God I'm an idiot...what have I done to them?

[sammi]

I have a friend in Australia who uses that rubber like stuff that is used for gripping jar lids..sometimes it's used for shelf liner. very slip resistant.
she gets it at the dollar store.
she says it's easy to wash and reuse..so she has several sheets of it.

she also uses pea straw for other bedding.

keep a check on the droppings and appetite..
good luck that you don't lose anymore.

 

[Cat amongst the chickens]

Hi guys,

The other sick chick is hanging on. It ate a little today, but frankly I don't think it will make it

Thanks for the bedding suggestions. The rubber matting does sound like a good idea. The pea hay probably would be OK - my pet kangaroo eats it no worries and they have delicate stomachs.

I rang the friend nearby who raises them...he sounds a bit hit and miss and he uses sawdust as a bedding. I think I might take a drive out to where our trees were harvested and see if I can find heavy sawdust or light wood chips. Just check it out and see whats there. I wasn't exactly thinking about chick bedding when I saw it last time

And yes there is the song about the kookaburra sitting in the gum tree.

The dropping all look fine (to me) and the rest are eating like it's going out of fashion, so I just hope like crazy no one else gets sick. I had bad dreams last night that they all died

Gosh I never realised this chook thing would get so intense! I used to be afraid of chooks when I was a kid!

Will keep you updated.

Cat

 

[TheMartianChick]

Quote:
That would be the song! You would be great on Name That Tune...

 

[birdnutz]

I just use paper towels until they're older, then I switch to shavings. If they decide that each others feet look ediable,I throw in a little bit of straw to distract them.

 

[dbjay417]

it sucks when a lack of foresight on our part causes our birds to be injured. I got one thats almost featherless right now because of a similar moment of gand idiocy on my part. Hopefully she'll be okay, but who can say.

 

[ruth]

You could also use shredded up newspaper. Note I used the word "shredded". Many will tell you not to use newspaper laid out flat because they will slip on it and get spraddle leg but if you tear it up into long thin strips and crumble those up you can made a great bed of shredded newspaper. Or, even better you can buy the cheap electrical shredder that goes over a little trash can and fine shred all day long. Cheap, free, highly absorbent, biodegradeable, can be put in garden later (the used shredding/bedding, not the shredder

).

 

[2dream]

Ruth,
What a wonderful idea. Sure am glad I did not empty my shredder yesterday like I planned. I now have "free" bedding not only for the chicks that will be arriving soon but I bet my rat will love having something new to nest with.
Picture me slapping my forehead and thinking about the dollars I have spent on bedding while throwing away the perfectly free stuff I already had.

 

[Nichole77]

With my chicks I used grass clippings. It was like stray but thinner and finer. It had seeds growing so they could pick and eat them. It gave good traction and got them in the habbit of scratching and picking like in natue.

 

[Cat amongst the chickens]

Wow - well there are plenty of good ideas here. The grass and the shredded paper are both easily accessible to me.

I still have one little chick that is ill.

Truth be told, I'm really not sure why t hasn't died. It spends most of the time hunched over, miserable and breathing heavily.

It has bled from those little holes at the top of it's beak twice now. At first I thought it had been pecked, but it was both sides. I feel so sorry for it, I actually asked DH to put it down for me, but he wants to give it a chance. It's been like this for a few days, but then it will perk up for a few hours and eat. I'm not really sure what to do.

Cat

 

[chickbea]

Oh, that clumping cat litter should come covered with warnings to use it for nothing but cat litter! It does indeed cause blockages in any animal that is apt to ingest it (it is a sadly common way for house bunnies to die).
My fingers are crossed for your remaining little one.