Update, my chicks are doing great!

[GoodEgg]

Hello everyone,

Thanks to all who answered my various questions. I had a chick with seizures, one with a leg she wasn't using that picked a hole in her own back, one with a prolapsed rectum, two badly picked banties, one that grew listless and is still half size of the others, two *VERY* pasty bottoms, a few lesser pasty bottoms, and I've probably forgotten half the issues we had. Along with losing power for half the night this week and thus brooder light/heat, and having trouble with my server so I couldn't even get online for most of the last week. And the feed store never did get in the right feed. (Checked several of them.)

Well, it's been a rough week.

But, everyone has survived except for the loss of one chick the first night. I never did find out what the cause of many of the problems were, and I still have some undersized chicks, but other than that everyone is fine and about to turn 2 weeks old. Mayhem reigns when I give them mashed egg yolks (I have to give my littlest ones their own egg yolk or they won't get any) and we have a few that can fly out of the box (and at least one gets back in ... I just found the poops all over the room). The box is covered with wire now, the temps are being lowered a bit, and everyone seems happy. The ants are afraid, as the black stars are especially good at picking them out.

I'm starting to doubt that some of my little ones are the breeds they are supposed to be, after looking at pics others have posted, but I'm just glad everyone is alive and well.

Just had to tell everyone, cuz I am so happy that the hospital cage is empty!

Now I gotta find time to work on that coop and pen, cuz I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to finish it in time, and I'll be like I was with the ducklings saying "these guys have GOT to go outside soon!"

(Oh, and whoever it was that said ducks are 10 times the work and mess of chicks ... you waaaaaaaayyyyyyy understated it.

I have 30 chicks that don't make a tenth the mess of 4 ducklings. I started out with a deep layer of aspen in the big brooder and haven't had to change it yet, although I am having to add to it. The ducklings sometimes went through several cardboard boxes a day ... and my chick brooder is just a huge cardboard thing pieced together from several boxes and liberally attached with duct tape, lined with a plastic tablecloth. Chickies are WAY easier to keep clean.)

Thanks all for being part of a great forum. I'm glad to be back online and back here.

trish

 

[kstaven]

Good to hear all is well. That is what this forum is all about. Chicken people helping chicken people.

Baby chicks don't smell as badly as ducklings either!

 

[GoodEgg]

LOL, you are right. Those baby ducklings were starting to STINK!!!

Four ducklings were so bad, I was a little worried to have 26 chicks in the house. But so far (going on 2 weeks old) there's no stink at all. And the waterer only has to be rinsed, and the feeder just now could use a washing ... the ducklings had to have everything scrubbed at every feeding, so I ended up buying two of everything in order to have a clean set on hand.

We are enjoying the duckies though. Although I've threatened to kill and eat Baka on occasion ... she's the one who complains most loudly when ANYthing bothers her. Then again, nothing can come into the backyard without us knowing about it, at least if it's something she considers a threat.

She's the one who let us know a neighbor's dog crawled through a hole we hadn't noticed in the fence ... and probably the reason my tiny flock was able to put the dog to flight! (Hole is patched now!)

trish