I NEED HELP...NEW GRANDPARENTS OF 5 LITTLE BANTAMS

[PADuckrunner]

I went out this morning to feed our chickens and let the ducks out, and I heard peeps, then I turned to see 5 little guys running around, mommy come out of her nest as to say "look momma, I have little babies to show you" I was so excited. Being disabled and all, I forgot I had pain for a moment LOL. One of the babies fell out of the nest, so I rushed into the pen and reached down to get her, I placed her back in the nest, and mommy was so happy. I need help though, what do I do? My daughter got some starter food, and mixed it with water, Alice (mommy) chowed down on it, while one of the babies were watching her, and copying what she was doing, it was so cute. Should I separate the roosters from Alice, or just keep them together? I really need help, if anyone has knowledge, and experience I would appreciate the input. I should never mention "if anyone has experience or knowledge" from this site, that is an insult. EVERYONE here is very much knowledgeable, and I have learned so much from all of you. Thank you for your love for chickens and ducks.

FIVE LITTLE GUYS, oh I am so EXCITED

I must add, I haven't visited you all in a couple weeks, because I haven't been felling very good, and my hubby is trying to get a screened in cage for our 17 other peeps that are ready for the outdoors. Please pray EVERYONE, we need a coop, and can't find one of reasonable price, and right now our funds won't allow us to make one. So, we are making a screened in cage for right now.



Ok, enough rambling, I will wait for an answer from someone. God Bless each one of you.



Sincerely,

PADuckrunner

 

[theoldchick]

Congrats on your new additions. Keep checking Craigslist-you might get lucky and find an affordable coop.

 

[RonC]

Might seperate mom and her little ones from the roo for a bit but sometime it the roo won't bother the little ones. The little ones need to eat the chick starter or you can feed them all a flock raiser and offer calcium on the side for mom. The little ones shouldn't eat layer feed. It will harm them if fed too long. You can brood the little ones seperately but then you have to reintroduce them to the flock later. If you do seperate mom and little ones from the roo's try to keep them where they can still see each other. I know a lot of choices there. If the roo's will accept the little ones I would keep them all together and change the feed.

 

[BlueChocobo]

My novice opinion would be to take the chicks away from the mom for now if you want them all to survive.

Place them in a Rubbermade tub with some saw dust litter, or even newspaper (though it's not very absorbent).

You can get a aluminum lamp from Home Depot, Lowes, Fred Myer or whatever and a habitat bulb for about 10-15$. Keep it over them at a good distance and on all the time for the first few weeks.

Get them chick food from a feed store. You don't ~have~ to buy the feeding dispenser. My chicks eat out of a sallow bowl just fine.

As for water, get Chick Boost or something similar. I bought mine for 10$, but I live in Everett, WA and things are very costly here.
Anyhow, this will last a long time. One scoop per gallon (scoop included). Though they recommend this for emergancies I use it all the time. It has Electrolytes and Vitamins to keep them healthy.

Watch their BUTTS! ​

Check butts every so often for blocks. If their butts are blocked up it could kill them in less than a day. If you find dry crusties on their rears you CAN'T rub it. Dab with a generiously wet warm cloth often, though if you are using the Chick Boost you will likely never see this.


On the coop topic, don't buy one.

Chickens are not needy. Free wood is advertised on Craig's List all the time, or you can go to construction sites around your area and beg for scraps. Most times (on Craig's List) they will just list an address and you don't even have to meet anyone to get the wood.


You mentioned that you are disabled so you won't likely be able to build one yourself, however many of the building plans and ideas on this site are very simple.
If you could get your daughter or someone to help it might be a fun afternoon project and MUCH cheeper than buying one.

GET CHICKEN WIRE AT A FEED STORE!

Home Depot, Lowes, etc. charge WAY too much for it. (I wish someone had told me this sooner)

If you take them into your house you also have quite a bit of time till they need a coop anyhow, so you can plan better.

I hope this helps!

 

[PADuckrunner]

Thank you OldChick and RonC, I will take all of your advice. I must be doing something right, because I did mix Starter with water, and placed it and some water in the nest for mommy and babies. Mommy is now teaching them how to eat. When you say Calcium, is Oyster shells good enough, or is there something I don't k now about? Please advice? Oh I love this site, and can't say it enought. You people are so gifted with knowledge. Once again, thank you. I will definately look on Craigslist, I never thought about that.

