Lonely Lolly has a new 6 week old friend - help:)))

[Aussie new mum]

Hi all
Firstly, thank you for all your help with my questions about raising Lolly, the bantam I adopted from my neighbour. She was injured by the other chickens and is now happy and healthy and laying and I love her. We wanted to get her a friend so luckily managed to find a 6 week old black pekin bantam that we picked up yesterday. At the moment she is on baby chicken food and we are locking her in Lolly's coop during the day with Lolly outside so they get used to each other. I have a few questions if anyone can help me.
1. Should I be wetting her chick food with something or does she just eat it dry
2. I am bringing her inside at night - how long should I keep doing this and how old should she be before I leave her in the coop (it is spring here in Australia)
3. What age should she be when I change her food - is it correct that she goes onto a different food at 8 weeks then 14 weeks
4. How old should she be before I let her free range in the garden with Lolly (who is 10 months old)
5. Should I be feeding her anything else at the moment apart from her chick mix
Thanks again for all your help.
Justine

 

[silkiechicken]

The chick feed will be eaten dry, so no worries on that.

6-8 weeks is all you need to supplement them with heat for. When nights are in the upper 40's, my chicks lose their heat lamp at 6 or 7 weeks.

If you are feeding a starter/grower, feed that up till they are of laying age. The bag should have directions on how long that formulation is to be used for.

Let them free range when they are the same size, so probably at least 16 weeks or so. Might be able to try younger free range, since the baby will be able to run and hide.

Just the chick mix is all she needs!

 

[dixiechick]

Hi Jus!!!!
I just emailed you photos!!

I follow the feeding schedule posted at this site: http://www.frmfeeds.com/80712/101212.html My babies were hatched on Aug 6 and have been outside for about a month...it's fall here in FL.

I don't wet or supplement my chicks' feed at all....however, I do treat with live crickets and baby grasshoppers! Only because I want to...not because they need it.....

Denee

 

[farmergal]

dixiechick -- that is the cutest avatar ever... what type of baby is that??? sooo adorable!

 

[cmom]

I agree with silkiechicken. I didn't start feeding my birds layer until they started laying. I had a little starter/grower left so I mixed it with the layer. All have done just fine.