like fertile eggs. So they came the following Monday and euthanized the remaining birds. It was just the worse, I was out there for a while it was so hot, and they were in their bunny suits and I know they were doing the best they could, but they were handling them a bit rough, and I just couldn't stay out there so I went inside. my Son stayed and helped them. We had a huge team here close to 400 birds took a very long time and lots of garbage bags. (frowny face)

How cool congratulations on the house, we are working also on our house, a fixer! I won't tell you how long we have been doing that lol but do live in the house before you make any decisions. I agonize over all decisions. I use Houzz for ideas, they used to be a wonderful site for information, and how to help, but the snarky people have taken over, the great people have left, and the ones left are of zero help. They just create self-doubt and anxiety. lots of anxiety! If you ever need help with bathrooms, I can maybe help you with some decisions and water proofing. I have done 3 bathrooms now and working on my 4th and we have done a kitchen remodel too. With your husband doing HVAC I am sure he is multi skilled.

How awful! Bird flu is no joke! We are raising Buckeyes as dual purpose birds. I’ve never had them before (had a small mixed flock several years ago, but had to get rid of them due to being in the city). We live in Ohio, so decided to try out Buckeyes since they were bred in Ohio. I’m hoping to get the flock to the point that hens will go broody and keep the meat supply coming. What breeds do you raise?

We actually renovated our last house, and it was a pain, but so worth it in the end! I know what you mean about the time - it took us seven years to finish, but it was a total gut job! It was my husband’s grandparents’ house. We thought it would be mostly cosmetic when we bought it. Boy were we wrong! This house won’t be a total gut job (at least we hope), but we do have to gut the existing bathroom, tear out a corner of the kitchen, replace windows, trim, roof, porch railings, refinish floors, and so much more! It’s never ending when working on a house, something I’m sure you know all about!

 

[jjaazzy]

And on and on and on, I hear ya, and I like new so I am like gut it! Well I am also in the city but zone Ag so I can have roosters, to the dismay of my close neighbors. I had beautiful Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, Bearded Silkies, Black Copper Marans Speckled Sussex and others that I was breeding I had picked up fertile eggs when traveling and got great birds with good hatch rates cause I baby sit the eggs in transport. I also brought in females to sell to my locals because most can't take a chance of a rooster. We would process the roosters as we had to clean them out. So we are set up to process, but we hate it. I mean really hate it. The only thing I do like is we work together as a team the 3 of us. My DH does the deed and I did the cleaning. We worked together dunking and we have a plucker. BTW if you don't have one get a good one, even if from china. I got one from tractor and it worked 2 x and the way its made the whole thing seized up and thats not what you want to find out when you are ready to work, everything is set up and that thing won't do the deed. We did some red rangers, and some cornish but really we had so much of the roosters that is what we worked on. Makes great soups. Not familiar with the Buckeys. 6 months of feeding? Feed prices now are insane, I was complaining before but now.. yikes. You can email me directly if you need help....... angryroooster yahoo. you can figure that out I just don't want to be hacked.

 

[Sparrow Farm]

And on and on and on, I hear ya, and I like new so I am like gut it! Well I am also in the city but zone Ag so I can have roosters, to the dismay of my close neighbors. I had beautiful Blue Laced Red Wyandotte, Bearded Silkies, Black Copper Marans Speckled Sussex and others that I was breeding I had picked up fertile eggs when traveling and got great birds with good hatch rates cause I baby sit the eggs in transport. I also brought in females to sell to my locals because most can't take a chance of a rooster. We would process the roosters as we had to clean them out. So we are set up to process, but we hate it. I mean really hate it. The only thing I do like is we work together as a team the 3 of us. My DH does the deed and I did the cleaning. We worked together dunking and we have a plucker. BTW if you don't have one get a good one, even if from china. I got one from tractor and it worked 2 x and the way its made the whole thing seized up and thats not what you want to find out when you are ready to work, everything is set up and that thing won't do the deed. We did some red rangers, and some cornish but really we had so much of the roosters that is what we worked on. Makes great soups. Not familiar with the Buckeys. 6 months of feeding? Feed prices now are insane, I was complaining before but now.. yikes. You can email me directly if you need help....... angryroooster yahoo. you can figure that out I just don't want to be hacked.

Thanks! The Buckeyes are a minimum of six months for processing, and that’s probably the minimal processing weight. I’ve read where some suggest up to 10 months, which eliminates a lot of cooking methods, but the meat is supposed to be very flavorful. We can’t do that this batch, though, because I ordered straight run to force us to process for meat (considering a lot will likely be Roos). I am hoping we have 12 females and we will keep the best roo). The rest will go in our freezer. They are supposed to be great foragers and good at evading predators, so we are going to try to free range them. We have 30 acres, but only about an acre is fenced. Planning to try the fenced portion to start. If all goes well, we will only have to worry about commercial feed being their main source of food for a couple of months. Right now, I have them on game bird/turkey starter at 30% protein, so hopefully, they will be ready to process by December.

