First time

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Congrats on your chicks! Please feel free to ask questions!

 

[redwnggirl]

And my first 2 questions... How often should I change / clean the pine chips from the chics brooder? And... I'm feeding them chick food and they are choking, but what's a good treat? And how often is too often for treats? Thanks in advance

 

[TwoCrows]

I normally do a light cleaning on a daily basis. When ever I visit the brooder, I remove any soiled areas. It really depends on how many birds you have, and how much room they have as well. A larger space with few birds can stay a lot cleaner than a small space with a lot of birds. Cleanliness is the key to allowing their immune systems to develop properly. So keep it as clean as possible. If it stinks for you, then it is no doubt harming their tiny lungs.

If they are choking on feed, then the feed may need to be crushed for another week until they can swallow the food. I will put some feed in a gallon plastic bag and hammer it down a bit so the chicks can eat it easier for the first week or so.

It is best to hold off on treats for a couple weeks to allow them to get all the nutrients they so desperately need at this time. However you can eventually add in fruits, easy to eat veggies, hard boiled eggs, etc...Keep the treats down to once a day with chicks and only what they can eat in a very short couple mins. They really need to concentrate on their chick feed. Stop by this chart on chicken treats for some ideas...https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens

And when you do start adding treats, offer up some parakeet grit to help them grind up the food in their gizzard.

Enjoy your new babies!!

oh and Welcome to BYC!