I just wanted to write thanks to those who have helped answer my questions so far. What a great site!
Yesterday I picked up the 25 Red Sussex Cross pullets I'd ordered. 25 healthy little fuzz-balls bobbing around the box! And the cheeping! Brought them home to the brooder where they quickly made themselves at home. I was dipping their beaks like it says to, but they tended to jump out of my hand and run over to the waterer before I could do that. Like they knew what it was for!
It's been less than 24 hours since I picked them up, but I swear their feet are already becoming more yellow-orange rather than pale-transparent like a baby's skin, and already yesterday their wing feathers looked more pronounced and individually marked after a couple of hours, than when they'd come out of the box; and even more so, today. Am I hallucinating, or do they really develop this fast?
So far I cleaned one potential pasty butt, and she rewarded me by pooping in my hand. Mission successful, I guess. There is one Pecky Becky, a regular schoolyard bully. She has nothing better to do than march up to other chicks who are minding their own business, and beak-box them, or peck at their toes and feathers. I've given her time-outs for longer and longer periods. I'm not sure how to separate her within the brooder and still ensure that she's warm enough and not too hungry or thirsty. Does anyone here have an in-brooder "jail"?
Thanks for any advice you may be able to provide.
-R.
Yesterday I picked up the 25 Red Sussex Cross pullets I'd ordered. 25 healthy little fuzz-balls bobbing around the box! And the cheeping! Brought them home to the brooder where they quickly made themselves at home. I was dipping their beaks like it says to, but they tended to jump out of my hand and run over to the waterer before I could do that. Like they knew what it was for!
It's been less than 24 hours since I picked them up, but I swear their feet are already becoming more yellow-orange rather than pale-transparent like a baby's skin, and already yesterday their wing feathers looked more pronounced and individually marked after a couple of hours, than when they'd come out of the box; and even more so, today. Am I hallucinating, or do they really develop this fast?
So far I cleaned one potential pasty butt, and she rewarded me by pooping in my hand. Mission successful, I guess. There is one Pecky Becky, a regular schoolyard bully. She has nothing better to do than march up to other chicks who are minding their own business, and beak-box them, or peck at their toes and feathers. I've given her time-outs for longer and longer periods. I'm not sure how to separate her within the brooder and still ensure that she's warm enough and not too hungry or thirsty. Does anyone here have an in-brooder "jail"?
Thanks for any advice you may be able to provide.
-R.
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