I've several questions about my growing up chicks. For how long do I need to offer medicated water? I have two groups: 5 Araucana pullets are about 7 weeks (from Orscheln and no clear age was offered to me when I got them) They are with their adopted Silkie mom who pretty much rules their young lives. I've begun letting this group run during the day in the outdoor fenced area (@ 20 x 20 feet and they have access both to their chick starter feed out there and the regular chicken mash. They seem wonderfully healthy, active, having loads of fun chasing bugs and so on. Other than a few pecks when a chick tries to rob a standard hen of her nibble, it's been an amazing blending. I can see that having an adoptive mama is heads above raising chicks myself. At night, mamaSilkie takes them back into the inside pen where she raised them and the standard flock retreats separately on their own to their coop and roosts. Slick! My other group of eight 5-6 week old mixed chicks has no adoptive hen, and I've kept them separate from the first group because mamaSilkie is brutal with them. I think blending these in a couple of weeks may be a challenge. Should they still have treated water offered to them? They are still on fulltime chick starter. Any suggestions for growing up chicks? How to mix these in with the flock in a couple of weeks? ~G
