New member new chick owner.

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Jul 8, 2016
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Hi everyone. I just started with a few chicks. They are Anerucana birds. I ordered 6 from Az to Oh. 2 died the first night because my husband didn't believe me that raccoons can squeeze there head or hands through the slats. So now he has boards over the opening and the rest are doing fine. I think I have 1 roo and 3 hens. When can I expect them to want to sleep in their nesting box.
 
Hi and welcome to BYC - glad that you have joined us. Chicks should sleep around the heat source. If they are sleeping away from the source, it means that it's too warm for them. You'll find lots of info in the Learning Centre https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center, and if you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads. 

You may wish to consider joining your state thread  as it will put you in touch with other BYC members in your area - https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you

All the best
CT
 
Hi :welcome

Glad you could join us here! I'm sorry to hear about the two you lost. Racoons sure are very handy.
When your chicks are fully feathered and off heat they should start roosting on the roost bars and not on the nest box. Nest boxes should only be for laying eggs, letting them sleep in there is bad habit. Pooping in nest boxes is not good for when you are getting eggs as they cover the eggs in poop. CT has left you some great advice and links to check out.
Wishing you the very best of luck and enjoy BYC :frow
 
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You don't want them learning to sleep in a nesting box, they will have poo all over their eggs. UGH!! Generally you keep nesting boxed closed off until your pullets are approaching point of lay. Then you can put a golf ball or two in each box to show them eggs go there.

Raccoons are one of the very worst predators, even if they don't kill all the birds, they will leave others so horribly damaged, they generally die later.
They can climb, dig, jump down from branches or rooftops, and have opposable thumbs. They can open any latch you can. I hope your husband is a believer NOW. Painful lesson learned (I hope). Raccoons are notorious for reaching through openings and biting off any parts they can reach.

That's why poultry wire is useless against them. So flimsy, coons can tear or bite it apart. The gold standard of wire is 1/2" hardware cloth securely affixed to framework - not with little zip ties.
 
Welcome to BYC
frow.gif
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Raccoons are way too clever and a huge problem for many poultry owners. I hope you won't have any more problems with them.
 
I have another problem with one of my chicks. I thought my chick cut its foot so I put proxcide and Vaseline. The foot looks worse then yesterday. Could this be what they call bumble foot.
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