Hello All, we got our first chicks last Saturday 3/19/16. One Rhode Island Red, One Black Star and one Gold Star. They hatched on 2/17/16 and are therefore now 5 weeks old. So far so good, we have kept them alive =) They are in a plastic tub with food and water. The guy were I purchased them from gave me pellets for them, but I figured out quickly that they were still too big for them so I started to mix the pellets with water and they gobble the mash up just fine. I am wondering when they will be old enough to eat the pellets? We also have two small chihuahua mixes. So far the dogs are curios but calm. The only concern that I have is that when I let the chicks out in the yard the dogs hung around and *gag* licked up the chicks poop *barf* that can't be good for them??? Is that normal, anyone else witnessed such a thing? Anyways, love that we finally were brave enough to get the chicks Daniela
Very nice to meet you Daniella. Hate to tell you but poo eating goes both ways. Chickens seem to like dog mess and the dogs love the chicken poo. I don't think it causes any real harm as worms dogs have are not the same chickens would get. You'd also go nuts trying to keep them from doing it. The only good thing is IF your Chihuahuas only are interested in that, they may not harm your chicks. As a greeter, I have been shocked by the number of new members reporting their toy breeds like Yorkies,Chihuahuas, doxies etc. have massacred their chicks. I expected only large dogs to do that. So until you are certain they are safe, I would make sure they are separated from each other unless you are around to supervise.
Hi Daniela and - glad that you have joined us. Aside from your question, the Learning Centre is a great resource, even for experienced chicken keepers - loads of info on anything chicken. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center Joining your state thread will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area, which can be helpful (just type the name of your state in the search box). All the best CT
Thanks for the advice and the welcome and for the warning!!! I am obviously very new to having chickens and any advice is greatly appreciated. My neighbors got chickens around the same time but theirs are a couple of weeks younger so I am going through the different phases first, plus they don't have dogs. I will be very cautious with the dogs. So far I only allowed them to sniff the chicks when we are holding them or when we are right next them. One dog is sort of over them by now but the other one is still very fascinated and doesn't even allow the other dog to get close to them. Well, the other dog is allowed to be close but only if the curious dog is there first (if that makes any sense). I will check out the local thread, thanks again
