Colorado

[LeCoqPoulailler]

Hi everyone!

I have my first batch of chicks ever this year and they are now 8 weeks old! We put a chicken nipple waterer up in the coop, and I am concerned about them freezing with the upcoming snowstorm. Does anyone else use or have experience with chicken nipples and cold? Should I have a water dish just in case?

 

[Mtn Margie]

Hi everyone!

I have my first batch of chicks ever this year and they are now 8 weeks old! We put a chicken nipple waterer up in the coop, and I am concerned about them freezing with the upcoming snowstorm. Does anyone else use or have experience with chicken nipples and cold? Should I have a water dish just in case?

Howdy! I would put a dish in just in case. If you put it up on something sturdy that they can't jump up on but it is chest high to them, they might not play in it as much. But then at 8 weeks old, mayhem is what they live for..... I am not sure where you live, but I don't think our temps are predicted to get too nasty cold, just cold enough to snow.

 

[wsmith]

Last night I cleaned and scrubbed down the incubator, then put in what i hope is the last batch if this season. Due to hatch on or about the 29th. And yes, I checked to make sure the turner was plugged in and working... LOL

We ended up with 5 chicks from the botched turner batch: 4 Doms and 1 DE.

 

[Percheron chick]

If you haven't yet, it's time to go out and pick the wild asparagus. I could live on poached eggs and asparagus over an english muffin. Yummm!

 

[Aacre]

Mmm mmm! Asparagus is awesome. A lot of the farmers in this area have burned the ditches and I am worried that some of the asparagus didn't survive out here.

 

[Percheron chick]

That's where I find most of mine.

 

[Euarto Gullible]

Last night I cleaned and scrubbed down the incubator, then put in what i hope is the last batch if this season. Due to hatch on or about the 29th. And yes, I checked to make sure the turner was plugged in and working... LOL

We ended up with 5 chicks from the botched turner batch: 4 Doms and 1 DE.

Was the turner unplugged the whole time? I've always wondered what the hatch rate would be if they weren't turned at all.

 

[LeCoqPoulailler]

Howdy! I would put a dish in just in case. If you put it up on something sturdy that they can't jump up on but it is chest high to them, they might not play in it as much. But then at 8 weeks old, mayhem is what they live for..... I am not sure where you live, but I don't think our temps are predicted to get too nasty cold, just cold enough to snow.

Thanks, I am in Douglas County near Highlands Ranch (right now they are saying 3-5 inches of snow). I will put a water dish in the coop for my rascally teenage chickens lol. I was hoping to not worry about the winter watering problems until the fall lol, but Old Man Winter hasn't given up quite yet!

 

[trsturself]

I can't believe they are calling for snow again. Our nipples would freeze pretty easily but would defrost quickly too as soon as the temp warmed up, especially if they get sun at all. We haven't hooked it back up yet.

Our silkie/egger we got from Samsr wasn't doing good this morning. She was all fluffed up and not moving. It was pretty cold out last night. I was thinking maybe she got pushed to the outside of the
group. I picked her up and she was cold. I brought her in and put her on a heating pad and forced her to drink water and eat some yogurt (she had no interest and just wanted to sleep). We had to leave the house so I put the ecoglow outside for her and put her under it. We came back and she was off with her friends but still fluffed up. I brought her back to the little chick area and put food in front of her. She started chowing down. I put her friends in there and stuck her under the eco glow again. Checked on her again a little while ago and she was off again with her friends all fluffed up. I stuck her under the eco glow again. She's at least walking around and eating though.
While she was inside she pooped once and it was pure bright red blood. Not like poop at all. It was the strangest thing. Her next poop was yellow. I started everyone on a round of corrid just in case. I'm going to put all the little ones in the big coop tonight. It's time for them to get integrated.

 

[Pozees]

Sounds like Corid is in order for sure - Silkies go down fast, they just don't have the resources of a LF juvenile. While Coccidiosis is not as common here as in areas with more humidity, it does exist. You did all the right things - warmth, giving her a chance to eat uninterrupted, and probiotics. After the course of Corid, if no one remains symptomatic, you will want to boost vitamins for a bit, as Corid blocks thiamine uptake and can affect the correct balance of B vitamins, which is thought to be a possible cause or contributor to wry neck, which Silkies are more prone to than other breeds in general. I didn't know that until I had one with wry neck last year. Luckily she fully recovered, and while in treatment in the bathroom was dubbed Peep Peep - she would peep at us anytime we went in to see her, the sweetest little sound