raising baby chicks and some questions for you experts

[grunt soldier]

first off let me say thanks to everyone in advance for all the great info on this site already. its a unlimited resource i believe.

here are my questions. i bought 5 golden comets pullets from tsg because my daughter wanted to see where food comes from and as pets. i am not quite sure how old they are but i have them in a mini coop with a heat lamp on them and they are very very active. i have had them for a week and a half now (is there a way to tell how old they are?). they are growing like crazy. i am feeding them some medicated food and just regular water. the girls are doing awesome it seems and my daughter loves them. my actual coop is almost finished. just some background info.

now on to the questions. i keep hearing you have to be very careful handling them as they could have salmonella (which makes me super nervous with my daughter). so my question is how much do you handle them and how. just hold them check and check them out then wash your hands or what. how often should you do this. is it safe for my little one to handle/hold our new little ones ?

next question is what type of treats do you feed them to get them use to you and possibly follow you around. that way i don't have to chase them around the yard. is there any good store bought ones or just best to find worms and what not to give to them. here are some pics of the girls and thanks again for any help

i have pine shavings in my little coup what is the general consensus do i need the DE or am i good with just cleaning it out 1 or 2 times a week. (i read the FAQ'S and was just curious w/ the chicks)

tried to get some pics of the feathers so maybe one of the many experts could guesstimate on the age

or nevermind i am not allowed to post pics i guess

i am going to be getting 2 more chicks for sure. i really want 2 rhode islands reds or possibly some Ameraucana. a local guy is selling some pullets right now and i might just get them since i can't find the rhode islands. any advise is greatly appreciated as i am completely new to this.

 

[Fred's Hens]

If they are really, really ugly, as in feathering out all jagged and ragged looking, stand 4" tall, then they are about 3 ish weeks old. That's close enough. They are often a week old when you get them at TSC.

I wouldn't bother with the DE until your get them into your permanent coup. It sounds like they are doing just fine on feed and water, which is what most of us do. Cleaning the little brooder once a week is a good thing. Yes, handling is a concern. Complete hand washing following messing with the chicks is a good sanitary practice.

If you are going to add chicks, do it yesterday. Baby chicks and month olds don't always mix real well and they have differing heat requirements. At 5 weeks, the older chicks only need a 100 watt bulb for heat, on cold nights. The two week old young'uns will need it warmer for awhile. Once all the chicks are at least 6 weeks old, none of them will require heat. Make sure they have lots and lots of room to buzz around and open space to mingle. Crowding, especially with differing ages, can lead to serious issues of bullying. Chicken politics is rough.

 

[Wildflower_VA]

Store bought treats are expensive and unnecessary. Another thing--don't give treats out often. They need to get most of their nutrition from their starter feed. Before giving any treats, start them on grit in the form of chick grit and later grower grit and a box of play sand.


Here is a short list of treats:

Hard boiled eggs--high in protein and the chicks love them
Carrots--finely shredded
Greens: spinach, grass clippings, tender weeds--you name it, they love it
Veggie leftovers from dinner--chopped
Play sand: they will eat it, dust bathe in it. It helps prevent pasty butt and contains prebiotics
Earthworms--dig them right out of the garden
a chunk of grass with the roots and dirt clod attached--make sure you dig it where there have been no lawn chemicals applied

If your chicks are healthy, I wouldn't worry over much about your daughter handling them. Chickens have always had salmonella, as do humans. It became a huge problem with battery hen houses and close confinement, which stresses the chickens and crowding causes any disease to spread rapidly. Just practice clean handling habits. Always have a towel or paper towels on the lap--excited baby chicks are poop machines. Gently wrapping the chick with the towel will help keep it from struggling and getting injured. Always wash hands well after handling as you would after handling any pet.

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

My grown up chickens love Purina Scratch grains. I have a little tupperware container and I shake the scratch grains before I feed it to them. They all come running when they hear the noise, no matter where they are!

When they were peeps they liked a little bit of hay. They didn't eat it, just picked it up and ran around with it. Very funny! It was an event.

I have my 8 grown up chickens in a 6 by 6 coop. I put pine shavings in it and clean it out once a month. But every day I take a rake and stir up underneath the roosts. That's were most of the poop is. During the day they are outside. Seems to work...no smells.

To post pictures go to the "Uploads" menu...then copy the link from the "image" box into your post. It took me a while to figure it out! Not sure if it's the right way...but it works for me!

 

[henney penny]

Chicks need grit,use parakete grit.mine love it.

 

[grunt soldier]

Thanks for the replies. i will get some of the grit and put it in there. the other chicks are already 2 weeks old so i will grab them and get them to mingle. hopefully it will work out. they all seem healthy and i will have to start handling them more. i am going to figure out how to upload pics soon, it's a different process on every site lol. i still have them inside hanging out in the mini coop right now and have started turning the light off for a hour here and there.

i was going to try and buy 2 laying hens already but it doesn't seem like they will all get along. again thanks everyone for the help so far

 

[AKsmama]

Quote:
No, do NOT use parakeet grit. Pet bird grit often has added calcium carbonate, and chicks shouldn't have too much calcium b/c it damages their kidneys. Either use chick grit from a feed & seed store, construction sand from a hardware store, or if they have access to dirt/very small granite stones/pebbles in your yard, that will be fine too. I have never used any commercial grit with my flock as they have always had access to dirt from my yard even when they were in the brooder.

If you're using the deep litter method , you don't need to clean out your coop every week. You might want to rake/stir the shavings around that often, or toss treats in the coop so the chickens can scratch around in the litter for you, but trying to remove the poop all the time just makes unnecessary work for you and kind of defeats the whole purpose of the DLM.

 

[ChickenCrazy4ever]

When handling the chicks make sure you do NOT touch your face until you wash your hands. We handle ours a lot and wash our hands after wards so no salmonella for us. When one of the chickens jumped on my head and when another climbed up my arm n onto my shoulder where it got chickie germs in my hair, I took a shower and am still healthy. Your daughter should be fine holding them as long as she doesn't put them in her face or kiss them or anything like that.

 

[grunt soldier]

ok awesome i will make sure she understands that. though it hard explaining it to a 4 y/o lol. i am going to have to check as i think i either got some roo's or 3 of mine aren't golden comets. i was told they were all pullets by the tsc employee's but who knows if thats right. 3 of them are a light yellow color with the brown specs in them and from what i have been reading are poss roo's.