South Carolina

[ChickyChickyBaby]

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I had a chick hatch with curled toes and as soon as it dried, I grabbed it out & put "bandaid shoes" on both feet. It walked great with those shoes on...ran, hopped, everything!
Took them off earlier, and it kind of freaked out.

It started pecking at its feet like they were some foreign object!
Cheeped at the other chicks & they ran over along with the little call duck and began pecking at the chick's feet!

Finally the chick decided it had enough 'help' and started trying to run away and was running backwards!
Took about 5 minutes of me & Nicole laughing at it before the chick figured out how to walk without shoes.

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

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[ChickyChickyBaby]

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Now that is very interesting - how long did the Javas get the Niacin? I have never added Niacin to my ducklings diet. The chick starter has Niacin in it and shouldn't it be enough? I hesitate to add vitamins to the water because it can go bad so fast. I learned this with my canaries and finches. It's much safer to add powdered vitamins to the food or just adjust the diet so they don't need supplements. With the heat in the brooders, I was always afraid to put vitamins in the water. I am having a problem with my chicks, mostly bantams and especially silkies. I am losing them daily, one by one and I can't determine what the problem is. Now I have chicks being raised under hens outside with no issues. So is it possibly the vitamins they get from the sunshine? Could it be the grit they get from scratching in the dirt? This is a new problem for me, I don't usually lose chicks once I get them hatched.

I get this stuff at TSC called Sav A Chick. I mix a gallon (1 pack to a gallon of water) but I don't fill the waterers up all the way so that way they have a chance to drink it before it goes bad under the lamp. It seems to give them a good start much better than anything else I have found.

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

I swear.........my quail are hatching 2 days late! Sheesh.

I have three thermometers in that huge cabinet... 2 show same temps. I am wondering if my stryo hatcher temp is lower than it should be.
I won't be hatching anything else in it. Cayugas died sometime after I moved them from turners in big incubator to the stryo bator hatcher ......were due yesterday - movement was in all but 1 egg when I moved it.

Now......dead chicks.........the three I cracked open never even pipped.

 

[Joycats]

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Now that is very interesting - how long did the Javas get the Niacin? I have never added Niacin to my ducklings diet. The chick starter has Niacin in it and shouldn't it be enough? I hesitate to add vitamins to the water because it can go bad so fast. I learned this with my canaries and finches. It's much safer to add powdered vitamins to the food or just adjust the diet so they don't need supplements. With the heat in the brooders, I was always afraid to put vitamins in the water. I am having a problem with my chicks, mostly bantams and especially silkies. I am losing them daily, one by one and I can't determine what the problem is. Now I have chicks being raised under hens outside with no issues. So is it possibly the vitamins they get from the sunshine? Could it be the grit they get from scratching in the dirt? This is a new problem for me, I don't usually lose chicks once I get them hatched.

I get this stuff at TSC called Sav A Chick. I mix a gallon (1 pack to a gallon of water) but I don't fill the waterers up all the way so that way they have a chance to drink it before it goes bad under the lamp. It seems to give them a good start much better than anything else I have found.

I've tried that too. The only thing I haven't tried is the grow gel (I think that's what it's called). It's the gel stuff they put in with the chicks when they ship them. I'm wondering if maybe they would eat that at times when maybe they aren't drinking enough. I'm going to order some and try it.

 

[Joycats]

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That is sad, I've experienced it quite a bit this year too. So sorry. FYI, I always run the styrofoam incubators higher than they say too. I keep mine between 100 and 101 degrees. Seems to work better for me.

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

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That is sad, I've experienced it quite a bit this year too. So sorry. FYI, I always run the styrofoam incubators higher than they say too. I keep mine between 100 and 101 degrees. Seems to work better for me.

My styro is always at 100.5 it is a still air.
i am wondering if I need to bump the big one up some. It is 99-100 most of the time

 

[phoneman]

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are you the folks that has emu chicks and eggs for sale, and if you are, there are some folks on craig list under charleston that is looking for some, the add is under farm and garden. i just thought you may be interested thanks

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Guess what I got in the mail this morning?
Worms!

Actually, meal worms. I plan to start a worm farm for my chicks and maybe my tractor birds.
I only ordered in 5000 but hope to see a nice breeding program for them so my chickies will love me for life.
And hopefully the Cayuga and Pekin ducklings will stop acting like I am killing them every time I get near their cage.
So far, the Saxony have been the best ducklings. Not afraid of me at all. The Cascades are goofy though.

Are Dick and I the only ones on this SC thread that are raising them?

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

"only 5000"
OMG

That is a lot of worms

Not even thought about having a worm farm