ROOKY MISTAKE TO SHARE

[wardschickens]

Hello I joined today, I named off a ton of stuff I learned on BYC but I would like to share one thing I learned on my own. Three years ago, we bought 12 baby chicks. I lost over half of them. This past spring we bought 3 dozen so when we did raise them and lost them we would still have some left. When I was raising my chicks before they transitioned into the yard I put them in the plastic boxes with towels instead of shavings. I also left the water and food in ALL THE TIME. BIG MISTAKE. Huge!!! A day and a half into it and I already lost three. I thought what am doing wrong and how can I fix it. I looked inside and they ALWAYS spilled the water and food. I thought huh, I will change the towel every morning AND evening reguardless. I will only leave the water n food in for a ONLY few hours during the day. HUGE DIFFERENCE! Everyone flourished after that. No more chicks were lost. I ended up with six roosters and A BUNCH of laying hens now egg gathering time is like an easter egg hunt. Boy if I had known what the key was!! Anyway. I have talked to other newbys since then and come to find out it UNFORTUNATELY isn’t uncommon AT ALL. So please share.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

You are correct but the real facts are that baby ducks are baby ducks while baby chickens are just baby chickens and never the twain shall meet.

If they don't actually drown baby chicks will go skinny dipping in their water fount and by doing so become chilled. A wet or chilled chick is a dead chick, count on it. A bag full of children's marbles in the drinking fountain will allow the peeps to take a sip of clean cool clear water from between the marbles without getting dangerously wet.

 

[Pork Pie]

good point raised above. I'm pretty sure that the overwhelming majority of members have feed and water available in the brooder 24/7 without suffering losses.

 

[Pork Pie]

You guys have good points I can only speak from personal experience. I may need to find a different watering bowl then. The ones I purchased no matter where/how they were placed were tipped over. Trust me. I didn’t try the marbles. It is something to be concerned about if a rookie is loosing chicks though.

I agree with Hamiam - sharing our successes and failures, for the benefit of others is commendable.

I suspend waterers, even if only a centimetre above the ground. I also use nipple waterers attached to small soda bottles.

 

[Hamiam]

Welcome to BYC. You bring up a good point. That's what I love about this site. We have an opportunity to learn from each other's mistakes. Often this saves little lives. Thank you!

 

[wardschickens]

You guys have good points I can only speak from personal experience. I may need to find a different watering bowl then. The ones I purchased no matter where/how they were placed were tipped over. Trust me. I didn’t try the marbles. It is something to be concerned about if a rookie is loosing chicks though.

 

[SA&P]

I am VERY new to chicken keeping ...... the incubator hatches the eggs (instead of a broody hen) and a brooder brings them up....so to speak.
The experienced peeps will give more information.....
My ‘brooder’ was a strong cardboard box

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I think it depends on what type of waterer is used. I left mine in 24/7 and lost no chicks. I put it up on a brick to keep them from kicking wood chips into it.

 

[SA&P]

I had a strong cardboard box in a quiet corner of the kitchen. We bought plastic feedtray and water tray which were really inexpensive but my husband can remember his grandad putting a brick in an old plastic dish as a water dish for baby chicks. They couldn’t get in the dish, could just take sips from around the edge. I had seven babies hatch. No losses.

 

[rebrascora]

I would save the expense of an incubator and get yourself a couple of broody hens to hatch chicks.... something like a bantam pekin (cochin) or silkie. Granted there is no guarantee they will go broody but with those breeds there are good odds of it and lots of pleasure from keeping them and even more from watching them hatch and rear chicks. The down side is that it is a lottery as to when they will go broody, but that is part of the fun. Nothing better than watching an enthusiastic broody teaching her chicks to dust bath.... it's hilarious!

Of course, if you are going to hatch, regardless of method, you need to have a plan for the surplus cockerels that will result.