Help with new chicks

[ultra red]

Hello there
I'm new to this so bear with me. I have 11 new chicks cross breeds do they need any special meds or anything? There about 8 days old thanks for any help!!!

 

[tec27]

just food and water and you'll be good.

 

[Araucana16]

Food, water, heat, keep them clean, medicated feed is best, a Marek's vaccination would be awesome (I can teach you about that per request), bedding, make sure you have a coop, it's not that hard even though it sounds to be

 

[NC Chick Man82]

you might have to take one and dip their beak in water dish so they know where water is but only one bird needs to be dipped the rest will learn from that one. Heat, food, water, bedding, safety... Thats all they need

 

[NC Chick Man82]

i gave mine marek's vaccination as well but that's ur choice... its a pretty big deal if you get outbreak and you will mind much controversy on here between different people and the choice to do it or not

 

[ultra red]

Food, water, heat, keep them clean, medicated feed is best, a Marek's vaccination would be awesome (I can teach you about that per request), bedding, make sure you have a coop, it's not that hard even though it sounds to be 

Thank you. I do have all of the above. But I'm not sure what mareks is so I am interested in that. I have 11 chicks now and 12 more eggs in a homemade incubator so I can use all the help I can get. The ones in my coop are 5 RIR 2 PBR 1 BCM 1 ameracana and 1 welsumer. My rooster was a black australorp!!!

 

[Araucana16]

Marek's is a disease. I'm not sure how common it is... anyway, about 6 weeks before the birds show symptoms (usually adult birds get it, but you have to vaccinate as a chick or else it doesn't work that well), they are shedding the disease in there skin, which is why it's a nightmare to have in a flock. Separating the birds does no good, they already have it! You can't even keep birds in a coop/area that once had a Marek's victim unless they are vaccinated for it. Vaccinations are only 90% effective, but that is enough that I would do it. Symptoms are : paralysis of wings or legs, depression, weakness, loss of body weight, anemia, diarrhea and labored breathing. Often the birds have tumors in there stomach or thereabouts.

Anyway, back to the vaccination. If you got the birds from a feed store, they may have been vaccinated, depending on where they were purchased from. Some hatcheries give vaccinations to chicks automatically, some upon request for 10 cents to 1 dollar more. Usually they do not give them to bantams, since it's injected into the necks by a machine, and since bantams are proportioned differently, the chance of hitting the spine is higher than they consider reasonable to go ahead with the shots. Some hatcheries do it automatically. If it's more payment for a vaccination, the feed store probably didn't do it, but I would call and check. If you bought them from a person who bred them, I would ask, but I would say 95%, go ahead and order the vaccine. If you bred them from eggs, obviously, they didn't get it.

You can buy the vaccine in 1000 dose sets, usually for 10-20 dollars from stores like mypetchicken.com. It says .2 mill. for one bird, so if you have bantams, half that. Then take a sterile syringe and put it in the chick's upper thigh. Pinch up the skin and stick the needle into the skin, push out all the medicine. Do not attempt the back of the neck. I don't know how to do that, and I would guess that you might hit the spine

Wait until your other chicks are hatched to do the vaccination, and give it to all your birds. I hear it goes bad very quick!

 

[NC Chick Man82]

Marek's is a disease. I'm not sure how common it is... anyway, about 6 weeks before the birds show symptoms (usually adult birds get it, but you have to vaccinate as a chick or else it doesn't work that well), they are shedding the disease in there skin, which is why it's a nightmare to have in a flock. Separating the birds does no good, they already have it! You can't even keep birds in a coop/area that once had a Marek's victim unless they are vaccinated for it. Vaccinations are only 90% effective, but that is enough that I would do it. Symptoms are : paralysis of wings or legs, depression, weakness, loss of body weight, anemia, diarrhea and labored breathing. Often the birds have tumors in there stomach or thereabouts.

Anyway, back to the vaccination. If you got the birds from a feed store, they may have been vaccinated, depending on where they were purchased from. Some hatcheries give vaccinations to chicks automatically, some upon request for 10 cents to 1 dollar more. Usually they do not give them to bantams, since it's injected into the necks by a machine, and since bantams are proportioned differently, the chance of hitting the spine is higher than they consider reasonable to go ahead with the shots. Some hatcheries do it automatically. If it's more payment for a vaccination, the feed store probably didn't do it, but I would call and check. If you bought them from a person who bred them, I would ask, but I would say 95%, go ahead and order the vaccine. If you bred them from eggs, obviously, they didn't get it.

You can buy the vaccine in 1000 dose sets, usually for 10-20 dollars from stores like mypetchicken.com. It says .2 mill. for one bird, so if you have bantams, half that. Then take a sterile syringe and put it in the chick's upper thigh. Pinch up the skin and stick the needle into the skin, push out all the medicine. Do not attempt the back of the neck. I don't know how to do that, and I would guess that you might hit the spine

Wait until your other chicks are hatched to do the vaccination, and give it to all your birds. I hear it goes bad very quick!

yes it goes bad within a hour after opening it... its not hard at all to do the back of the neck thats how i done mine... yes wait till you have all your birds hatched before you vaccinate

 

[gardentlc]

All of my baby chicks were vaccinated for Coccidosis and Mareks disease, and so far at 12 weeks, they seem to be doing fine, happy and healthy!

 

[Araucana16]

Oh, by the way, Marek's Disease is almost certainly fatal.

Cocci would be good to vaccinate for. It's not quite as bad as Marek's, but it can wipe out a flock.