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

[CannedMonster]

I haven’t shared a picture of our babies yet, it’s felt so busy these first couple of days! Here are all seven. We had eight, but Hope passed away this morning. I think it was more than splayed leg, even just out of the box she had a hard time holding up her head. I hand fed her nutridrench and fermented feed slush, and though she seemed a bit stronger yesterday, she still had no desire to try to eat, just wanted to lay down. Now I can focus more love on to these healthy, energetic gals. They LOVE the MHP and I do too!

We have a Welsummer, Swedish Flower hen, Favaucana (maybe Frida), Easter Egger (Buckbeak), Olive Egger, Black Copper Marans (Chicken Little), Blue (maybe splash) Ameraucana (Pig). I’m not 100% sure which one is the Easter Egger and which is the Welsummer. Do one of those two breeds mature faster? One chick is way bigger than the others and I was hoping that may be a tell. View attachment 1394196

I had started with eight too and had to put down one at 4 weeks because of an impacted crop.
She was so sweet but wasn’t growing like the others and I realized she was starving to death.
But like you said, I have 7 healthy ones to give my love and nurturing to.
Yours are absolutely adorable!
Mine are almost 8 weeks now.
It goes fast; take lots of pictures.

 

[CourtKnee]

I had started with eight too and had to put down one at 4 weeks because of an impacted crop.
She was so sweet but wasn’t growing like the others and I realized she was starving to death.
But like you said, I have 7 healthy ones to give my love and nurturing to.
Yours are absolutely adorable!
Mine are almost 8 weeks now.
It goes fast; take lots of pictures.

I’m so sorry for your loss. How do they get an impacted crop? I’m such a novice, I’d love to help prevent that from happening in the future. I have given them chick grit. The first day I sprinkled a little on their feed (which peck and scratch suggested), but so many people advise against that so I have it just free choice now. I don’t want to do any of this wrong!!

 

[CannedMonster]

I’m so sorry for your loss. How do they get an impacted crop? I’m such a novice, I’d love to help prevent that from happening in the future. I have given them chick grit. The first day I sprinkled a little on their feed (which peck and scratch suggested), but so many people advise against that so I have it just free choice now. I don’t want to do any of this wrong!!

To anyone new (and I’m hardly an expert) I recommend getting a couple of good books about raising chickens so you have a source for reference.
Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens is a good one.

Impacted crop is when the chicken eats fibrous material and it becomes an impacted mass in their crop and blocks the food from their stomach.
It can be caused by birds eating a lot of really long blades of grass/hay/straw and sometimes bedding.
Chickens love to eat grass and it’s usually always fine. They’ll bite the ends off the blades and typically choose younger more tender grass.

In the case of my chick, her crop was large almost from the day I bought her at Tractor Supply.
I believe she ate some of the pine shaving bedding in their brooder.
I bought all eight there and she was the only one with this problem.
Before we put her down I felt her crop and literally could feel a large squarish piece of material. I’m pretty sure it was a pine shaving.
I gave them grit at about a week old when I started giving tiny amounts of treats.
Some people (including me) feel that chick grit helps their crop muscles develop.
Free choice is fine because they can decide how much they need.
A mother hen with chicks would be showing them to eat grit so why shouldn’t we?

 

[CourtKnee]

To anyone new (and I’m hardly an expert) I recommend getting a couple of good books about raising chickens so you have a source for reference.
Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens is a good one.

Impacted crop is when the chicken eats fibrous material and it becomes an impacted mass in their crop and blocks the food from their stomach.
It can be caused by birds eating a lot of really long blades of grass/hay/straw and sometimes bedding.
Chickens love to eat grass and it’s usually always fine. They’ll bite the ends off the blades and typically choose younger more tender grass.

In the case of my chick, her crop was large almost from the day I bought her at Tractor Supply.
I believe she ate some of the pine shaving bedding in their brooder.
I bought all eight there and she was the only one with this problem.
Before we put her down I felt her crop and literally could feel a large squarish piece of material. I’m pretty sure it was a pine shaving.
I gave them grit at about a week old when I started giving tiny amounts of treats.
Some people (including me) feel that chick grit helps their crop muscles develop.
Free choice is fine because they can decide how much they need.
A mother hen with chicks would be showing them to eat grit so why shouldn’t we?

