Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

252 chicks (and poults) hatched over the weekend!  
I moved some of the older chicks out to tractors on grass. Nothing looks more contented that a young chicken stretched out in the grass, casually pecking at bits of greenery. If they could talk I imagine them saying "Ahhhh, this is the life!"


Congratulations on all the chicks! And thank you for all of the information. It's pretty interesting. I'm new to all of this, incubating, broody laying, auto sexing chicken stuff.

My broody hatched out one baby chick but we found the other 3 DIS.

I currently have a chick in a cup with it's legs bandaided together and another one with bandaid shoes. Both of which I'm giving vitamins to orally. I've had 10 hatch inside and 1 outside.
I really can't imagine 2-3 hundred!
 
If there are no obvious leg issues for you to act on, maybe just separating and allowing food and water within easy reach. Then, I hope that it begins to stand again soon. Other than a leg issue or disease, it could just be a vitamin deficiency.


I'm not sure if you can see in the pictures or video (maybe the first picture), but both of the joints right above the foot look a bit swollen and red compared to the other Cornish roasters. I am worried it will get dehydrated since the waterers I have in there have vertical nipples and they pretty much have to stand up to drink. I'm not sure he could drink from a bowl of water (I tried taking a dish of water in the tractor the other day to try to refocus their attention while I filled up the bucket waterer and they didn't know what to do with it... They just waited for the bucket waterer to be filled up and then attacked it (I even showed it to them and dipped a few beaks in, but no dice, lol).

I did move him over to the layer brooder so there aren't any monster Cornish cross in there to trample him. He didn't seem to like being away from the chicks whenever I pull him out in the grass to check on him and feed him electrolyte water via dropper. I feel like he needs a sling or something to hold him up and take the pressure off of those joints... But no three week old chicken is going to stay in a sling!
 
I can't get pictures to attach tonight. Oh well.
When I went outside around seven to check on the ducklings in their pen, they were crying. It had gotten cooler out, so I thought they were just getting a bit chilled and tired. When I got to them, they were not huddled together. Turns out that one of the neighbors cats was walking around their fencing. The neighbors assure me that they no longer have cats that will hurt even a new chick. The ducklings are a good size, so I was definitely not worried. I was, however glad that they had an instinct that something was wrong. I went to bring them inside to their new brooder. I left the fence open, assuming that the drake would walk in. Not only because he follows me everywhere, but because he had been curious about the ducklings earlier. I was careful to stand nearby, and amused that as soon as two of the ducklings got too close to him, he ran off! Okay, it was a walk. But it was still funny. It also assures me that there is not going to be a problem in a week when I take the fence down and let the ducklings mingle with everyone. The drake is dominant over even my rooster. I feel secure that he will protect the ducklings. Now I just hope that at least two are females.
 
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The ducklings made it through. Their door fell open. One hen, and four or five of the older chicks were inside with them. Just like with my drake, there did not seem to be any problem.
 
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