that's the smartest thing I've heard all day.
Someone talk me off the roof!
- Thread starter dbounds10
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Nah, just stay out of the Emergencies section!!
Nah, just stay out of the Emergencies section!!
Quote:
I feel your pain! We (husband & I) have agreed "no chickens" until we have a coop and area enclosed for them even though we will be getting babies. I am totally on information overload and starting to get scared. My 15 year old really wants to do this for her FFA project over the next three years and I have always liked the "idea" of having chickens but MAN, I feel like its more complicated to raise chickens then children!
I feel your pain! We (husband & I) have agreed "no chickens" until we have a coop and area enclosed for them even though we will be getting babies. I am totally on information overload and starting to get scared. My 15 year old really wants to do this for her FFA project over the next three years and I have always liked the "idea" of having chickens but MAN, I feel like its more complicated to raise chickens then children!
First: Realize we have 82,000 members with hundreds joining every week.
Second: Note that some of those people join because they are having problems
Third: Keep in mind that chickens have problems like any other pets, but when you have 5 - 6, the probability of one in the group having a problem goes up.
Fourth: STOP READING THE EMERGENCIES SECTION!!
Seriously though, if you are reading in that section you'll definitely get freaked out. Hang out more in the other sections of the site.
Second: Note that some of those people join because they are having problems
Third: Keep in mind that chickens have problems like any other pets, but when you have 5 - 6, the probability of one in the group having a problem goes up.
Fourth: STOP READING THE EMERGENCIES SECTION!!
Seriously though, if you are reading in that section you'll definitely get freaked out. Hang out more in the other sections of the site.
What about pasty butt? I'm getting day olds in a few days and from reading here I feel like I'm going to have to be checking their poor little vents every hour to make sure they don't get it...
Your worried about pasty butt and you dont even have chicks yet. How Crazy is that?
I had 15 chicks last year and I've never even seen pasty butt. you need to relax.
when you have a problem go looking for the answer. Dont go looking for problems.
I had 15 chicks last year and I've never even seen pasty butt. you need to relax.
when you have a problem go looking for the answer. Dont go looking for problems.
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Think of it this way: it's a good idea to pick up each of your chicks every day to get them used to handling anyway. As you pick each one up, give a quick peek at its little butt. They will probably all be fine, but if one does get plugged up, you want to notice it quickly.
Think of it this way: it's a good idea to pick up each of your chicks every day to get them used to handling anyway. As you pick each one up, give a quick peek at its little butt. They will probably all be fine, but if one does get plugged up, you want to notice it quickly.
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Welcome to the forum, Texas neighbor! We're over in Dallas, and we're going in to our third summer with chicks.
Fowl pox is pretty common, but usually no big deal. It's kind of like chicken pox in humans. Our first batch of chickens all caught fowl pox (it's transmitted by mosquitoes) in the fall of their first year, but last year's batch of chickens didn't get it.
Heat is a real issue for keeping chickens in our climate. You'll want to provide as much shade as possible and provide cool, fresh drinking water. I even put ice in my waterers sometimes. If your coop is located where it gets afternoon sun, think about relocating it. A conventional closed coop can heat up inside to dangerous levels in the summer sun.
Mites can be bad here in summer, especially when they get into nestboxes. I use plastic lidded bins and a plastic covered kitty litter box. In the summer, I empty out the nestboxes every week, dumping the bedding into our compost. Then I put a little poultry dust (a permethrin based product) in the bottom of the box and add fresh bedding. So far, so good. No mites.
The only other issue that's come up with our flock is that our head hen, Billina, started to develop a tiny black spot on the bottom of the pad on her foot. It was the beginnings of an infection called bumblefoot. In her cause, it was caused by an overgrowth of the toenail on that foot that was bending under and rubbing on the bottom of her foot. We are lucky to have a very good chicken vet nearby. A simple course of antibiotics fixed the foot problem before it became anything serious.
I think chickens are no harder to take care of than any other pet.
Welcome to the forum, Texas neighbor! We're over in Dallas, and we're going in to our third summer with chicks.
Fowl pox is pretty common, but usually no big deal. It's kind of like chicken pox in humans. Our first batch of chickens all caught fowl pox (it's transmitted by mosquitoes) in the fall of their first year, but last year's batch of chickens didn't get it.
Heat is a real issue for keeping chickens in our climate. You'll want to provide as much shade as possible and provide cool, fresh drinking water. I even put ice in my waterers sometimes. If your coop is located where it gets afternoon sun, think about relocating it. A conventional closed coop can heat up inside to dangerous levels in the summer sun.
Mites can be bad here in summer, especially when they get into nestboxes. I use plastic lidded bins and a plastic covered kitty litter box. In the summer, I empty out the nestboxes every week, dumping the bedding into our compost. Then I put a little poultry dust (a permethrin based product) in the bottom of the box and add fresh bedding. So far, so good. No mites.
The only other issue that's come up with our flock is that our head hen, Billina, started to develop a tiny black spot on the bottom of the pad on her foot. It was the beginnings of an infection called bumblefoot. In her cause, it was caused by an overgrowth of the toenail on that foot that was bending under and rubbing on the bottom of her foot. We are lucky to have a very good chicken vet nearby. A simple course of antibiotics fixed the foot problem before it became anything serious.
I think chickens are no harder to take care of than any other pet.
I have 23 chicks in the brooder right now, and not a single one of them has or has had pasty butt. I've had to deal with it on maybe 2 or 3 chicks since I got chickens over 2 years ago. It's easy to take care of, just get a damp cloth and wet the area until you can get it off without pulling on it.
As everyone else has said - Stay out of the Emergencies section!!!! Browse the other sections.
I started with 7 chicks and I'm now up to 43. They are so much fun and addicting too! Welcome!
As everyone else has said - Stay out of the Emergencies section!!!! Browse the other sections.
I started with 7 chicks and I'm now up to 43. They are so much fun and addicting too! Welcome!
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