Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

[Redufresne]

Meal worms? Have you provided chick grit?
Might be better to just stick with the crumble or mash.
About 6 weeks old?

Yes, provided chick grit from beginning. What is mash? The dried meal worms are in the "chicken crack". Which is its actual name. I wanted the chicks to come willingly to me, which they do, except the one shy one. Yes, six weeks old. Stop the dried meal worms?

 

[aart]

Quote: Mash is just like crumble but more of a powder.
When there any question of digestion and/or diet issues, time to go back to basics.
Feeding treats is more for the keeper not always great for the birds.
If you want your chicks tame, pick them up and hold them until they calm frequently.

 

[Blooie]

I think it sounds like you have 5 week old normal chicks and one little piggie! When you say you feed Chicken Crack, is that all they get for bagged food? Do they get chick starter or something similar?

 

[Redufresne]

I think it sounds like you have 5 week old normal chicks and one little piggie!  When you say you feed Chicken Crack, is that all they get for bagged food? Do they get chick starter or something similar?  

Oh, my, they go through a LOT of organic starter grower crumbles. That is the main thing they get. The chcken crack and dried meal worms are just for sometimes. I will stop that and just handle them more. I'm pretty good at catching them fairly calmly. I'll look for mash, too.

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[aart]

Quote: You don't need mash.......I mentioned it because that's what some people feed their chicks.

 

[junebuggena]

Mash is just pelleted feed before it's made into the pellet shape. Crumble are the pellets broken up.

 

[lalaland]

redufresne, it is normal for a chick to have a bulging crop, if it goes down by morning when the food has moved from the crop to the gizzard and into the intestines. Some chicks are little piggies, and you can be astonished at how big the crop gets!

You do not need to force olive oil - that is good when there is an impacted crop. If the chick has an impacted crop, which sometimes can happen from eating shavings etc, then the bulge would still be hard in the morning. I say morning, if you are using the heating pad and they aren't getting light all night long, they won't be eating all night and there is time for the crop to empty overnight. I don't think from what you are saying that there is an impacted crop, just a chick with a big appetite!

aart is right, you can over do treats and it is good to try to keep treats at 10%.

mash is not the same thing as crumbles. Mash is a ground mix of grain, corn, and other stuff - you can see some of the different ingredients. You can feed mash wet or dry - if fed dry you end up with powder left over and it sometimes gets wasted. With mash, you want to have chick grit (tiny gravel or some sand) available.

Crumbles are a manufactured, highly processed food which is all one color, dried. You don't need grit for crumbles because there is nothing that needs to be ground up in the gizzard - it is the consistency of flour as it is finely processed.

 

[dyorto]

I enjoy being able to absorb so much information from this thread. As a newbie with chickens, it really helps me feel like I occasionally know what I'm doing.

 

[Redufresne]

redufresne,  it is normal for a chick to have a bulging crop, if it goes down by morning when the food has moved from the crop to the gizzard and into the intestines.  Some chicks are little piggies, and you can be astonished at how big the crop gets!

You do not need to force olive oil - that is good when there is an impacted crop.  If the chick has an impacted crop, which sometimes can happen from eating shavings etc, then the bulge would still be hard in the morning.  I say morning, if you are using the heating pad and they aren't getting light all night long, they won't be eating all night and there is time for the crop to empty overnight.  I don't think from what you are saying that there is an impacted crop, just a chick with a big appetite!

aart is right, you can over do treats and it is good to try to keep treats at 10%.

mash is not the same thing as crumbles.  Mash is a ground mix of grain, corn, and other stuff - you can see some of the different ingredients.  You can feed mash wet or dry - if fed dry you end up with powder left over and it sometimes gets wasted. With mash, you want to have chick grit (tiny gravel or some sand) available.

Crumbles are a manufactured, highly processed food which is all one color, dried. You don't need grit for crumbles because there is nothing that needs to be ground up in the gizzard - it is the consistency of flour as it is finely processed.

This is so very helpful! Thank you! I have given grit from the start because i gave them some treats, not a lot, but maybe more than 10% so I will cut way back. They get mostly crumbles. The extended crop just really surprised me because all other birds (Oprah, Buffy, Kalissi, and Czarina) are so normal, feathered, sturdy. The two austolorps (Coffee and Tea) have seemed so very fragile from the start, so I was shocked and worried by the bulge on one's chest! Yes, I am using heating pads on the floor of coop (they just don't use the MHP anymore). They put themselves to bed on time before door shuts. When I checked on them after dark last night, they were sitting on the roosts together. It got super cold and when that happens, they usually huddle in a corner together. They seem to know where the food station and non-freezing water is and go to it when they get out in AM. I still provide small amount of crumbles and water (that froze ladt night!) inside coop, but won't do that forever. Then, no matter temps or wind, they spend the day pecking merrily in the weeds, dirt, and dried leaves in their yard. Yes, seems normal. I agree, Mr. Tea is likely just a piggie.

 

[lalaland]

It will be good to leave the grit for them since you are letting them have access to yard or ground (hooray!) - as they eat grass, etc, they will need some! It is something that you just leave available. Sometimes, if they have access to lots of dirt and sand, they will get the grit from that but it never hurts just to have some around. It can be in a dish, or you can just toss it on the ground. They are very good about figuring out if they need it or not. same as oyster shell when they get closer to laying age.

Enjoy the babies!