My first ever chick!

[thasea]

I have a question. I have a new chick! The chick hatched on the 21st of this month. What a proud parent I am!
The chick appears to be healthy, two wings, two feet, etc. All the parts seem to be there...
My question is how often and how much should I feed the new baby? It wants to eat like every 20 minutes. Should I be giving it medicated feed or (?) I am trying to do everything naturally. I have placed garlic in the drinking water for all my birds and have given the older ones some plain yogurt (one of them coughed). The chicken coop next door has come down with something. (coughs and sneezing)
Should I give the new baby some yogurt? I want it to be healthy but at the same time I don't want chickens that are laden with antibiotics.....What is your opinion of vaccinations?
And what about oatmeal? Can I use Quaker Oats Regular?

.....this is the new chick

 

[Karrie13]

I didn't have any of my chicks vaccinated but I did feed them medicated chick starter when they were little. I also always keep feed out for all of my birds 24/7 with fresh water. The only birds that didn't have feed all the time were my meat birds.

I introduced Yogurt to my birds when they were around 2 weeks old, they LOVED it but also made a HUGE mess out of it. I also provide plenty of other food for my birds, like fresh greens and veggies (leftover from the garden or dinner). I also made sure there was some chick grit handy too to help with their eating.

Congratulations on your chick! She/he is a cutie!

edited to add: I have not given my birds oats so I am not sure on the quaker oatmeal. I have read about people making some when it is cold out and giving it to them for a nice warm treat.

 

[pnuts]

thats such a cute lil' chicken!
i just gave my chicks a feeder full of chick starter (whatever the feed store gave me i dont think its medicated) and it lasts all day. they stop eating when they are full i think..

i made their chick feeder out of a dvd case and punched a bunch of holes in it

i think dark greens like spinach are good for sneezy chickens, maybe some apple cider vinegar in their water or something like that

 

[Judy]

Chick starter is often medicated with Amprolium. It is not an antibiotic. It works by blocking something, I think thiamine, in the cocci which are present in soil. Some chick starters, however, are medicated with an antibiotic.

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Have chick starter feed and fresh water available at all times. I used medicated, you don't have to, but I erred on the side of caution. Your chick does not need anything else in the way of food to begin with. You might want to wait a few weeks to begin giving treats other than yogurt or some hard boiled, smashed egg. Basically, the feed has a balance of what your chick needs and you don't want treats to be over 2% of what they are eating. When your chick is a bit older and you give treats with substance, you might want to offer some chick grit (it's smaller than regular grit). Just depends on the treat. Hope that helps. Have fun!

 

[write2caroline]

She might get lonesome - you might need 10 or 20 more soon.

Yes, I will enable your new chicken addiction - c'mon their like potato chips - you can't just have one!
LOL
Caroline

 

[pnuts]

 

[thasea]

I love the replies.
This is so cool! Right now the baby (chick) is sleeping. (ssshhhhh!) It's sooo cute, it wakes up in the middle of the night, eats, and goes back to sleep after I clean its box. (just like a real baby!) It's amazing! I'll have to upload a pic of it's sleeping arrangements. He/she seemed lonesome so I let it sleep with a stuffed lamb.....(aahhhh)
Your right, I don't think I can have just one baby chick. I'm waiting to see if the Tophat is a roo, and then maybe my other chickens (I think their girls) will surprise me with eggs....
My other chickens LOVED the yogurt! They ate it all. And they love Quaker Oatmeal (regular), Corn Flakes, carrots and hard boiled eggs. I give them this along with their feed. I don't know, they look healthy (except the one just started with a cough)
Today they scratched around in the garden squash. I had let them out after the rains let up. T.S. Nicole I guess went up the other side of the state. (I'm not sure of it's path as I missed tonights news).

I will leave mashed feed out for the baby and garlic water. 24/7. I'll wait till he/she is about 2 weeks old and introduce plain yogurt. The temp in it's box (a plastic storage bin) is about 80...He/she isn't complaining about that....should it be higher than that?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would also address this coughing problem with your other chickens, before it gets out of hand, and by the way what an adorable little chick

 

[thasea]

Is there something else I should do that would be a natural remedy for the cough? I saw that garlic helped it and yogurt.
The only drawback that I read was that the eggs may taste like they had garlic in it (which is allright by me as garlic is one of my favorite foods!) Some may not like that though.

Is there something posted here that I could read about coughing?