Introducing us...:)

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Lindamaeb

Lindamaeb

Chirping
9 Years
Apr 16, 2014
1
0
65
Just got my welcome letter from BYC support in which it suggested I intro myself. So...we just recently moved back from Australia and bought a nice home with a big five acre parcel. It has a lot of mature landscaping and raised garden beds. We want to have bees, sheep, goats, small pasture pigs? in addition to our chickens. But, also don't want to bite off more than we can chew, so right now, we have 11 chickens. They are about a month old. There are a variety of breeds. I have never ever had 'livestock' before and not sure chickens qualify, but they are certainly way different than any other animal I've shared my life with! So, I very happily and diligently spent time here on BYC and learned a lot. Now I have them, and I have even more questions. We have them in a black Rubbermaid type bin with a wire mesh top. It seems some of the chicks are growing way faster than the others and one of the chicks is a little smaller than others and today when I came home, one of the bigger one's was sitting on her, completely flattened her out, with one wing sticking out..I thought for sure the little was dead, but she's not. However, I think the big one peed on her...can I bathe the little chicks, or wait till they are chickens? I've read a lot about the merek's disease and mites and lice, so now I think my chicks have them all....(I would have been good back in the wild west when snake oil salesfolks came out...I'm a little too easily swayed by the power of suggestion), any ideas how I can tell if they do have the lice/mites etc?? They're pretty unique looking right now, mid transfer between down and feathers....and the poop...wow..so much!

I reckon I've babbled on enough, if you made it this far, thanks!

Oh, we live in the Pacific Northwest Washington state.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Congratulations on your new farm, and good luck with all the projects, you will have a busy year! Do you know what breed your chicks are? Do you have bantams and standards? You can wash the chick off if it is really dirty, just towel dry it and be sure the brooder is warm / the heat light is on.
With mites/lice, the easiest thing I have found to do is to use a magnifying glass to check, the darn things are so small every piece of dirt or wood chip looks like something crawling... the Learning Center has pictures in the Pests section.
You might also like to check out the BYC sister site if you haven't seen it, BackYard Herds, it has sections on pigs, sheep, goats etc http://www.backyardherds.com/
 
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Welcome to BYC!

Congrats on the new farm! You may need to give your chicks more space as that tub is going to get really small fast. And that maybe why the little one got sat on. They will need
more space for cooling off as well. So if your brooder is too small, there won't be cool spots on the edges or sides of the brooder. So I would try to find something bigger to raise your babies in.

Enjoy your new babies and your adventures! Welcome to our flock!
 
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Good luck with your poultry raising adventures, and I hope you find everything you need to know. Don't forget to take a look at BYC's very useful learning center (If you haven't already)! The learning center as well as the forum should answer your questions! There is always something new to learn! Glad to have you here! See you around with the flock.
 
with a mix of breeds sizes can be all over the place, if you have ordered any bantams they will be tiny and subject to getting smothered by the bigger birds. You may want to put them in separate box inside the brooder to protect them somewhat till they are bigger and stronger.


And yes, they need a bigger brooder and one with clear sides will let you keep a better eye on them.
 

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