- Jun 14, 2011
- 3
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- 7
I have 2 silkies that just turned 1 month old. I got them when they were a week old and housed them in a smallish cardboard box, newspaper flooring with a heating lamp for the first 2 - 2 1/2 weeks - until they started jumping out and pooping all over the floor. At that point I figured they wanted some play time outside as well as a larger home. I took them outside for a couple of hours each day, let them peck around and scare each other silly. Their new home was a plastic crate, floor covered in newspaper and continued with the heat lamp. At about 3 - 3 1/2 weeks I began putting them in their coop during the warm hours of the day, which here in Cali is most of the day. It's about 72 - 80. I figure that's neither too hot nor too cold...right? In the late afternoon I bring them in and pop em in their crate where they usually settle down right away. However in the last 2 days they have been jumping out of their crate, sitting on my dog's nose and crapping all over him and my rug before I get up in the mornings! I'm not thrilled. Okay, so a friend of a friend, I'm told, keeps her older chicks in the bathtub. It's too high for them to get out and offers a little more 'acreage', with the advantage of quick clean-ups. So tonight is their first night in the tub (it's porcelain, and again, covered with newspaper and they still have their heat lamp). They're a little freaked, but are eating (Purina Start & Grow Medicated), drinking and sleeping. They are sleeping under the lamp but off to the side a little. Does all that sound okay? Healthy?
Their coop is still incomplete. It's about 4' x 8'. It doesn't have roosts as yet, tho' I hear that silkies don't necessarily use them and if they do they like them to be only about 6" off the ground. The flooring, so far, is dirt and grass with one small section that I left uncut (about 8" tall) because they seem to like messing around in the taller grass. The grass is a little damp in the morning. They've eaten worms, grass, bugs and a bit of banana and have had no problems that I'm aware of. Both chicks are highly socialized (!) as I have 7 grandchildren that can't, absolutely can not, keep their hands off them.
Today, one of the chicks had a watery stool. I don't know if I should be concerned. She doesn't seem to be lethargic or have any other symptoms that I can discern. I wouldn't know Pasty Butt from the Hope Diamond! Also, they don't seem to drink as much as the forum posts indicate, but maybe that's just me thinkin they should be gulping down 32 ouncers. I'm worried. Should I not let them hang out in the taller grass, spend the day in their coop, spend the night in the tub, be handled by the kids, let them eat a pincer bug or banana? I'm an insecure first time chick mom! Help!
Their coop is still incomplete. It's about 4' x 8'. It doesn't have roosts as yet, tho' I hear that silkies don't necessarily use them and if they do they like them to be only about 6" off the ground. The flooring, so far, is dirt and grass with one small section that I left uncut (about 8" tall) because they seem to like messing around in the taller grass. The grass is a little damp in the morning. They've eaten worms, grass, bugs and a bit of banana and have had no problems that I'm aware of. Both chicks are highly socialized (!) as I have 7 grandchildren that can't, absolutely can not, keep their hands off them.
Today, one of the chicks had a watery stool. I don't know if I should be concerned. She doesn't seem to be lethargic or have any other symptoms that I can discern. I wouldn't know Pasty Butt from the Hope Diamond! Also, they don't seem to drink as much as the forum posts indicate, but maybe that's just me thinkin they should be gulping down 32 ouncers. I'm worried. Should I not let them hang out in the taller grass, spend the day in their coop, spend the night in the tub, be handled by the kids, let them eat a pincer bug or banana? I'm an insecure first time chick mom! Help!
