Congratulations on your new babies!! You've got your hands full with 51 ~ I fussed like crazy over my 6
Just to reinforce what everyone else has said, it also sounds to me that you're doing everything right. I pretty much learned as I went along.
After I got over the initial "new mommy" nervousness, I found that the babies could pretty much tell me if something was wrong...if they were too warm, they'd spread out around the walls of the brooder or into the shady part (make sure you have an area that's covered so they can get away from the heat lamp if they need to). If they were too cold, they'd huddle together under the lamp...I'd just make adjustments as necessary. And changed their "diapers" (the paper towels on the bottom of the brooder) about a million times a day LOL
Mine also had a distinctive PEEP when they were unhappy...which wasn't often, but I learned quickly that it was different from their happy little contented baby peeps.
Mine will be 10 weeks old tomorrow, so I guess I did ok! Someone told me once that the little ones are a lot tougher than we think...that helped me relax a little.
You came to the right place for support...and we can't wait to see PICS!!
@30chicks: I'm SO sorry to hear about your 10!
I hope the rest are all right!
