First time chick mom here and just need general advice

[Jenhansen]

Electrolytes and probiotics aren't really necessary unless you have sick chicks. If you want to add them though it is perfectly fine.

Thank you!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Ok awesome! Thank you! I love all animals and I wasn’t intending on even having chickens, they literally just landed in my lap but I also take responsibility for all my animals so I try to do the best I can with all of them. I seen all these additives and honestly no one at tractor supply is much help when it comes to chickens so I just figured I would ask the experts on here. I definitely do not want to give them anything they don’t need. I have been checking them religiously to make sure pasty-butt isn’t an issue and if it arises I can handle it quickly. Oh thank you! I will definitely try to make them some mash. I had Covid last year in august and my smell and taste still isn’t back so smell wise nothing bothers me lol. I do live in Louisiana so humidity is horrible all year but I will just feed them the mash when i am able to sit with them while they eat and remove it after that way I don’t even take a chance of it fermenting and harming them.

We share similar climates - I'm FL Panhandle, likely about 100, 150 miles east of you. Smashed my nose in an auto accident about 20 years ago, haven't had a sense of smell since. I understand what you are going thru.

Fermenting can actually be good - makes a few vitamins more bioavailable in some feed ingredients, and reduces some anti-nutritive properties in others - but I don't find it worth my efforts to do it religiously. There are some here who swear by it - put me in the "not opposed to it, but won't go out of my way to do it" camp. If I had a different feed managment system, I might - particularly if I was grinding grains from my pasture, but my pasture has few grains, so...

 

[Jenhansen]

Ok so it won’t necessarily hurt them if it ferments a little then. Honestly I’m kinda like you. I don’t wanna go out of my way to do it if it’s not something that is super beneficial. I will make some this afternoon and see how they enjoy it and go from there. seriously thank you for all your insight!! You are the best! Aww that sucks! Honestly I’ve learned to live without smelling but sometimes it really sucks! I miss the smell of rain so bad but I can and will survive if it never comes back.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Ok so it won’t necessarily hurt them if it ferments a little then. Honestly I’m kinda like you. I don’t wanna go out of my way to do it if it’s not something that is super beneficial. I will make some this afternoon and see how they enjoy it and go from there. seriously thank you for all your insight!! You are the best! Aww that sucks! Honestly I’ve learned to live without smelling but sometimes it really sucks! I miss the smell of rain so bad but I can and will survive if it never comes back.

I'm best in small quantity. But thank you for your kind words.

 

[Jenhansen]

I'm best in small quantity. But thank you for your kind words.

Well your the best in my book! You have been a wealth of information that I do appreciate! You are very welcome and I hope you have an amazing day

 

[nrs3]

This isn’t a big deal, but if you have an open feader, you might want to find a way to keep them from spilling. Ive had chicks spill a ton of feed into thier bedding in the past.

 

[Jenhansen]

This isn’t a big deal, but if you have an open feader, you might want to find a way to keep them from spilling. Ive had chicks spill a ton of feed into thier bedding in the past.

Yes! This is the thing no one mentions. So much wasted food. After a few days of cleaning up what seemed like 1000 times a day. I found a way to elevate the food so that the mess was minimized. I ended up using a harness made out of small rope and hung it from the top of the brooder where they could still reach but were not able to just dump it everywhere. That was a time saver!