Spring 2017 first timers post!

[urbanchickening]

My babies graduated from storage bin in the spare bedroom to the hutch in the garage. I have a big xpen That I'll connect to the hutch later this week and this is where they'll stay until they move outside. Growing up so fast!!!

 

[ImportTheBest]

My babies graduated from storage bin in the spare bedroom to the hutch in the garage. I have a big xpen That I'll connect to the hutch later this week and this is where they'll stay until they move outside. Growing up so fast!!!

That's a really cool hutch! They do grow up way too fast though, sniff, don't they know we enjoy the baby stage?!

 

[Spartan22]

Exactly one week from today driving to Meyers to pick up the 15 babies

+ 1

So excited!!! I decided to call and tell them I don't want them shipped since it's a couple of hours drive vs a day or two of mail travel. Time went fast, I pre ordered them mid November?!

 

[coddledeggs]

So exciting! Do post pictures when you can. Mine are coming from Meyer's the first week of April, but I'm in California so they will have to be shipped. I envy you being able to pick them up.

 

[Spartan22]

So exciting!  Do post pictures when you can.  Mine are coming from Meyer's the first week of April, but I'm in California so they will have to be shipped.  I envy you being able to pick them up.

I sure will, excited

my daughter will skip school for pick up day.

 

[LadyVictorian]

The Silkie's are almost 2 weeks old now. My little splash Sora is starting to look more like a splash too. Look at them little feathers coming in. The have them growing on the wings, legs, feet, and tail now. Starting to fly around a little too.

 

[ImportTheBest]

Aww, such cute balls of fluff!


I wish I could pick mine up from Meyer but it's almost 5 hours away Document the pickup for us!

 

[Spartan22]

I can't wait

couple of days and will be driving to Meyers to pick up our fluffy ones.

 

[3riverschick]

I can't wait

couple of days and will be driving to Meyers to pick up our fluffy ones.

ok, pick up bottle of Bovidr Labs Poultry Nutri-Drench and give each chick one drop only by mouth when you pick them up. For needy, weak small chick, repeat as necessary every 8-10 hours until perky. Then put it in their water for the next 2 weeks to combat travel stress and adjusting to their new home. http://www.nutridrench.com I have used it on my collies and poultry for over a decade. wonderful product.
smallest bottle is enough, buy at Tractor Supply or your feed tore.
Best,
Karen

Ok now that i have your attention and you are not going to sign off on me,
I will explain in the next post why you need this product.

 

[3riverschick]

When your chicks get picked up they will be stressed ( from time of hatch thru pick-up) for
several scientific reasons. They will need a nutritional supplement which doesn't need digesting( for several scientific reasons). That is Poultry Nutri-Drench by Bovidr Labs. http://www.nutridrench.com You should also be able to get it at your local feed store. You can also use Goat Nutri-Drench. Just make sure to use the Poultry Instructions, which are:
1.Give each chick one drop only mouth when they arrive. Repeat as necessary every 8-10 hours until perky.
2. Add to their water for the 1st 2 weeks of life. The water should look like very weak tea. The Drench combats pasty butt and the runs. Jumpstarts the G.I. tract and helps restore the immune system.
I raised a whole flock of Light Sussex on Goat Drench using Poultry instructions. I have never had a sick or dead chick when raising them on Drench water. Just nice robust chicks! That's all you need besides some probiotic of your choice for them to snack on. Medicated chick crumble. Add chick grit after they are a week old. You won't visually see any outside difference in the birds if you give hem the correct size grit at each stage of development. What is happening inside is the gizzard muscle is getting stronger, healthier, and larger. At time to lay eggs, this can result in up to 20% more eggs per hen. To read about grit see the thread in this Raising Chicks section titled
" The Science of Feeding Grit to Poulltry".
Scientific reasons for the above:
This is all about getting the G.I. tract up and functioning efficiently as soon as possible. It is difficult for harmful pathogens to get established in a correctly populated and efficiently functioning G.I. tract. Plus adding in extra nutrition for the chick to use in developing muscles and G.I tract. That nutrition was supposed to come from the yolk sac. However the chick used the yolk sac up for energy instead during shipment. So now you need to replace it as soon as possible. Using a supplement which doesn't need digesting is the best way. Because the nutrition is needed for the developing G.I tract which is now stressed because it didn't have the nutrition it was expecting from the yolk sac. See? In other words, the G.I. tract is nutritionally "behind schedule" in development so we feed it a supplement which does not need digesting to keep from stressing that G.I tract further and to get the nutrition to it faster.
Best Success,
Karen in western PA, USA
P.S, In neonates ( which I have been studying for 20 years) it's all about the G.I tract. What you have in the neonates( 1st 2 weeks of life) whether mammal or avian is cascade scenarios. Everything is linked nutritionally and if it isn't kept in balance then you can get body system cascades from several directions. The immune system gets the nutrition it needs to mature from the G.I. tract. That nutrition also helps the immune system fight pathogens. The runs and pasty butt are caused when environmental or nutritional needs in the G.I. tract affect the tracts ability to uptake nutrition correctly. Drench is very forgiving of novice management mistakes. Because it doesn't need digesting. and gets there every fast. It provides the fast nutrition the body needs to realign the body systems which are unbalanced due to stressed or sick G.I tract's inability to properly uptake nutrition to those body systems. It is all about correcting nutritional deficiencies before the body systems reach a tipping point where lack of enough proper available nutrition causes the body systems to start a cascade of failure and then the chick dies.
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You are picking up your chicks but it probably still has been more than 6 hours since they hatched. Since we want to feed them first meal no more than 6 hours after they hatch, the Nutri-Drench is needed to keep them from using all the yolk sac for energy.