Thank you so much for your reply. We have a chicken book and we are trying to educate ourselves as much as we can, I’ve learned so much just from this forum thank goodness!! I see our chicks grabbing bits of bedding and running with it. I also notice them trying to peck poop if it’s visible, whenever I notice I always cover the poop with bedding or take it out. I’ll be on the lookout for large pieces of bedding too.

 

[CannedMonster]

Thank you so much for your reply. We have a chicken book and we are trying to educate ourselves as much as we can, I’ve learned so much just from this forum thank goodness!! I see our chicks grabbing bits of bedding and running with it. I also notice them trying to peck poop if it’s visible, whenever I notice I always cover the poop with bedding or take it out. I’ll be on the lookout for large pieces of bedding too.

It’s actually the smaller bedding you want to watch out for with very young chicks.
They don’t know yet not to eat it.
I used puppy pads for the first week to 10 days and then switched to large flake pine shavings.
After the first week or so they started scratching the pads up a lot and I didn’t want them eating that either.
They will peck at poop and sometimes even eat it occasionally.
It never hurt mine and judging by their reaction it clearly didn’t taste good
I learned recently that chickens actually have more taste buds than we do.

 

[aart]

I gave them grit at about a week old when I started giving tiny amounts of treats.
Some people (including me) feel that chick grit helps their crop muscles develop.
Free choice is fine because they can decide how much they need.

Agrees that properly sized granite grit offered early and moderately is good,
but it develops and works in the gizzard rather than the crop.
http://www.jupefeeds-sa.com/documents/GraniteGrit.pdf
No need to buy 'chick grit' either.
I sifted 'adult' grit thru a colander with ~1/8" holes and got plenty of chick sized grit.

 

[CannedMonster]

Agrees that properly sized granite grit offered early and moderately is good,
but it develops and works in the gizzard rather than the crop.
http://www.jupefeeds-sa.com/documents/GraniteGrit.pdf
No need to buy 'chick grit' either.
I sifted 'adult' grit thru a colander with ~1/8" holes and got plenty of chick sized grit.

Thanks for the correction aart.
I’m still learning and appreciate it.
That’s a great idea to sift the adult stuff!
Mine are almost 8 weeks and I started mixing some adult sized grit in with the chick stuff that was left.

 

[bruceha2000]

We have a Welsummer, Swedish Flower hen (Poppy), Favaucana (maybe Frida), Easter Egger (Buckbeak), Olive Egger, Black Copper Marans (Chicken Little), Blue (maybe splash) Ameraucana (Pig). I’m not 100% sure which one is the Easter Egger and which is the Welsummer. Do one of those two breeds mature faster? One chick is way bigger than the others and I was hoping that may be a tell. View attachment 1394196

The EE should have green legs. The Welsummer is one of the 2 on the left that have a dark brown V on their heads with light brown on the sides. The V shape or lack thereof does NOT denote gender.

 

[CourtKnee]

The EE should have green legs. The Welsummer is one of the 2 on the left that have a dark brown V on their heads with light brown on the sides. The V shape or lack thereof does NOT denote gender.

Thank you! The bottom left one must be the Welsummer then since the other one is the Olive Egger (bred from Welsummers too). I figured out which one the Easter Egger is from finally noticing the cute little poofs on it’s cheeks. It’s also the biggest spaz of the bunch.

 

[bruceha2000]

EEs can be flighty, often described so. Not sure why that would be. My Barnevelder from last year was the most flighty of that batch. She has calmed down and as long as I talk to her, doesn't run if I am passing by. I got another one in this year's batch (to replace the one from last year that turned out to be a cockerel) and she is also the least likely to let me get a hand close. On the other hand (and IN the 'other' hand) one of the Barred Rocks will come to me and get in my hand, so will one of the Golden Campines.