Last Tuesday I put all of my older chicks out (I had had them for 5 weeks, no idea how old they were when I got them from IFA but they were not day old) and I still had two 4 week old chicks and 1 2 week old chick in the basement. I got really tired of having chicks two places so I went against what you're "supposed" to do and put them all out. I put the ecoglow out in the coop as well for the youngest, but she doesn't go near it. She is much happier in the chicken pile at night.I check on her frequently and she has been out there for 4 nights so far and is fine, and all they do is poop on the ecoglow so I took it out today. The chicks (obviously) much prefer being in their bigger coop than being in their brooder. They are so fun to watch, they have a lot of personality. More than I was expecting from chickens.
I love how you put that.
So Lisa, you know the smaller chick I got from you? I was in the garage today with my brother looking at the babies, and I noticed that the little one had a pasty bum! It was the oddest thing to see. I've never actually owned a chick that had a pasty bum. The best I can figure is that maybe it was a little bit of stress from the move on Saturday, or else she ate some of the pine shavings and things got.....sticky...... I cleaned her up tonight and put a little bit of balm on her bum, since it was looking slightly irritated. She was so good about just standing there in my hand while I cleaned her, even though it took a few minutes. And I'm assuming that it helped with the problem, since she um, emptied the tank right in my hand once I'd finished, if you know what I mean. I choose to interpret that as an, "Ahhh, that feels better!" I'll give her another wipe down in the morning, and then probably stick a dob of yogurt in there for them to pick at. I love my sweet little babiese
Sphinx - I love it when this thread explodes like that. It's fun to see what all's going on with everyone.
birdman - I totally spaced answering this when you asked earlier, but as of now, I don't know how many eggs are under my broody hen. I wouldn't be surprised if she has a fair number, though. I would bet that she's been laying on and off for the last week or two. Even if she only has two eggs or something, I will be extremely excited to see what comes of it.
I had my last one #8 get a little pasty bum...it seems better now though.. I was worried about that high protein chick feed, I hope it is ok on their little systems! Plus like I told you I worry about that cold incubator, hope it did not freeze their little brains Glad you love your (crossing fingers---girls!) They really are a sweet bunch. I am starting to see teensy signs of gender.
Elk - Yes, I'm worried that there are probably more racoons lurking in the area. I have my suspicions that the one that's been raiding my coop is a big momma coon, which means there are probably babies running around. I thought about trying to discreetly slide a board under my broody at night and carefully move her and the nest into a spare coop that's set up inside a run, but I'm really nervous about breaking her of the broodiness. I feel lucky to have even gotten a hen to set, in the first place. I don't know what I should doI don't want to lose her or the babies.
Here are my chicks. I have no idea. what they are or how old they are. They were given to us by a friend.Little barn yard mixes? Will turn out pretty. Did they tell you if they were girls or boys? Looks like a couple of girls up front. It's always fun to see what colors they turn out to be.
