New and a couple questions…

[Witchychickens]

Hi all!

I have 7 chicks.

I need to clean their container today. I plan to put shavings in my compost.

1, is it true chicken manure should compost for 3 years prior to using? My dad who avidly used it in the past said it had to be aged.

2, I have a chick with mid brown bubbly poop. Seems ok otherwise. Is frothy poop normal? I’ve only had this chick for 24 hours, Chick is vocal, eating, drinking, playing, trying to fly off the brooder and out of the puppy pool (we did electrolytes, 1 packet to a gallon and then half and half today, some of my chicks came from a sort of very stressful situation).

3, when I clean the pool, can I spray the brooder top with orange peel infused vinegar or should I just stick with water?



Thanks in advance!

 

[NatJ]

3, when I clean the pool, can I spray the brooder top with orange peel infused vinegar or should I just stick with water?

I would not wash it with anything. Keep it completely dry. Just take out the old bedding, put in new bedding, and leave it at that. Chickens of all ages do best if they stay DRY, but it matters even more for chicks than for adult chickens. If you are determined to wash something, at least make sure you dry it thoroughly afterward.

1, is it true chicken manure should compost for 3 years prior to using? My dad who avidly used it in the past said it had to be aged.

I don't know where he got the 3 years number from, but it doesn't match anything I've heard or read.

If you put fresh chicken manure on plants, it will usually kill them. Of course that depends on how much manure and how mature the plants are-- one fresh chicken dropping on a healthy lawn is fine, but a pile of fresh chicken droppings on or next to young seedlings is definitely fatal.

So the chicken manure does need to be aged or composted before using on plants, but a few months is usually long enough (depends partly on the climate: if it is frozen solid during the winter, that time wouldn't count, because nothing is happening while it is frozen.)

If you are worried about germs in the chicken droppings that might make their way onto the plants and then to you, the best way to address that is with high heat (certain types of composting), and still does not take 3 years.

I suppose in some climates the wood shavings might take 3 years to break down entirely, but I would expect even them to compost faster than that in most conditions.

2, I have a chick with mid brown bubbly poop. Seems ok otherwise. Is frothy poop normal? I’ve only had this chick for 24 hours, Chick is vocal, eating, drinking, playing, trying to fly off the brooder and out of the puppy pool (we did electrolytes, 1 packet to a gallon and then half and half today, some of my chicks came from a sort of very stressful situation).

I don't know for sure about the chick.

But if you are giving electrolytes, you should make sure they have a source of plain water too.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

When cleaning the brooder i dump out the shavings by a flower bush that lives off of the shavings, its grew a ton since ive started doing it. But its not a lot of manure.
Ill wipe it out with a paper towel, thats not wet
Then i just add new shavings.

Before putting the chicks in a do clean the brooder fully. Even if i cleaned it after thr last set of chicks.

For compost i think a few months should be ok.

For the chick with bubbly poop how old is it?
Chicks ive hatched sometimes have bubbly poop for a day or so after they have hatched it goes away.

 

[Witchychickens]

I would not wash it with anything. Keep it completely dry. Just take out the old bedding, put in new bedding, and leave it at that. Chickens of all ages do best if they stay DRY, but it matters even more for chicks than for adult chickens. If you are determined to wash something, at least make sure you dry it thoroughly afterward.


I don't know where he got the 3 years number from, but it doesn't match anything I've heard or read.

If you put fresh chicken manure on plants, it will usually kill them. Of course that depends on how much manure and how mature the plants are-- one fresh chicken dropping on a healthy lawn is fine, but a pile of fresh chicken droppings on or next to young seedlings is definitely fatal.

So the chicken manure does need to be aged or composted before using on plants, but a few months is usually long enough (depends partly on the climate: if it is frozen solid during the winter, that time wouldn't count, because nothing is happening while it is frozen.)

If you are worried about germs in the chicken droppings that might make their way onto the plants and then to you, the best way to address that is with high heat (certain types of composting), and still does not take 3 years.

I suppose in some climates the wood shavings might take 3 years to break down entirely, but I would expect even them to compost faster than that in most conditions.


I don't know for sure about the chick.

But if you are giving electrolytes, you should make sure they have a source of plain water too.

I just meant I needed to clean the top of the brooder, I can use plain water and just dry with paper towels. Coconut (the leghorn) loves to get up there and poop.

I will add some plain water. I was planning to pull the electrolyte water tomorrow, completely.

 

[Witchychickens]

When cleaning the brooder i dump out the shavings by a flower bush that lives off of the shavings, its grew a ton since ive started doing it. But its not a lot of manure.
Ill wipe it out with a paper towel, thats not wet
Then i just add new shavings.

Before putting the chicks in a do clean the brooder fully. Even if i cleaned it after thr last set of chicks.

For compost i think a few months should be ok.

For the chick with bubbly poop how old is it?
Chicks ive hatched sometimes have bubbly poop for a day or so after they have hatched it goes away.

It looks older than a few days but I’m new. I’m not sure how long the hatchery had them, first. The first set I got were 1-3 days when we got them Saturday. The chick in question is a leghorn and looks larger than the others. So maybe about a week? I could be wrong. I’m really new to this.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

It looks older than a few days but I’m new. I’m not sure how long the hatchery had them, first. The first set I got were 1-3 days when we got them Saturday. The chick in question is a leghorn and looks larger than the others. So maybe about a week? I could be wrong. I’m really new to this.

Is there blood in the poop that you can see?


I hope others can help with this.

 

[Witchychickens]

Is there blood in the poop that you can see?


I hope others can help with this.

I’m going to attach a pic (of the poop and the pooper in question). The bird is very “active” (that’s the nicest way I can describe this bird haha) It doesn’t look red or black so I don’t think it’s bloody.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Im not sure on the poop maybe it will resolve itself.

The chick seems to be about 5 days old probably and looks healthy

 

[Witchychickens]

Im not sure on the poop maybe it will resolve itself.

The chick seems to be about 5 days old probably and looks healthy

Ok, that’s what I thought. I have singles of each breed I chose so I don’t have much to compare to.

He/she is very very active. I’m going to switch them to regular water completely tomorrow so maybe it’s the electrolytes.

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Ok, that’s what I thought. I have singles of each breed I chose so I don’t have much to compare to.

He/she is very very active. I’m going to switch them to regular water completely tomorrow so maybe it’s the electrolytes.

I offer regular water with other water usally. Since i like to give electrolytes for the first few days