Picked up chicks today! Need to do some problem solving.....

[kiwiegg]

My boys and I picked up our 9 Gold Star's 5 Americanas and 3 Buffs today....it's like 10 childhood Christmas days here today. All but the 3 1 week old Buffs are 2 weeks old and all of them were eating out of our hands today!! They seem happy and one of the little Buffs is convinced a Star is her mom. The Americanas have segregated themselves from the others but are still eating out of our hands. I don't know when they are going to sleep - it's still party central in the brooder.

There is a LOT of scratching around the pine shavings, kicking it all over the place foraging for poopy feed when there is a nice feeder full of the stuff - funny. Are they just fulfilling a natural urge to forage in the shavings for their food or are they not getting enough to eat out of the feeder? Problem is, the waterer (1 gallon, on shavings) is getting full of shavings every couple of hours. Do I need to hang the waterer in the brooder - even for 1&2 week olds? I'm worried the little buffs will need a leg up to drink. I thought about putting the waterer on something like a plate but the pine is being hurled from a foot away!

Someone in another thread mention giving chicks chick-grit and "weeds" for treats-are there any common garden weeds that are dangerous to give my babes?

 

[nwe319]

Congrats KiwiEgg! I've raised quite a few different sets of chicks, and I have found that if you put the waterer on a 3 inch base, they won't kick shavings in it. It was aggervating constantly dumping water out just to get the shavings out! And the stratching for food is 100% natural. Chickens instictively eat whatever is at their feet. As for the weeds, I found my chickens mostly eat "chickweed" yes, ironically, that is the actual name for the weed. I don't know if that grows in your area, but if so it's worth a try.

 

[kiwiegg]

Thanks nwe, they are a lot of fun. I am definately going to try your platform idea!

 

[Delta2 23]

Congrats on your new chicks! I remember you saying a few days ago that you were getting them. Glad they are okay.

The foraging, and the kicking of shavings into water, is normal chick behaviour. What we did to help keep the area clean was havve a separate section of the brooder, without any bedding, for the water and the food, that way if the food spilled they just picked it up off the ground, and nothing was mixing in with the bedding. This part maybe just had a paper towel or two as the floor.

I don't know much about weeds in the garden. However chickens usually know what sort of stuff to keep away from. Grass is a very good treat popular among the chicks. We always used to take a lot off clipping to put in for them. They need chick grit for treats, unless they are let outside for a while every day to pick up some sand or something from the ground.

 

[kiwiegg]

Thanks Delta! When I figured out the hatchery was only 90 minutes away there was no stopping me! Just to confirm - I can give 1 and 2 week olds grass tips?

 

[Birde]

If you want them to have greens, you should give them alfalfa grass bedding. You can buy it by the bail green & dried. It's clean & good for them. They even dust bath in it. I perfer it over all bedding materials.