 

[jjaazzy]

It will be interesting to see how it goes, mine run on almost 2 acers but we have a house an a barn on the property so I guess all in they have a little over 1 acer. I find boiling them makes them the most tender and I cook them for hours and hours it makes great stock. Try Mottled Orpingtons those guys were huge, I mean really plump and huge, I did try and cook one in the oven but I think I let it go to long and it was not a fair assessment but it was chewy. I'd like to do the meaty ones again, but too much going on now and if I make it to laying age with this group with no catastrophes I will be elated. It's been 1 year out of business. An right now all expenses. It will be interesting to see if you can scale back the commercial food that far, these birds like to eat! I should have taken this time to plant some stuff to supplement but we are so hot here not much grows well. You could probably fodder with your temperatures, get some barley and build a fodder stand. I wanted to but again too hot and I can't get the barley. Tried sprouting oats but not many sprout. It's just turns into another thing to do with not much return.....

 

[Sparrow Farm]

It will be interesting to see how it goes, mine run on almost 2 acers but we have a house an a barn on the property so I guess all in they have a little over 1 acer. I find boiling them makes them the most tender and I cook them for hours and hours it makes great stock. Try Mottled Orpingtons those guys were huge, I mean really plump and huge, I did try and cook one in the oven but I think I let it go to long and it was not a fair assessment but it was chewy. I'd like to do the meaty ones again, but too much going on now and if I make it to laying age with this group with no catastrophes I will be elated. It's been 1 year out of business. A right now all expenses. It will be interesting to see if you can scale back the commercial food that far, these birds like to eat! I should have taken this time to plant some stuff to supplement but we are so hot here not much grows well. You could probably fodder with your temperatures, get some barley and build a fodder stand. I wanted to but again too hot and I can't get the barley. Tried sprouting oats but not many sprout. It's just turns into another thing to do with not much return.....

I am very interested in growing fodder. Did you guys grow it in your barn? We have a barn also, but it needs a lot of work before we can use it for anything, though maybe I could get by with growing fodder in there. My husband still hasn’t decided if it is worth the money we would have to invest to fix it. Have you ever fermented feed? I will look into the mottled orpingtons, thanks!

 

[jjaazzy]

I am very interested in growing fodder. Did you guys grow it in your barn? We have a barn also, but it needs a lot of work before we can use it for anything, though maybe I could get by with growing fodder in there. My husband still hasn’t decided if it is worth the money we would have to invest to fix it. Have you ever fermented feed? I will look into the mottled orpingtons, thanks!

I tried it's just too hot here, and the refrigerator is too cold. Maybe a wine cooler would do it. One with a glass door I think you can set those things so they are warmer then the fridge. I also can't get barley down here. I ordered some seeds from up north and tried them. Only did a little it just doesn't sprout good. You know what I can sprout is cantalope seeds and lentils. But they are not crazy about the lentils. I should have been growing up papaya cause they do like that (I don't care for it). I was trying to come up with ways to stretch the food bill last year. At one point I was going through 100 to 150lbs a day. crazy. I hope to not get to that point again. As for the fermented feed. It's just too messy and I worry about bacteria's and botulism. IDK I just don't want to deal with it. People say it does stretch the feed. There is a lady on youtube that has a nice video of it.

 

[Sparrow Farm]

I tried it's just too hot here, and the refrigerator is too cold. Maybe a wine cooler would do it. One with a glass door I think you can set those things so they are warmer then the fridge. I also can't get barley down here. I ordered some seeds from up north and tried them. Only did a little it just doesn't sprout good. You know what I can sprout is cantalope seeds and lentils. But they are not crazy about the lentils. I should have been growing up papaya cause they do like that (I don't care for it). I was trying to come up with ways to stretch the food bill last year. At one point I was going through 100 to 150lbs a day. crazy. I hope to not get to that point again. As for the fermented feed. It's just too messy and I worry about bacteria's and botulism. IDK I just don't want to deal with it. People say it does stretch the feed. There is a lady on youtube that has a nice video of it.

Wow, that’s a lot of feed! I love papaya. It’s really good with a wedge of lime squeezed over it. I ended up looking at a thread for fodder where one of the commenters suggested using bleach water with the seeds when they are pre soaking. That seemed a little scary to me, but then, I wonder what all is in the tap water I have been giving them! Still, not sure I can knowingly add bleach to water for soaking their seeds!

 

[Blondiegoldiechicks]

Good morning,

I have 30 Buckeye chicks that will be 3 weeks old on Tuesday. Last week, I noticed a couple with droopy wings that were acting lethargic, so I treated them for Coccidiosis as a precaution. On Thursday, I replaced the Corid water with Nutri Drench, which I gave them for two days. During the Corid treatment, the chicks that were dropping their wings and acting lethargic stopped dropping their wings and all chicks seemed happy and healthy. This morning, one of the chicks was laying on it’s side and didn’t try to run from me when I picked it up. I gave it electrolyte water, which it drank with no issue and put it in a separate brooder with food, which it is also eating very well. However, it seems too weak to stand. It is trying, but it’s right leg seems weak. Any thoughts? It is a smaller chick. Could the bigger chicks be starving it?

When mine were babies, I gave them Pedialyte. Some were lethargic and Pedialyte perked them right up. The ones that weren't drinking, I grabbed them and tipped their beak in the Pedialyte and water until they started drinking and getting healthier. I also had crumbled their crumble Incase the crumble was to big for their little beaks.
I hope this helps!