PADuckrunner

 

[PADuckrunner]

OMGoodness Blue...What informative information. I have a couple questions though, if I take the peeps away from Alice will she go into a depression? She just loves her little babies, and protects them well. The nest is half way up the coop wall, and we put food and water right in the nest for babies and mommy. I don't want them to die, and if it is vital then I will do what is right for all of them. As far as the water, and vitamins, thank you for that advice, I had no idea there was water vitamins. And for the suggestion on wood, THANK YOU SO MUCH. Hubby is on it now. I will take everyone's advice to heart and keep you all posted as often as I can. Once I get pics, I will download them for you all to see.



Love and hugs to all

PADuckrunner

 

[theoldchick]

No, you don't need fancy feeders or a fancy place. I you have a garage you can simply put up a Cardboard Corral (if you can find the cardboard!). You don't have to have the wooden brooder, and always be careful with your heat lamp.





My chicks were happiest eating out of this:
Yep, a simple box. You should have heard them scratching and peeping excitedly. The metal contraption normally sold as chick feeders was not safe-I've seen chicks panic when inserting their head into the feeder. And I've seen some chicks refuse to eat from them. Note I used shredded paper as bedding. This worked well for me, but occasionally a chick ate a piece. Fortunately no one became sick.





They still eat out of this rubber feeder and it's been two years.




You can make the Cardboard Corral as big or small as you want. I used a cheap tarp (1.99 on sale at Harbor Freight) to protect the floor and clean up was easy. I still have that cheap tarp and comes in handy when making a 'hospital cage'. The wire cage (GoGo Pen) was purchased at Amazon.com and is NOT suitable for small chicks.




You can use scrap chicken wire on top of the corral if needed. You'd be amazed at what us Rednecks can do with chicken wire, cardboard and duct tape.

If you don't have a garage any room in the house will do, but chicks make an incredible amount of bird dust. And you'll be ready to put them back outside.


Good luck!

 

[BlueChocobo]

Will Alice go into a depression? Maybe, yes.

Well there are a few ways you can deal with that. If you simply take them away she might be cranky at you for a few days and go nuts when she hears them cherp.

However I have an idea about lessening the stress!

I've never had grown chickens, but I've watch a LOT of nature shows. I don't mean to insult Alice, but they coin the phrase "bird brained" for a reason.

When rehabilitating condors to California the conservationists would often times take an egg or a recently hatched chick from the nest and replace it with a ceramic egg. This would keep them coming back to the nest and continue to foster a parental instincts while the chick was gone. If they simply just take them they will forget they ever had them, I guess. Then they just put the chick back after a few months when they are sure it will survive chickhood.

You can get ceramic eggs at a feed store. They serve a few purposes. The main purpose to teach the hens not to crack into and eat there eggs. (Apparently if they get a taste they LOVE it) The other is to help them know where to lay.

In this particular instance you might want to by 2-3 and place them in her empty nest. They are really cheap.

Alice might still have issues when her actual babies cherp, but she'll feel as if she has eggs and those are not hers even though she watched them hatch.

After a month or so, when they are ready to be outside and not endanger of early death, just take the ceramic eggs away and place her chicks in. Believe it or not, she'll accept them as if they just hatched that way.

 

[PADuckrunner]

Ron, I have Oyster shells for the adult hens, is that good for Calcium? Or do I have to purchase actual Calcium?

 

[Puddin Fluff]

Ron, I have Oyster shells for the adult hens, is that good for Calcium? Or do I have to purchase actual Calcium?

I will jump in and say that the Oyster shells are enough. Esp. when momma is mothering and not laying, she doesn't need the layer feed anyway and can use the added protein from Chick starter. Chick Starter will not hurt any of your birds to eat. It usually costs a little more than others so may hurt your wallet.

I would recommend that you leave momma & babies with the flock under close supervision. Some Roos make great daddies, others will kill babies. No way to know until it happens unfortunatly.

I would also recommend you make a nest for momma and babies in a dry location closer to, if not on the ground so that if they "fall" out of the nest, they can get back in. You can move Momma and babies to the new nest after dark and when they wake up in the morning they will now see it as "home". (This doesn't always work but it is my understanding that it will most times.) Momma should lead the babies to food and water soon and also protect them from other birds. If she is higher on the pecking order in the flock she will be challenged very little, if she is lower on the pecking order, you may consider moving her and babies to a seperate pen as jealous "higher" birds will sometimes kill babies.

Hope this info. helps, and enjoy!