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fisherlady said:
I hope she recovers with some TLC, she is a cutie!
I do tend to worry about noisy chicks though, seems that the cheeping is often a sign of distress from a youngster failing to thrive, often not one who does well in a broody hatch because as much as broodies do to protect and feed their youngsters they are heartless when expecting everyone to keep up. 'Survival of the fittest' is the broody way. I understand it, but since we aren't exactly in a natural environment I tend to give the weaker ones better odds when I can.
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I agree, she does seem to be failing to thrive. She was stuck again this afternoon, so I brought her inside to warm up again. It seemed to take her longer, and I know she won't be safe with the broody tomorrow when I am at work. So I put her in with the chicks I already have. They are much bigger, but there is a heat lamp for warmth and they all snuggle at night anyways. I think it will be her best chance.

Tweeder1905 said:
Hey everyone, just wanted to say hi, I’m new to the thread, I live in New Tripoli, right in the Lehigh valley...... if anyone has good leads on chsicks feel free to let me know please!
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Welcome ! Nice to have you here!
 
Tweeder1905 said:
I’m fairly new to keeping chickens, so I’m open to anything..... I have 8acres of wooded land for them to roam, so I’m looking more for foragers to take care of all my ticks.
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Sounds like a wonderful area! although I don't think you will notice much of a difference in your tick population after you get chickens. I keep chickens mainly for eggs and for exhibition. I have kept guinea fowl in the past, which I do believe (at least in my case) made a different in the insect population. They are dreadfully loud and not personable though. They also seem a little bit...dimwitted in a way. I could be convinced that their skulls are in fact empty.
As for Chickens, if you want to keep for eggs, you could get production strains or you could go the more heritage/uncommon breed route. Production breeds and crosses are more efficient egg producers, but a varied flock is more enjoyable in a hobby environment in my opinion. @dheltzel has mostly rare/uncommon breeds in autosexing varieties (can tell male or female at hatch by the color of the chick) and is probably has the most availbale right now
 
LeBlackbird said:
Sounds like a wonderful area! although I don't think you will notice much of a difference in your tick population after you get chickens. I keep chickens mainly for eggs and for exhibition. I have kept guinea fowl in the past, which I do believe (at least in my case) made a different in the insect population. They are dreadfully loud and not personable though. They also seem a little bit...dimwitted in a way. I could be convinced that their skulls are in fact empty.
As for Chickens, if you want to keep for eggs, you could get production strains or you could go the more heritage/uncommon breed route. Production breeds and crosses are more efficient egg producers, but a varied flock is more enjoyable in a hobby environment in my opinion. @dheltzel has mostly rare/uncommon breeds in autosexing varieties (can tell male or female at hatch by the color of the chick) and is probably has the most availbale right now
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I’m definitely in it for more the heritage breed.... I’m a chef so I have a bit of romance with the idea of raising rare breed animals
 
AnneInTheBurbs said:
I agree, she does seem to be failing to thrive. She was stuck again this afternoon, so I brought her inside to warm up again. It seemed to take her longer, and I know she won't be safe with the broody tomorrow when I am at work. So I put her in with the chicks I already have. They are much bigger, but there is a heat lamp for warmth and they all snuggle at night anyways. I think it will be her best chance.



Welcome ! Nice to have you here!
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I was going to give another suggestion but I think you beat me to it, lol...when we pull a broody chick for illness or injury we provide whatever emergency care is needed and then situate it in our 'hospital box', which is a boot box lined with a baby blanket and containing a brinsea heat plate. The heat plate can provide temps up to incubator level with control being maintained by a baby blanket over top of it. Just provide more open air to keep it cooler or cover it more snugly to keep it warmer. A wired, outdoor thermometer with the sensor taped to a ceramic egg under the plate provides temp readings.
After the sick one is settled in we provide it with 1 hatchmate of similar size to act as its companion, the companion chick is swapped out every day or two for a new one so they still get all the broody benefits and no one gets ostracized by being out of the loop for too long. If it appears it will be a long recovery we may give it a permanent companion or two after we know it will survive.
This set up keeps the chicks used to the dark cave for warmth and keeps them much calmer also.
 
Tweeder1905 said:
I’m definitely in it for more the heritage breed.... I’m a chef so I have a bit of romance with the idea of raising rare breed animals
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Dennis has several rare breeds and varieties available now or soon as chicks, and I will probably have several extra started pullets later in the summer of various breeds and varieties available as well
 
fisherlady said:
I was going to give another suggestion but I think you beat me to it, lol...when we pull a broody chick for illness or injury we provide whatever emergency care is needed and then situate it in our 'hospital box', which is a boot box lined with a baby blanket and containing a brinsea heat plate. The heat plate can provide temps up to incubator level with control being maintained by a baby blanket over top of it. Just provide more open air to keep it cooler or cover it more snugly to keep it warmer. A wired, outdoor thermometer with the sensor taped to a ceramic egg under the plate provides temp readings.
After the sick one is settled in we provide it with 1 hatchmate of similar size to act as its companion, the companion chick is swapped out every day or two for a new one so they still get all the broody benefits and no one gets ostracized by being out of the loop for too long. If it appears it will be a long recovery we may give it a permanent companion or two after we know it will survive.
This set up keeps the chicks used to the dark cave for warmth and keeps them much calmer also.
Click to expand...

The little chick seems to be doing well with the “big kids”. She is much warmer, and eating and drinking fine. Looks like she has a new group of friends. They do run her over a little bit, but she doesn’t seem to care or be harmed from it.
 
Here is a good reminder of why it is so important to put down a skirt of fencing or some kind of rocks around the base of your runs. I had someone digging last night into my broody run, perhaps successfully. Thankfully, I had made sure the actual broody coop was secured and locked down, so nobody was hurt. But I could clearly see digging in 2 places. I will be digging and putting rocks around, as soon as it is not so muddy back there.





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edited to remove duplicate photos.
 
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