Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[prettychicks]

Quote: Thanks. I appreciate the info.

 

[gilavina]

Wow, that's awful! Glad you brought this up for her!!

I was gonna suggest lookin up rickets as I've seen a case or two here and there. Hope you are able to get down to the bottom of it asap!

 

[prettychicks]

Quote: That pea stuff is called Milo and my chickens never liked it but I never fed it to baby chicks. I only feed them the chick starter/grower feed and now I only buy from a reputable feed company. The other point made about the wood shavings is also true. I started using puppy pads for my baby chicks. They don't get tangled up in it and I don't have to worry about the woodchip problem. I am always afraid they will try to eat shavings or woodchips and choke. By the time I go through a large pack of puppy pads which is about a hundred and can be a bit costly, my chicks are ready to go to the brooder. I used to use newspaper and sometimes still do. Ricketts can be fatal if that is what they have. I sure hope not. So sorry to hear this. Best of luck with your baby chicks.

 

[gilavina]

Thanks. I appreciate the info.

no problem, happy to help

 

[Debbi]

Wish I could've had someone take a pic of me today come feeding time! Made up a huge pot of hard boiled eggs for the chooks, cats, dogs, and parrots. I sat on the deck peeling the eggs, and looked down to see all eyes on me! All the chooks and cats were lined up just waiting for me to finish. Got done, mixed the eggs with chick grower and headed to the coop. I bet it would've looked from the side lines, like I was floating on a cloud of feathers and fur! No stragglers tonight going in! Even the baby Silkies got in on the act, and Slick, I was thinking of you! Glad I made more than one egg yolk for them! Fed the broodies, and even they dove in on the eggs. I call them the "legal eggs", just a note to all and any potential egg thieves and eaters! What a funny farm!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: These shavings are from a cabinetry company, from planed lumber so they are kiln dried. The small pieces they certainly can ingest, so I removed ALL the shavings and then vaccumed their brooder! LOL Still not sure, still researching. Thanks for the idea .

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Will get my usual starter tomorrow. And evaluate the effect. Ricketts and protein--more research to do. thank you. I have them on Poly vi sol at the moment.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: These shavings are from a cabinetry company, from planed lumber so they are kiln dried. The small pieces they certainly can ingest, so I removed ALL the shavings and then vaccumed their brooder! LOL Still not sure, still researching. Thanks for the idea .
You may have two problems, keep that in mind. If you continue using them you may want to sift them for the chicks and keep only the big flakes. You can buy screen at the hardware store or make you a colander of sorts... drill some small holes in a bucket and shake...... I may start doing that for my store bought shavings. I use the saw mill shavings for the big birds ONLY.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I will look this up. I am surprized that ricketts would effect such a young chick. These are about 7 days for the youngest, and the oldest 2 are 6 weeks and act fine. Maybe the difference is the insect protein that my kids feed to Little Mouth and Big Mouth, ( this is a reference to large and small mouth bass).

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Went to feed this morning, and something had dug under one of the henhouses...the BCM one, of course, and taken five teenagers. Well, one pullet...the best at this point...was left dead. The others were gone. Foxes, apparently. We'll be reinforcing chickenhouses this afternoon after work.