- Oct 11, 2012
- 28
- 2
- 24
JB and I have our new chicks. We got them on 3/14 when they were 5 days old. Currently we have 24 chicks: 9 Cornish X, 6 Black Australorps, 3 Red Sexlink, and 6 Amberlinks. We had 10 Cornish X and 4 Red Sexlinks but I accidentally killed one of the sexlinks under the waterer. (yeah, I know. How stupid can I be?) One of the Cornish died Wednesday. It had a slightly runny poo from day one but was active and eating/drinking normally. I kept it clean and used sav-a-chick electrolyte and probiotic in the water, but it just didn't make it.
All of the other chicks are doing great. They are in the barn in a 2'x4'x18" brooder with two heat lamps on one end. The barn is unheated so I am providing extra heat. They seem to be OK. They are generally hanging out under the lamps and around the fringe, not huddled together.
I'm currently feeding 24% chick starter and changing the water several times a day. I'll start ACV today or tomorrow. I'm having trouble finding it with "mother". I'll be in a larger town today and will see what I can find. I wanted to wait until the weekend anyway before starting ACV to make sure they are drinking it. Each chick was getting daily butt checks and cleaning (if needed). I have reduced that to every other day after three straight days of no cleaning required.
Tomorrow I am building a larger brooder in the coop to move the cornish into. They are getting too big to be with the layers and I'm afraid somebody is going to get hurt. When I move them I'm also going to reduce their feed to 18% and next weekend reduce to 12 hour feeding.
Some random pics over the past week:
In some of the pics they appear to be huddled far away from the lights, but that's only because they ran away. I put a blanket over the cool end of the brooder to give them somewhere to "hide" and feel safe. They seem to like it.
I had to put a wire lid on the brooder yesterday. The Australorps were getting very close to escape velocity. It's amazing how well they can fly already.
If you see anything we are doing wrong, I would appreciate a heads up. This is our first time ever raising chickens.
All of the other chicks are doing great. They are in the barn in a 2'x4'x18" brooder with two heat lamps on one end. The barn is unheated so I am providing extra heat. They seem to be OK. They are generally hanging out under the lamps and around the fringe, not huddled together.
I'm currently feeding 24% chick starter and changing the water several times a day. I'll start ACV today or tomorrow. I'm having trouble finding it with "mother". I'll be in a larger town today and will see what I can find. I wanted to wait until the weekend anyway before starting ACV to make sure they are drinking it. Each chick was getting daily butt checks and cleaning (if needed). I have reduced that to every other day after three straight days of no cleaning required.
Tomorrow I am building a larger brooder in the coop to move the cornish into. They are getting too big to be with the layers and I'm afraid somebody is going to get hurt. When I move them I'm also going to reduce their feed to 18% and next weekend reduce to 12 hour feeding.
Some random pics over the past week:
In some of the pics they appear to be huddled far away from the lights, but that's only because they ran away. I put a blanket over the cool end of the brooder to give them somewhere to "hide" and feel safe. They seem to like it.
I had to put a wire lid on the brooder yesterday. The Australorps were getting very close to escape velocity. It's amazing how well they can fly already.
If you see anything we are doing wrong, I would appreciate a heads up. This is our first time ever raising chickens.
Last edited:
