South Carolina

[Billyj]

When do you deworm the first time. Is there an age they must be, or just at a certain time of the year. I just put mine into the coop with little access to the run, they are just about a month old and finaly getting all the feathers (still babies). Do I need to deworm them at this young age?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Hey Billy!

How ya doing?

You can deworm them at about any age. I start once they are out on the ground but have offered it to ones still in the brooder and they still eat it up. Especially when mixing with hard boiled eggs.
You can also just scoop up a bit of poop in a paper cup and take to your local vet for a fecal check. I do so a few times a year to make sure my deworming program is going well.

I just like deworming every 3 months because I did that when I worked on horse farms and it became a habit for me. And since I deworm naturally then it doesn't hurt them.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

Amy, do you put red pepper flakes mixed up with hard boiled eggs? Hmmmm..... interesting! I read that cayenne pepper works so I guess it's the same theory. You do the red pepper flakes every three months? For how long? Just one serving? Oh, wise one....

Guess what, y'all? I came home from the farm to find a lavender ameraucana has hatched! And in that stinking Hovabator! The temp on the thermometer is 99.0 and the humidity is 70%. I'm not sure how accurate it is. I have the thermometer in there that came with the bator and it is 100. So I'm just leaving it all the way it is. I have 23 eggs in lockdown in the Hovabator (lav & wheaten ameraucanas) and 23 eggs in my RCom (all lav amerauacanas). Should be hatching a bunch tonight and tomorrow!

My little wry neck is hanging in there. I gave her two doses of Polyvisol today and had the children sit with her and hold her head straight. The poor thing! She just rolls around on her back with her head all crazy. I read online that we should see some improvement in a few days. I hope so! I'm determined to save her.

I did get 14 new silkies today! A gorgeous splash 4-mo old hen, a blue 4-mo old rooster, two little 2-mo buffs, and 10 4-wk olds (white, buff, splash, black and blue). They are so cute! I just love those little fluffballs.

Isn't today gorgeous! I planted a few things in the garden and just putted around. Love it!

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
Hello hello everyone..... hi snick I was just wondering where you was

Well John nah I haven t replaced the roo just waiting for the first batch of chickies to show me whos a roo and whos a hen. They are getting big the last batch is a little over a week old and they are growing like weeds. Ok I have a question for all you chicken experts......when can I put my first hatch with the big girls? The first hatch is 8 weeks old this sat. It would be so much easier if they was with the big girls.

I think it depends on your big girls. I've always put my babies in way before that with no problem. But I have a lot of chickens and a lot of different breeds and the babies can always run under the coop if they need to. I don't have aggressive hens either. I usually just put the babies in one of the coops and they eventually start wandering out. No one ever really notices.

So I'm a little late in reading this thread but I'm wondering - all ya'll that put your babies out in the big coop at 8 weeks or so, are you doing that in this weather? When it's still very cold at night? Just wondering as I still have 3 month old chicks with access to heat lamps. I don't usually add my little ones to the big yards until they're at least half grown so they can keep from getting trampled on by the adult birds. I have "big" chicks stuck everywhere right now while in the process of building some new grower pens.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

I don't think I've had a chick on a heat lamp past 4 weeks at the most. I usually move them to a coop with a heat lamp at 2 weeks because they start jumping out of their bins at my house. The coops have open pop doors and windows. If they're cold, they go under the lamp. I even did it in winter. No one has ever died. I can't imagine having chickens under a heat lamp at 3 months. You're way sweeter than me! And I don't mean just large fowl chickens. I do the same thing with the silkies. They huddle together when they're cold. I just figure that if a momma hatches her chickens, they're not under a heat lamp and I know that through all of time, somehow chickens have managed to survive. If they're really little, I'll put food and water in the coop for a limited time.

I just got 10 4-wk old silkies. I think one is even younger. It's little. I just put them in the coop. I closed the pop door but the windows (three) are open. I did not give them a heat lamp. Actually I didn't even think about it. It's warm today and they have tons of shavings in there. Hopefully they'll be fine!

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
Oh no, I'm afraid that would never work for me. I worry about my babies. Can't stand to see them huddled up and cold, it hurts my heart. My chickies are spoiled. It's good to know they can survive but ..... I do have hens that have raised babies this winter and I watch them. It's funny to see those tiny chicks run around out in the cold weather like it's nothing, but when they start to feel the chill they rush up under Mom and get warm really quick. Of course, I must admit that my silkie with chicks has a heat lamp too.

So will you at least close those windows tonight when the temps drop? Like I said, I'm a chicken farmer with a mother's heart. Now I'll be worrying about your chicks too!

 

[huckleberryfarm]

I don't think I closed any of the coop windows this whole winter. The chickens are generally way below the windows and I think ventilation is very important. They'll be fine. They just spent 2 days in the mail system getting sent here and I'm sure it was cold! I've lost two chickens this past year and both died during extremely hot temperatures. I'm not really worried about cold. But that's me! You are doing what you think is best for yours and that's wonderful!

Don't you hate waiting on chicks to hatch? I think this first one had a wild hair and just popped on out. I don't even have a pip on anything else.

 

[Joycats]

Quote:
Waiting on a hatch is very nerve wracking. I have millies and bantam wyandottes hatching now and the standard size eggs are finally pipping. The bantams seem to always be a little early which makes me worry about the others even more. There's always something to worry about.

 

[tink]

Joycats..... My new babies are only 2 weeks old and they are in the coop. They have a heat lamp 2 feet above them on at night. They snuggle up! But that makes them feather out better. They just get too noisy and messy in the kitchen if they are older than that.
Tink

 

[epitman2]

Susanne good luck with the hatch sending some hatching vibs out to ya

Well I put my babies outside in the little grow up pen at 4 weeks old then I moved them to the old coop that we have after a week and they have done fine as far as the weather goes. I think my big girls need some excitement in there coop....they need to run around and chase some chickies and get some exercise cause geeze they are eating us out of house and home.

Did someone say worms ? mine loves worms they will fight over a good juicy nightcrawler...

just kidding I will have to look into giving them some wormer.