Hi, I have chickens of all sizes, ducks of all sizes, and a young pair of meat turkys all in the same pen. here is the set up I have now. a kiddy pool for the animals to drink out of and the bigger ducks swim in it, a small 1 gal. chicken waterer for the chicks to drink out of when I have chicks until they can drink out of the pool with out falling. and a 3 1/2 gallen rubber bowl that i put food in they all eat out of it. Here is the problum. the call ducks cant get into the pool to swim so they get muddy when I refill it every day. I have trued to put a ramp for them but I cant get it to stay (they all run into it and it falls) and Im worried they wont be able to get out... the baby chicks fall int the pool trying to drink like the adult birds and die even tho they have a waterer that they can safely drink out of. also, the ducks try to drink out of the small waterer and they get it all clogged with food and mud so even if it is 1/2 full the water cant get through the hole... Gurr. If I pick it any higher off the ground the babies wont be able to get to it... AND they all eat the same thing. I dont know what I can feed the chicks as well as roosters and laying hens. When the chicks hatched I tryed feeding them chick food but the adults got wattery poops, I tryed creep feeding but the chicks wouldnt touch it because the mom wasnt eating it and she dumped it and ate it anywho. Im worried the chicks will get to much calcium or to little of somthing that they need (Proteen?). I put a little oistershell in there food ever month but I dont think they touch it. I have been feeding them 20% pultry food. ANY INFO??? please help.
It sound like you need to separate them. I have my ducks and older chickens / roosters in a separate pen than my chicks and mommy hen. I have a big bath that has two bricks in the bottom of it and chicken wire up the sides so if an older chicken does fall in they can get out. I also have several drinking bowls and containers around. I feed the chicks medicated chick crumble and fruit & veggies.
I cant seperate them, I have alredy thought about that but have nowhere to put them. I have also been thinking about caging my hens after they go broody in seperate cages but the hens throw a fit and sometimes hurt themself or the hatchlings when they cant get out. also Im worried that the babies feet will get stuck in the bottom of the cages (1" X 1/2" wire)... and Im worried that they wont be big enough for the growing family the biggest cages that I have are 30" X 36". and I dont know at what age to seperate the mom from the chicks. as for the feed, I will not feed any of my animals medacated feed, I try to stay as organic as possible.
