I am about to get chicks, Now what??

[llaaadyel]

Im not sure what you will be feeding, but as a rule, I keep a few things handy just in case. I have duramicin (sp?), corid, vitamins for the water. When I buy my chicks, I always give them start and grow for the first few days. I think it is electrolytes and vitamins and gives them a good start after a hard journey. I decided to feed medicated started food this time around which seems to have worked so far. No Coccidiosis problems at all, but I am still happy to have the corid just in case.

Good luck with your chicks.

Keeping critters out is always on your mind when you have chickens. I just finished building a coop that I call fort knox. Digging down with the chicken wire/hardware cloth is a good idea. You can get the type of staples you need at the hardware store. Look in the gardening section. There is that cloth that you put in front of retaining walls and down to keep weeds from growing. They are long staples and are pretty cheap.

 

[JanetR]

Quote:
No shredded newspaper? That's what I'm using. My chicks are 2 weeks old and doing very well. They don't eat the paper.

 

[Katechicken]

I have never heard of using shredded news paper, although I am planning on using plain newspaper...

 

[JodyJo]

I have read in many places, NO shredded paper...I use shavings....they don't eat it, but love to take dust baths in it!

 

[catsew]

Quote:
What are you using for the food? It looks like a mayonnaise jar?

 

[gale65]

Quote:
Plain newspaper is too slippery and can make them have spraddle legs which is not a good thing.

 

[chickenbarn-gal]

-Place-
Large plastic container

-Flooring-
Paper Towels, then on top of that, I put soft shavings.

-Feeding-
I got A small metal chick feeder.

-Water-
Went to my local TSC and got a small plaster watering. DO NOT USE HAMSTER WATER FEEDERS!
Also, put large marbles inside of it to prevent them from drowning.


-Handling-
I found that all the chicks that we handled the most, turned out to be the friendliest.

So handle them, but for the first 3 days try to not touch them as much as possible, just let them relax and explore their new environment. Then SLOWLY and GRADUALLY handle them, until they are excited when the see you! (I looove baby chicks!!!!)




Good luck!

 

[JanetR]

Quote:
What are you using for the food? It looks like a mayonnaise jar?

Yes. A plastic mayo jar. I cut holes around the bottom edge and screwed a take out container lid to the bottom. I now have it sitting on a slightly larger dish to catch the spills, and I raised the waterer to keep it cleaner.

 

[catsew]

Thank you. I am totally going to do that. We have a huge feeder and waterer for the actual coop for the 20 chicks we were supposed to have, but we ended up with only 2 for right now, so that would be completely ridiculous.