Help this newly hatched chicken owner out!!

[momoeight]

Quote:
Yeah, I kinda figured that out pretty quick on my own when I started asking him some questions. BTW, though, he wasn't a kid, he was an older man. But I guessed right away that either he didn't know much about chickens OR he was just a little bit of an SOB that hated people like me that don't know anything about chickens!!! But now I am realizing that there were maybe other things that I was "misinformed" on. I was told that they were all hens, but after some research on here (too late!) I realize that that is not a 100% guaranteed and there is a good chance that out of 17 chicks there may be a roo or two (I am right about that??) Which will just break my heart because I doubt I will be able to keep them due to ordinances. BTW, at what age can you start to tell?

The other thing I am wondering about is the feed issue. He told me that I needed to feed the medicated crumble (pullet start-n-grow) EXCLUSIVELY for the first 18 weeks. That letting them eat anything else like scraps or free-range would hurt them. But my instinct tells me that in the wild, or even on a farm, the chicks are out with mom eating what ever they dig up so letting them scratch around in the dirt a little or throwing a bug I find in my garden to them isn't going to hurt them. So are my mom instincts right on that? I hope so cause I am letting them out on the grass in the ark and they seem to love it. I keep a close eye on the for safety and to make sure they aren't huddling and getting cold.

I am so glad that I found this community on the net because you all are AWESOME!! It is like having friends, family and vets all rolled into one!! It feels so cozy here!!

 

[aoxa]

That is one CUTE chickie!!

 

[JakRat]

Quote:
Yeah, I kinda figured that out pretty quick on my own when I started asking him some questions. BTW, though, he wasn't a kid, he was an older man. But I guessed right away that either he didn't know much about chickens OR he was just a little bit of an SOB that hated people like me that don't know anything about chickens!!! But now I am realizing that there were maybe other things that I was "misinformed" on. I was told that they were all hens, but after some research on here (too late!) I realize that that is not a 100% guaranteed and there is a good chance that out of 17 chicks there may be a roo or two (I am right about that??) Which will just break my heart because I doubt I will be able to keep them due to ordinances. BTW, at what age can you start to tell?

The other thing I am wondering about is the feed issue. He told me that I needed to feed the medicated crumble (pullet start-n-grow) EXCLUSIVELY for the first 18 weeks. That letting them eat anything else like scraps or free-range would hurt them. But my instinct tells me that in the wild, or even on a farm, the chicks are out with mom eating what ever they dig up so letting them scratch around in the dirt a little or throwing a bug I find in my garden to them isn't going to hurt them. So are my mom instincts right on that? I hope so cause I am letting them out on the grass in the ark and they seem to love it. I keep a close eye on the for safety and to make sure they aren't huddling and getting cold.

I am so glad that I found this community on the net because you all are AWESOME!! It is like having friends, family and vets all rolled into one!! It feels so cozy here!!

Not sure where he got the feed only for 18 weeks things... Mine are all fine! In fact my youngest week old picked up a GIANT earthworm and started running around with it. If it was bad for them, they wouldnt do it usually... chickens will get into bad things, but usually they can handle it. I mean dont let your little ones run around where you might have poison down or something, but that is just common sense