Colorado

[Chook Chick]

My girls are already starting to get wing feathers!! I just got them on Monday, is this consistent with week old chicks?


Also, the wyandotte is pooping something more liquid and 'consistent' than the other girls. By consistent, I mean the other two poop something with a whitish top, brownish middle, and runny edges. The whole dries fairly quickly. The wyandotte's looks more like a slug and takes longer to dry. Here's a pic, not the best...



Is this ok? Bad? Something I can actually affect with food/water changes?

Maybe apple cider vinegar mixed in with their water would help. It does look a bit loose.....I am just guessing here but from everything I've read, people absolutely swear by unfiltered, unprocessed apple cider vinegar and even giving the chicks yogurt, or if you have the budget, powdered pro-biotics.

My girls get acv in with their water twice a day and yogurt once or twice a week. What are you feeding them? Chick Starter/Crumbles?

Watch out for pasty butt too!

 

[P-Funk]

You guys ready for the snow?????

This thing sits in the garage 9 months out of the year. Occasionally it goes out to the pasture to clean up horse pies but that's just when I get really bored

The chooks hate the snow, even though there is a big tarp over their run. They don't leave the coop if it's under 40 degrees. Sissies

Yes, insomnia strikes again. There's no piont in going to sleep at this hour so Mr. John Deere and I are waiting in a state of cat-like readiness. Bring it, we need water !!!

 

[Pozees]

I got 2 day old chicks today and in my group of 4!-5 wkold bantamstandard layer mix I'm having issues with bullying

. I have seperated the 2 day olds for now but I need them integrated asap. I was thinking of cutting a window out of their divider and taping poultry netting in the opening so they get used to seeing one another. Then in about 5 days removing the barrier and seeing how they do. Has anyone had luck doing something similar? I wasn't planning on getting new ones but the feed store gave me 2 cm chicks to make up for a mix up. I couldn't turn down free chicks! Especially the marans I really wanted!

That may work, it's a pretty big age difference for the day-olds - they need heat and the 5 week olds should not need any supplemental heat at this point, or minimal if they haven't completely feathered in yet. Might you be able to put the two little ones in a plastic tote with small water and food and heat lamp for a few weeks until they have feathers? Or maybe you have a set up where you can give the little ones heat without overheating the older ones, then just the window in the divider should work.

 

[dennarahl]

I got 2 day old chicks today and in my group of 4!-5 wkold bantamstandard layer mix I'm having issues with bullying :/ . I have seperated the 2 day olds for now but I need them integrated asap. I was thinking of cutting a window out of their divider and taping poultry netting in the opening so they get used to seeing one another. Then in about 5 days removing the barrier and seeing how they do. Has anyone had luck doing something similar? I wasn't planning on getting new ones but the feed store gave me 2 cm chicks to make up for a mix up. I couldn't turn down free chicks! Especially the marans I really wanted!

Thats exactly how I do it.

 

[Mtn Margie]

We have about 4 inches of snow this am, not as much as they said we might get overnight.
kmatt87 - yep, your older ones have their big chicken attitudes now and so you are just going to have to keep them separate for awhile until the younger ones can at least get out of harms way and be stronger , also eating and drinking with no problems. If you can set something up like what you already suggested, that would work fine.

 

[Pozees]

We have about 4 inches of snow this am, not as much as they said we might get overnight.
kmatt87 - yep, your older ones have their big chicken attitudes now and so you are just going to have to keep them separate for awhile until the younger ones can at least get out of harms way and be stronger , also eating and drinking with no problems. If you can set something up like what you already suggested, that would work fine.

We have nothing - it got windy for a while and we really thought the storm would blow in so we put everything away and I went down to clean chick pens, etc. - so here we are some 16 hours later, and still nothing. Oh well. Guess that means a trip to town to run errands should be straightforward.

MM, do you expect more snow throughout the weekend? And did you ever find the quail you were looking for?

Oh one other thing, I was in Big R yesterday and saw they have straight run and male chicks left only, out of what appears to have been 4 tubs (troughs) of chicks, and the goslings and ducklings were GONE, looked like they had 3 or 4 tubs of geese and one or two of ducks - I'm rather surprised they seem so popular in such a dry area! I guess lots of folks have wading pools. I go back and forth on whether to get geese some day.

 

[kmatt87]

That may work, it's a pretty big age difference for the day-olds - they need heat and the 5 week olds should not need any supplemental heat at this point, or minimal if they haven't completely feathered in yet. Might you be able to put the two little ones in a plastic tote with small water and food and heat lamp for a few weeks until they have feathers?  Or maybe you have a set up where you can give the little ones heat without overheating the older ones, then just the window in the divider should work.

I have the tub seperated and the 5 wk olds may get a small amount of heat but they aren't near the lamp at all.

 

[Mtn Margie]

MM, do you expect more snow throughout the weekend? And did you ever find the quail you were looking for?

We are supposed to get upwards of 2 feet. Let's hope! I haven't gotten the quail yet, but now know what I want. The James Marie XL. I will order eggs later on in the Spring when I can be less stressed over power outages, maybe early summer. Are you interested in getting some?

 

[krcchickens]

Update. The water nipples have been in the brooder since about 3pm yesterday. I only here happy clucking. So they seem to be ok. I think they like the hanging feeder better too. It's ALOT cleaner.

 

[Pozees]

I have the tub seperated and the 5 wk olds may get a small amount of heat but they aren't near the lamp at all.

Oh then you're in good shape! Cool!