New Chicken Owner in the Desert

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NewJourney

NewJourney

Songster
Jul 4, 2023
118
174
126
Pahrump, NV
(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
I am new to chickens. I just got my first chicks yesterday!

(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
I have 12 chickens right now.

(3) What breeds do you have?
I'm back living with my parents and we decided to raise chickens, and later we'll also get ducks. We have been discussing it for years, and we were finally ready to get them knowing we will have a month or so to build a coop and fence off part of our yard for the chicks. We purchased 7 Sapphire Gem girls, and a straight run of 5 Salmon Faverolle. One of our Faverolle has dark wing tips and also a dark spot on its back. I think it's a cockerel but they are all about or less than a week old. We just picked them up yesterday.

(4) What are your favorite aspects of raising backyard chickens?
I don't know yet. This is new!

(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
I enjoy gardening but I'm brand new to that, too. I also enjoy researching anything that interests me. I like to play games with friends (MMORPG, D&D, etc).

(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
I live in an RV with my two dogs, a pit/GSD/chow mutt, and a goldendoodle. I'm parked at my parents house. My parents have a little Norfolk Terrier. I'm a full-time college student very close to graduating with my bachelor's degree. I'll be continuing my education for a second bachelor's degree.

(7) Bonus: How did you find BYC, how long have you known about BYC, and what made you finally join our awesome community? :D
I found BYC by searching chicken breeds and other chicken-related questions on DuckDuckGo. Now that we finally have some chicks, I'll be scouring this site for as much info as I can to ensure our chicks are happy and healthy!

I tried color-correcting my images via GIMP but the only one I managed to make somewhat correct is this first one. The others are harshly tinted by the red from the heat lamp. I just noticed this first image has a chick that has face-planted while sleeping. It's adorable.

The yellow ones are the Salmon Faverolle straing run, and the darker colored ones are the Sapphire Gems (supposedly those are all female). Oddly, the Sapphire Gems come to me and my mom and love to sit on our hands while eating the feed, but the Faverolles are VERY flighty and want nothing to do with us at all. Picking them up makes them so scared and they chirp like we're hurting them! I was told they were supposed to be very people-oriented and that they were supposed to be super loving and interactive. Perhaps they will calm down as they age but it's a stark contrast with the Gems.
This first image has two Gems and a Faverolle with another Faverolle hiding in the upper right. I just cleaned my first chicken "butt". It had pasty butt. It was one of the Gems.
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Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow

Congrats on your new chicks! As for pasty butt, make sure it's not too hot in the brooder, 88 degrees on one end. Food and water at the other cooler side of the brooder. Make SURE they are drinking, dip their beaks a few times and set them down in front of the water. You can add some human probiotics to the water, make sure to change out the water daily if you add them.

Enjoy your chicks! If you have any questions about them along the way, be sure to ask. Welcome aboard!
 
TwoCrows said:
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow

Congrats on your new chicks! As for pasty butt, make sure it's not too hot in the brooder, 88 degrees on one end. Food and water at the other cooler side of the brooder. Make SURE they are drinking, dip their beaks a few times and set them down in front of the water. You can add some human probiotics to the water, make sure to change out the water daily if you add them.

Enjoy your chicks! If you have any questions about them along the way, be sure to ask. Welcome aboard!
Click to expand...
Oh thank you. I was going based off how the chickens were scattering or huddling to determine how to move or change the distance of the heat lamp. I'll grab my laser thermometer. I've not sat and watched to ensure each bird is drinking and eating but I definitely see most of them appear to be eating and drinking just fine. Most seem quite active, others look quite tired but not sick. They are all breathing similarly when resting. Some slower breaths than others but not sick-slow.

The heat lamp that came in the kit we bought is gigantic. It's much bigger than the heat lamp I had for the aquatic turtle I had. I'm shocked at it's giant size. They are in my parents guest bathroom which is rather small. So, I'm worried they are too warm. I'll go check the temperature in a few hours. The heat lamp is hanging from the shower curtain rod to prevent it from falling into the tub on top of them and to try to get it angled correctly over them. It's an awkward setup because we only have one power outlet and no good spot to clamp the lamp to.

I didn't realize we needed to change the water out daily if we add probiotics and electrolytes. I'll change it in a few hours when I go check the temperature.
 
NewJourney said:
Oh thank you. I was going based off how the chickens were scattering or huddling to determine how to move or change the distance of the heat lamp. I'll grab my laser thermometer. I've not sat and watched to ensure each bird is drinking and eating but I definitely see most of them appear to be eating and drinking just fine. Most seem quite active, others look quite tired but not sick. They are all breathing similarly when resting. Some slower breaths than others but not sick-slow.

The heat lamp that came in the kit we bought is gigantic. It's much bigger than the heat lamp I had for the aquatic turtle I had. I'm shocked at it's giant size. They are in my parents guest bathroom which is rather small. So, I'm worried they are too warm. I'll go check the temperature in a few hours. The heat lamp is hanging from the shower curtain rod to prevent it from falling into the tub on top of them and to try to get it angled correctly over them. It's an awkward setup because we only have one power outlet and no good spot to clamp the lamp to.

I didn't realize we needed to change the water out daily if we add probiotics and electrolytes. I'll change it in a few hours when I go check the temperature.
Click to expand...
Chicks do a lot of sleeping at this age so they are probably fine. Check the temp directly under the heat lamp on the floor, this is where it should be about 88 to 90 degrees. Even a few degrees into the 90s can give them diarrhea. Too cold can cause intestinal issues as well. I like to put a screen over the top of the brooder like chicken wire or hardware cloth. It protects them in case the lamp does fall and pretty soon they will be flying out, so it keeps them in. They need places to cool off too so keep the heat off to one end.

Enjoy your babies!
 

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