I live where people dont raise chickens and TSC is the only place to get them ,The limit is 6 and thats all I really want, but I have bought chicks from there 2 times the first only 1 lived and the last none made it . Im wanting more this spring but is there anyway to keep them alive ? I kept them inside until they was well over a month old and then they stayed out and died before they was even 3 pounds(probley weighed less) I feed them,clean water,clean living and are in a building with window for ventilation and have outside pens for them,just having a hard time keeping any alive! Although the 1st one I got from there that lived was a beauty and is still alive to my knowledge,I traded him for other chickens so im not sure really but he was full grown when I traded
Did you start with medicated feed???? The can get coccidiosis (cocci) before they are full grown and medicated feed can help keep this from happening. There could be a number of other factors just trying to help.
It could have been anything. I got 15 chicks this spring from TSC, and all are doing fabulous. Got 12 eggs today out of 12 pullets laying.
Without looking at my spreadsheet, I bought chicks from 3 different TSCs, an Atwoods, and Ideal Poultry. My mortality rates for all 5 were within 2 percentage points of one another (of course that rate is all inclusive and includes deaths from predators). The medicated feed is a big thing. I feed that until they're at least 6 weeks old!
There could be many causes, but cocci is definitely one, and preventable. I'd get some Corid and go ahead and treat when I put them outside. You might also clean the coop with a 10% ammonia solution before re-using. Unfortunately, cocci live in the soil so this will only do so much. Just FYI, usually at TSC there is a minimum of 6 chicks, not a maximum. I wonder if you misunderstood, or if an employee misunderstood (a distinct possibility.) http://www.clemson.edu/public/lph/ahp/disease_links/images/coccidia.pdf https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=368508
ALWAYS start those TSC chicks with medicated feed and a lot of heat, they have been picked up, dropped, and put through a myriad of other messes before you even get them home! They can survive just fine (mine always have) but you have to baby them a bit to get them started, it is a hard way to start life in a store petting zoo!
I ment to say that you have to get at least 6 chicks from there . Also I clean the coop and they have heat on them and stay in when they are young . My dog killed one of the last two but the other one was skinny and sick . I get them in march everytime , and I dont take them out til the end of april without a heat lamp. They are in an inclosed insulated building,and if its too hot I put fans in the window and if its too cold then a little heater .. Also from the first 6 I bought one had a broke leg,and then 2nd time I only bought 2 chicks because thats all they had left so they let me take them . They never said anything about medicated food so thats probley it . They said all I need is to give them feed and water and keep them in heat . I bought two ducks each time I bought chicks,all those made it and were healthy,,but I had them out in the pen and my cat found a hole in it and ate one,then the dog ate the other. I no longer have that dog so thats not a problem,I raise rabbits and they all make it so do the ducks just not the chicks
Quote:I will,they just never told me I needed it , I asked them and they said they was a few days old
