Hello!
I've enjoyed reading about baby chick adventures and all the wonderful advice and support from this forum. This is only the second time I've posted but I have indeed gained a wealth of knowledge and confidence in this new venture by reading the posts here.
My husband and I finally received our first order of baby chicks today. We were prepared for 25 - ordered 10 Buff Orps, 10 Barred Rocks, and 5 NH Reds - but this morning when my husband brought the two boxes of peeping chicks home, we counted 42!!! One of them has patchy areas of bare skin and it almost looks like he (we think he's a BRR) has either been pecked or has some skin condition. He seems energetic and is eating and drinking normally, but I'm concerned that if he has a skin disease or mites that he'll pass them on to the group. Does anyone have any ideas on what could cause this symptom? I can't imagine how he'd have mites just hatched and packed and shipped within hours of hatching. He doesn't appear to be getting pecked by other birds but maybe it happened in transit.
Our brooder box has plenty of room for 25 chicks for a few weeks at least, but I'm afraid 42 will quickly grow out of a 4' x 3' box. Does that sound like too confined a space for this number of chicks? They all seem healthy and energetic but we'll see how that goes after a few days.
Here's a few photos. I've included a couple with the chick with the patchy skin areas as well. I'm thinking perhaps I should quarantine him from the rest...? Any advice or comment is very much appreciated from this novice!
I've enjoyed reading about baby chick adventures and all the wonderful advice and support from this forum. This is only the second time I've posted but I have indeed gained a wealth of knowledge and confidence in this new venture by reading the posts here.
My husband and I finally received our first order of baby chicks today. We were prepared for 25 - ordered 10 Buff Orps, 10 Barred Rocks, and 5 NH Reds - but this morning when my husband brought the two boxes of peeping chicks home, we counted 42!!! One of them has patchy areas of bare skin and it almost looks like he (we think he's a BRR) has either been pecked or has some skin condition. He seems energetic and is eating and drinking normally, but I'm concerned that if he has a skin disease or mites that he'll pass them on to the group. Does anyone have any ideas on what could cause this symptom? I can't imagine how he'd have mites just hatched and packed and shipped within hours of hatching. He doesn't appear to be getting pecked by other birds but maybe it happened in transit.
Our brooder box has plenty of room for 25 chicks for a few weeks at least, but I'm afraid 42 will quickly grow out of a 4' x 3' box. Does that sound like too confined a space for this number of chicks? They all seem healthy and energetic but we'll see how that goes after a few days.
Here's a few photos. I've included a couple with the chick with the patchy skin areas as well. I'm thinking perhaps I should quarantine him from the rest...? Any advice or comment is very much appreciated from this novice!
