HEY GUYS AND GALS,
I'm new @ this chic raising thing, and I have run into some feather fraying situations.
First let me say I have always liked chickens, and I have owned a small flock for about two years. Until recentlly they were chickens.....My passion began when my fiancee's uncle brought home some chicks from the feed store for the kids. Since then I have learned sooo much about poultry from this board and other sources. By the way I LOVE THIS FORUM....ya'll are a fantastic bunch with lots of knowledge.
To the question.....I think my chicks are about 5-7 weeks old. We started with 5 and are down to 3. At fist I thought the two that died's fate was a product of the color they had put on them at the feed store. I now think it was probably habitat. Anyhow, I had read that the chicks needed to eat some chick grit if the would be eating anything besides starter. I was letting them roam the garden while planting and they were eating lots of worms. They were so cute playing chase. The two that died had eaten the most worms, which lead to my decision to give them grit.
The kids were trying to do all of the caretaking with some advice from myself(like I know anything). So told them to put a vieanna sausage can of grit in their cage. That is exactly what they did. With no feed. Yesterday before I got home the kids had already called saying "mom will you buy my chickens, I don't wanna clean the cage." So now they are my chicks and they have eaten so much grit that they are off balance and their craws feel like hackey sacks!
Of course the very first thing I did was get that grit outta there, and build them a proper habitat.
By the way, I thik I can enter the Ghetto Brooder competition now...lol
So please could someone tell me:
Have we killed the chicks?
How long will this grit stay in the necks like a bean bag?
Why does one of them have wet looking feathers?
This morning they all looked much better than last night. They are all eating, drinking, peeping and moving around.
Thanks in advance for your advice!!
-Carla II
I'm new @ this chic raising thing, and I have run into some feather fraying situations.
First let me say I have always liked chickens, and I have owned a small flock for about two years. Until recentlly they were chickens.....My passion began when my fiancee's uncle brought home some chicks from the feed store for the kids. Since then I have learned sooo much about poultry from this board and other sources. By the way I LOVE THIS FORUM....ya'll are a fantastic bunch with lots of knowledge.
To the question.....I think my chicks are about 5-7 weeks old. We started with 5 and are down to 3. At fist I thought the two that died's fate was a product of the color they had put on them at the feed store. I now think it was probably habitat. Anyhow, I had read that the chicks needed to eat some chick grit if the would be eating anything besides starter. I was letting them roam the garden while planting and they were eating lots of worms. They were so cute playing chase. The two that died had eaten the most worms, which lead to my decision to give them grit.
The kids were trying to do all of the caretaking with some advice from myself(like I know anything). So told them to put a vieanna sausage can of grit in their cage. That is exactly what they did. With no feed. Yesterday before I got home the kids had already called saying "mom will you buy my chickens, I don't wanna clean the cage." So now they are my chicks and they have eaten so much grit that they are off balance and their craws feel like hackey sacks!
Of course the very first thing I did was get that grit outta there, and build them a proper habitat.
By the way, I thik I can enter the Ghetto Brooder competition now...lol
So please could someone tell me:
Have we killed the chicks?
How long will this grit stay in the necks like a bean bag?
Why does one of them have wet looking feathers?
This morning they all looked much better than last night. They are all eating, drinking, peeping and moving around.
Thanks in advance for your advice!!
-Carla II
