confused baby chicks and eststing chickens

[cary 1973]

ok so i know when any new birds come in they need to be away from exsisting flock for 30 -60 days. but I want to get 2 amurcanas chicks in spring and was going to try and have my buff orphinton help raise them as 1 day old chicks there is a feed store that sales them and are suppose to call me as soon as they are hatched and sexed. so my confusion is this new born chicks do they carry disease is it best just to hand raise them how do other people do it. I love my 4 girls I ahve now they are more pets then anything else and dont want to do any thing to harm them, should I just for get about adding to my flock?

 

[Mrs. K]

Cary1973

You have to wait and see if you get blessed with a broody hen. That is the important part here. A broody hen can be tricked into accepting freshly hatched chicks.

Because you have a business that is close by, and will probably have chicks all spring you are lucky. Buff Orpingtons are known to go broody, but it is not a 100% deal. There is no real way of making a hen go broody, you just are blessed or not.

Do NOT put chicks with even the nicest of hens that are not broody. It will not work, and VERY VERY likely the hens will kill the chicks. Even if you have a broody hen, she will have to defend her chicks from the rest of the flock. If you have enough space in your set up, it works quite well to have the hen raise the chicks. I would not do it any other way.

Do not waste your time worrying about the health of the chicks, at that size, sick chicks are quickly dead chicks, they won't make it to the business that is selling you the chicks.

But you should worry about getting a broody hen, cause without one in that condition you CANNOT raise chicks in the flock, and really need to keep them separated from the flock until they are very close to the same size as the laying flock.

MrsK

 

[jdywntr]

ok so i know when any new birds come in they need to be away from exsisting flock for 30 -60 days. but I want to get 2 amurcanas chicks in spring and was going to try and have my buff orphinton help raise them as 1 day old chicks there is a feed store that sales them and are suppose to call me as soon as they are hatched and sexed. so my confusion is this new born chicks do they carry disease is it best just to hand raise them how do other people do it. I love my 4 girls I ahve now they are more pets then anything else and dont want to do any thing to harm them, should I just for get about adding to my flock?

Day olds that are from a hatchery will not carry diseases (most likely). They go from the incubator to the shipping box and don't have contact with the ground or other birds.

Your chicken will not necessarily accept chicks, she will know they are not hers. If she is broody and sitting on infertile or fake eggs, you can try putting day olds under her around the time the eggs she is sitting on would hatch. Not all birds that hatch their own are good mothers though.

 

[Jarrett Dobbins]

Currently, I am trying to make a chicken "foster" some chicks that are due to hatch Saturday. What I did is let the hen get broody, separated her, put some dummy eggs under her, and left her be. I slid some of the incubated eggs under her today and I am letting her hatch those herself then once my egg in the incubator hatch I plan on adding them in with the hen and her chicks. For more: www.dobbins4025.wix.com/chicken-boy

 

[galanie]

Go in at night and slip the new chicks under the broody chicken. Doesn't matter if she's been sitting a week or 3 weeks, she'll most likely accept them. They will instinctively dive under that warm fluff and she'll just settle in again and go back to sleep. Just be sure to be there and watch in the morning to be sure she really did accept them. I've done this 5 or more times now. Even my worst "momma" accepted them all.

 

[cary 1973]

im not getting the chicks from mail order I would have a nervous brake down before they made it here via mail and worrying about them. Sunset feed and tackle sales them and they are hatched at the big farm that is owned by them this is were I got my girl I have now back in April thats why i worry about the disease bring to my girls with one day old chicks from another farm. but this is there busness and they have been around from when I was a little kid so over 40 years. So I am thinking they would not sell bad chicks i just am a worry wort

 

[cary 1973]

I am lucky I have 6 sections to my back yard I have a big big dog creat that is in my room at this moment for cold nights and one of my girls have moved in she is at the bottom of pecking order. So if I dont have a broody i have knowledge now how to rais chicks as my 4 girls I have now were day old and little bit was fresh hatched barly dry. My buff orphintong has yet gone broody funny thought my leghorns have gone broody 4 times now in under a year and my pheonix is currently broody but they suck at being broody as she gets off and on the nest all day long some times for over hour to two. My leg horns share the role of head chicken and are the bullys to my little bit who has moved her self to a new flock full of dogs and cats. She is one of the reasons I am getting a few more chickens I am hoping she will bond with them and then it would be 3 agisnt 2 (my buff oprh cherrios loves everyone and dose not have a agressive bone in her body) So I am not goig to worry about geting baby chicks when they come in.

Will add this ? it may belong in chick section but. When I got my 4 girls I was told by almost everyone except lady at feed store that when all was said and done at least 1 but more and likly 2 would die thats just the way it goes. But I am happy to say as I seat here and type this I have 4 out of 4 chickens. I was told sexing is just a % and there was a chance of having a boy well as I seat here and type this I have 4 out of 4 laying eggs all be it one gives me soft shelled eggs 4 out of 5 times a week. I boke the odds once my main worry is dying chicks did I beat the odds or was everyone else just wrong? I have 3 back up plans if one turns out to be a boy where he will go live out his life.

 

[galanie]

I don't know why people say to expect chicks to die. I've had them die but you'll be able to tell only a couple days after hatch, or even right away, that they are weak and not doing well. Those are the only ones I'd "expect" to die. And that doesn't happen often enough to count on it. You just treated them right and didn't let them get sick.

 

[Mrs. K]

what I meant was that sick chicks die quickly, and that you are not likely to add a disease to your existing flock by adding healthy chicks.

If you want to see a sweet hen, get mean, add the chicks to her if she is not broody. And if they are getting off the nest, they are not truly broody.

MrsK

 

[galanie]

Understood. And you are right. Some though are born weak and will die, usually no matter what you do. They just will. I've gone the extra mile and done everything humanly possible to save a weak, sick chick that seemed to be healthy right at hatch and they just die. In only a few days. This is not disease though. And you never should "expect" a certain number to just die. You expect them all to live. If a few don't make it cause they were hatched with unknown problems, that's different. It's unheard of for NPIP certified and hatchery chicks to bring any disease into your flock, by the way.