I'm the pest, and the waterer is, kind of

BeakSanctuary

Songster
11 Years
Aug 31, 2008
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Just a warning to anyone else about the dumb mistake I made so you won't do it. It could be everyone's smarter than this without me mentioning it.

Two little chicks about a month old flew up and down inside the galvanized waterer in their cage while I was away at work and I found them both drowned. :eek: I've had the lid off it ever since it's been in the cage with them without incident and today, wham! Of course it's been off because it was easy to squirt water inside with the cage top still closed. I'm still mad at myself for not recognizing the threat this could be for them and not preventing their deaths. Very mad and sad for those two chicks, one light brahma, one little something else cochin.
 
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I am sorry. Try not to dwell on it.
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Thanks for trying to help with the guilt. I admit to being weird when it comes to guilt. I once had a goose get wrapped in flight netting and die and I actually went in the roost and apologized to all the birds in there because that happened to one of them. I've since taken away all the netting because if it hangs, it's so dangerous.
 
It's more common than you'd think that chicks are killed by accidents involving feeders and waterers. I've read on more than one occasion that somone has set a feeder on top of a chick and not realized it.

Accidents do happen. Forgive yourself, learn from it, and do your best to prevent it from happening again. Do you have a cover for the waterer?
 
Yes, I have a coverer and it's back on. You're so right about the various things we have for them being potentially dangerous.

Darn it, I have to admit that I even made that (ssssh!) other mistake you mentioned about setting the waterer on top of someone once a couple of months ago when it was still dark outside in the same cage, different waterer, 5 gallon plastic, that I was hoisting in and out to fill. Never heard, saw, felt anything unusual. That was also awful.
 
Sure thing. Thanks for understanding that's why I admitted my shortcomings. I'm not proud the couple of avoidable accidents I contributed to. What I "have" been really good at is keeping other predators away, so far. I'm not the one who would have to say, well, I started out with 25 and now I have a couple.
 
for our first chicks,, we got 1 of those little metal feeders with a bunch of holes,, looked in there 1 time,, and 2 chicks were stuck in it,,,,,,,,, that was the last of those feeders.
if we didnt make mistakes and learn by them,, we would just be animals,,, but luckily,, we're humane
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Thanks, Jim. That's another thing I might not have considered, the holey chick feeder, and no doubt others might not question it, either. There are so many little problems one can come into with such vulnerable little birds, even the corner pile-ups that are pretty difficult to omit because how many round containers get used instead of the ones with corners? I'll have to admit that where I've avoided that, it's been more luck than effort because not too easy having a round brooder. A galvanized tub would be good, but I've gotten pretty spoiled with the utility of using a lawn wagon balanced out with the hitch resting on a cement block, for lack of a proper term, for a brooder with hardware cloth top, the kind that get pulled around by riding lawn mowers and such.

Even in that, one accident I had before I found out I absolutely had to tie the hitch to the block was that it got unbalanced and sent the waterer (darn waterer again) and feeder full of food sliding downhill on folks.

Yes, we can learn, fortunately!
 
my mistake is after they get 3 weeks old,, i put them out in their own yard,,,, and when i have 100 or so,, i step in the yard,, and have LEARNED to shuffle my feet,, NOT WALK!,, size 14's dont mix well with teenie tiny chicks
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but evry couple weeks we get new ones,, and get better and better with each shipment
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