Colorado

[trochefarm]

I got my first three chicks today!! Got them home and dunked their beaks then they promptly pooped and feel asleep! WHEW!! Tired chicks. I'll do a photo shoot in a little bit, give them some time to get their feathers in place before they have to face the camera! e

Yay! Congrats!

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

For those looking for chicks: Big R on Fontaine in Security/Widefield has chicks. That's where we've gotten ours, and the chicks are very healthy. Only one out of 20 got sick, but we think it was from genetics. They sell those chicks fast, so the sooner is probably the better!

 

[P-Funk]

For those looking for chicks: Big R on Fontaine in Security/Widefield has chicks. That's where we've gotten ours, and the chicks are very healthy. Only one out of 20 got sick, but we think it was from genetics. They sell those chicks fast, so the sooner is probably the better!

The one in Elizabeth has theirs in also

 

[coloradogal]

So here are my thoughts on pasty butt. In nature, almost all baby animals eat poop in order to get their gut bacteria started. I haven't seen pasty butt in broody raised chicks and maybe, because we are raising most chicks in a "sterile environment", without adult chicken poop and such things around, our chicks would benefit from a dose of probiotics right off the bat as well.

Which fits into my anecdotal observation that when I supplement from the get go kefir (probiotic)/mash, they don't get pasty butt.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Yummmm, kefir! CUTE pups by the way! The best dog we ever had was a Bullmastiff x Great Dane mix that died protecting the kids from a German Shepherd.

 

[wsmith]

So here are my thoughts on pasty butt. In nature, almost all baby animals eat poop in order to get their gut bacteria started. I haven't seen pasty butt in broody raised chicks and maybe, because we are raising most chicks in a "sterile environment", without adult chicken poop and such things around, our chicks would benefit from a dose of probiotics right off the bat as well.

I have already added old bedding from the main hen house to the brooder houses for that very reason.

 

[Mtn Margie]

I have already added old bedding from the main hen house to the brooder houses for that very reason.

HA! Something else to sell...., organic chicken innoculation stuff to help jumpstart those baby chickies! You can sell it to the newbies. I think I should just be your business manager! LOL!

 

[wsmith]

HA! Something else to sell...., organic chicken innoculation stuff to help jumpstart those baby chickies! You can sell it to the newbies. I think I should just be your business manager! LOL!

Now, now, lets not give folks reason to think that we would be advertizing anything for sale on this thread....... LOL

 

[jgurshtein]

Which fits into my anecdotal observation that when I supplement from the get go kefir (probiotic)/mash, they don't get pasty butt.

Yeah, after reading this (and based on many personal observations of myself and my other animals) I ran to the kitchen to add some yogurt to a bit of their feed! I've seen them peck at it a few times but they still seem to prefer the regular feed....

 

[coloradogal]

I have already added old bedding from the main hen house to the brooder houses for that very reason.

I've done that for a completely different reason. I do that to try to have them get the same scent as the flock itself. I guess at the back of my mind I've considered the colonization of bacteria to their gut. But my main reason for doing that was to get them covered in their scent.

In the picture i posted of the babies, that fine stuff is the underbelly of my coop material. I do deep litter and it breaks down into that smallish size material. I use fresh shavings for my coop but the outside stuff mostly for the babies. That sounds gross but I don't notice a major stink component to it. It is dustier than I'd like though.

The only downside of the deep litter method is that the litter never looks clean.