Need help asap

[lazy gardener]

chicks do need grit to digest insects and greens, which they will be finding in their run.

 

[Shezadandy]

Agreed- I think the founder of the BYC MHP thread raises babies in Wyoming in cold temperatures using the MHP method. The main rules are a heating pad that will stay on 24/7, some sort of frame to keep it in place when they jump on top (so it doesn't crush the ones underneath) - and a draft-free environment, which it sounds like you've got now. Last night they did need to be inside to warm back up and recover from being chilled- but they should be good to go now.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

 

[Kat C]

Also, Momma Hen is breaking down various food sources for her babies with her beak so they're chick sized.

For about 3 days at most. After that she may do some of that but usually are chicks are too breaking up food that is too large on their own - 8 chicks, one momma, they aren't going to wait and hope they are the one getting the bit momma breaks up. When we give them Japanese Beetle grubs at say 5 days they have to play get away with them because they need to break them down and do it before another chick grabs it away. Mom watches and I can't remember seeing a mother help. Something bigger than that like a lizard she would break up for them. She can't break down grain with her beak.

 

[Kat C]

chicks do need grit to digest insects and greens, which they will be finding in their run.

not everyone agrees with you https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/do-chicks-need-grit-if-fed-treats-and-worms.640821/ They might need grit for grass which has a lot of indigestible stuff in it (cows need special bacteria to digest grass) but I doubt they need it for salad type greens. However I think they need dirt to be healthy, grit or no grit, and any chick not raised on the ground should get a bowl of dirt to eat and play in. So whatever you are feeding your chicks give them some dirt. If they need grit for anything they are eating they will get it. If raised in a dirt floor pen where the dirt is compacted, turn the dirt or add nice fresh dirt from outside.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thank you everyone for all of your advice I ended up placing plywood down to cover the wire floor and put bedding all inside the coop and got a heavy duty heat lamp and even wrapped plastic around the bottom of the coop to make sure no draft comes up from below. I'd lovvve to be able to keep them indoors but me my husband and our 4 year old daughter live with his parents and his mom absolutely will not let me keep them indoors so I have them set up in their coop and I'm gonna be looking for someone that lives near us that also has chicks to see if we can keep ours with theirs until ours are old enough the be in the outdoor coop

They're better off outside as long as you've made sure they have a warm spot.
Be very cautious of putting your chicks with someone else's. Bio-security is very important as is quarantine. You don't want your birds to contract any disease or parasites from other birds. I don't even let anyone that has been around other chickens on my property without a boot wash, disposable booties and coveralls.

not everyone agrees with you https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/do-chicks-need-grit-if-fed-treats-and-worms.640821/ They might need grit for grass which has a lot of indigestible stuff in it (cows need special bacteria to digest grass) but I doubt they need it for salad type greens. However I think they need dirt to be healthy, grit or no grit, and any chick not raised on the ground should get a bowl of dirt to eat and play in. So whatever you are feeding your chicks give them some dirt. If they need grit for anything they are eating they will get it. If raised in a dirt floor pen where the dirt is compacted, turn the dirt or add nice fresh dirt from outside.

All birds have gizzards but not all birds need grit because of what they eat. However all galliformes can benefit from grit at all ages regardless of what they are fed. Grit helps to develop the gizzard so later in life they will better be able to complete digestion.
For a chicken not to have grit is akin to us swallowing all our food whole without chewing. You will get digestion but not as completely. Grit affords better feed conversion and prevents digestive blockage.

 

[Kat C]

They're better off outside as long as you've made sure they have a warm spot.
Be very cautious of putting your chicks with someone else's. Bio-security is very important as is quarantine. You don't want your birds to contract any disease or parasites from other birds. I don't even let anyone that has been around other chickens on my property without a boot wash, disposable booties and coveralls.

All birds have gizzards but not all birds need grit because of what they eat. However all galliformes can benefit from grit at all ages regardless of what they are fed. Grit helps to develop the gizzard so later in life they will better be able to complete digestion.
For a chicken not to have grit is akin to us swallowing all our food whole without chewing. You will get digestion but not as completely. Grit affords better feed conversion and prevents digestive blockage.

All birds do have gizzards, but not like a chicken gizzard. Unless they eat grain it is much thinner. Many birds such as an owl eat prey whole and do just fine without a gizzard filled with stones. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/do-all-birds-have-gizzards/ "All birds do have a gizzard, but those species that eat very easily digested foods such as soft-bodied insects, soft fruits, or nectar may have a very small and thin-walled gizzard."
Yes since the chicken gizzard is designed to have grit it seems best to give them grit even if they are only eating baby crumbles. And you can of course buy grit but dirt has so much more in it to help the chickens in other ways. So no matter what you are feeding your chicks, give them some dirt. We have a few roosters that don't mix well with the flock but that we want to use for breeding. Although they are on dirt the dirt gets compacted so I give them some granite grit and throw in shovels of fresh dirt. When eventually slaughtered they always have quartz grit in the crop and never any of the granite grit. In pen or out I have never slaughtered a roo with anything but quartz grit. Letting them choose from what is in the soil they pick what they prefer and what I assume works best.
https://draxe.com/eating-dirt/
I have never asked any other backyard chicken owner to wear booties. Seems a bit like overkill unless you know their flock is sick. However we first got leg mites from some birds we accepted from someone. Seems like a new bird from another flock is a more likely to infect your flock. And if your birds are healthy with healthy immune systems its unlikely they will pick up the few bacteria on a guest's feet or pants. We haven't had a sick bird in several years, but when one does get sick we segregate them and if not getting well quickly we cull them.

 

[Mandy0922]

It got down to the low 30s and high 20s so I wasn't having it I went out and got them at like 2am because even though we covered the wire floor there are 1-2 inch wide gaps all over the coop for ventilation and those had me worried. Every time I went out for my hourly checks throughout the night they were directly under the lamp huddled together so it made me think they weren't staying warm enough since they weren't moving from up under it. Thank you for recommending that I take up close pics of my coop and post them on the coop section I am going to do that as soon as it warms up a little more.

 

[Mandy0922]

I also wanted to ask is this normal one of my chicks is really struggling to drink and when I looked closer at her beak I noticed it's different from all the other chicks on the bottom

 

[Mandy0922]

Also am I doing this right do I need the heat lamp closer like clamped to the side of the box? And I put that towel like that to creat a cool spot since the bins not really big so wen I put the light on it the entire thing is lit up there is no available cool spot

 

[Kat C]

View attachment 1343282 I also wanted to ask is this normal one of my chicks is really struggling to drink and when I looked closer at her beak I noticed it's different from all the other chicks on the bottom

Right that is not a normal beak. We had a chick like that that survived for a while but never grew much and finally died. Probably best to cull it now.
However if you can't do that here is some advice from an earlier thread
https://www.chickenforum.com/threads/under-bite.2456/