We have babies!

[Sydney65]

Well you sure make the field sound creepy! What’s grown there and when is it harvestedz?

It's corn, and it's been a great yr for it, the ears are huge. I usually look forward to corn yrs bc it makes it so quiet out here. But I never thought abt predators being in there or noticed the crashing when the wind blows or birds flit from stalk to stalk.
I'll have to get a pic of the pumpkins we have growing back there. Apparently guinea skat is a powerful fertilizer.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I did! I have been trying to get a broody chicken mom to accept them, but I don't think it's going to work. She can tell they're different from her chicks

Awww, chicken hen doesn’t recognize how cute keets are???

 

[Sydney65]

View attachment 2840098look, guys!

Aw! Guess you didn't need any of mine! Lol

 

[Isadora]

Awww, chicken hen doesn’t recognize how cute keets are???

Apparently not I still have the keets in with her at the moment. She gets annoyed and pecks if they're within reach, but she doesn't care if they're under her.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi All, so it’s about to go from way too hot to much cooler, very quickly! I’m not worried about the keets during the night because they all cuddle under mom. However, those morning temps are going to be so cold for them! Right now, morning temps are 60-70 F. Mom cuddles for part of the morning, and anxiously paces the rest of the time. She seems pretty responsive to their peeps, which I think they will do if cold… I have never put a heat lamp in the coop due to fire risk, but I can’t decide if these colder temps mean I need to get a heat lamp in there… Keets are 11 days old today and only have feathering at their wings. Mom is still pretty freaky about all new things and may stress over heat lamp or brooder plate. A brooder plate would be safer, but I have a hard time imagining that the keets will go near it to try it out…

 

[Sydney65]

Hi All, so it’s about to go from way too hot to much cooler, very quickly! I’m not worried about the keets during the night because they all cuddle under mom. However, those morning temps are going to be so cold for them! Right now, morning temps are 60-70 F. Mom cuddles for part of the morning, and anxiously paces the rest of the time. She seems pretty responsive to their peeps, which I think they will do if cold… I have never put a heat lamp in the coop due to fire risk, but I can’t decide if these colder temps mean I need to get a heat lamp in there… Keets are 11 days old today and only have feathering at their wings. Mom is still pretty freaky about all new things and may stress over heat lamp or brooder plate. A brooder plate would be safer, but I have a hard time imagining that the keets will go near it to try it out…

Sept 10th..so 10 days old It's been getting down that low here off & on. I'm looking at a past temps graph for my county -the low for the month was 53 an that was when they were 4 wks. Aug 15 low was 59° that was the day after they were were hatched. I remember asking R2elk about the chilly nights & he said they'd be fine under Mama.
The only diff to that is I don't remember if you have a totally enclosed area somewhere. Mine were inside the coop but the windows & pop door were still open.- and that was w/21 trying to find a spot. Some were going behind her wings instead of under.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

It was in the low 60s this morning. Keets were cheeping while mama was madly pacing and calling to the flock, who were off checking out parts unknown. So, against my better judgement, I hung a brooder light above a paver feeding platform. It’s only keeping it about 10 degrees above ambient with a 150 watt light, so I may need to find a 250 watt bulb for tomorrow morning, when it’s cooler.

 

[Sydney65]

It was in the low 60s this morning. Keets were cheeping while mama was madly pacing and calling to the flock, who were off checking out parts unknown. So, against my better judgement, I hung a brooder light above a paver feeding platform. It’s only keeping it about 10 degrees above ambient with a 150 watt light, so I may need to find a 250 watt bulb for tomorrow morning, when it’s cooler.

Our daily low is today's high. How'd the heating go?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Our daily low is today's high. How'd the heating go?

Hi Sydney, well despite my nervousness about heat lights in the coop, I’m glad that I set it up. I changed out the 150 for a 250 watt light. At 7:15 AM, I kicked the adults out of the coop. They did not want to go, and Lemon Pie tried to steal Welch’s keets! I’d seen LP on the outside pecking into the coop and wondered who she wanted to attack - looks like she wanted to attack Welch for the keets. LP stole keets from Viceroy last year and then handed the keets over to Scout Red to raise. All well and good but SR didn’t want to stay on the ground with them so they slept with Welch, who was incubating eggs at the time. LP also pushed Welch out then sat and bonded the keets last summer. That was helpful, she was like an Aunt that protected the keets. This morning, I’m not sure what LP was trying to do, but she was attacking and chasing Welch and endangering the keets under foot so I chased her out. I think that the flock may have stopped laying, though there could be yet another nest I can’t find. I’m still so sad for Scout Orange losing her nest and Mud Pie losing her life. Muddy’s feathers are still everywhere! I feel terrible every time I step through them. I took the last few days of eggs out of the fridge and am hoping to sell them to someone who wants a fall hatch as I feel that would honor Muddy. Anyway, I wonder if LP wants to take the keets since there will be no more nests this year…

So, back to the heat light. When I chased the confusion out this morning, I turned on the 250 watt heat light and it was 47 F out (coop temperature log pictured). There is a sickly keet I’m particularly concerned about and expect to lose (upper keet in close up pic). It’s the pastel that was one of the three keets hurt by Hamlet. This pastel keet seemed to bounce back a few hours after the attack with no visible injuries, so it went back in the coop. The royal purple keet with the injured leg was permanently removed from the coop and added to the brooder. I can say confidently now that the little injured RP was the pinto I wanted! But it needed its legs hobbled, had pasty butt, etc so I didn’t try to add it back to the coop but sold it to someone who knew that it was injured but was willing to take care of it. I hope it’s doing well. The little pastel keet that stayed has had something wrong for a few days. I realized yesterday that it was lethargic and stunted next to its clutchmates, so I decided to treat for the treatable and added amprolium to the keets’ water this morning at the high “outbreak” dose. That keet looked rough this morning but spent some time under the heat light, ate some food, drank some amprolium water, and has perked back up. Most of the keets spent time under the light this morning as Welch didn’t stop her pacing to give them a warm up until close to 10 AM. Way too long for 12 day old keets to live at 50 F! Now the coop is warming in the sun and they are all looking pretty lively. I really hope the amprolium and heat help the little pastel keet! I’m wondering if the stress of the attack/injury last week depressed it’s immune system so it became more susceptible to coccidiosis…

 

[Sydney65]

Hi Sydney, well despite my nervousness about heat lights in the coop, I’m glad that I set it up. I changed out the 150 for a 250 watt light. At 7:15 AM, I kicked the adults out of the coop. They did not want to go, and Lemon Pie tried to steal Welch’s keets! I’d seen LP on the outside pecking into the coop and wondered who she wanted to attack - looks like she wanted to attack Welch for the keets. LP stole keets from Viceroy last year and then handed the keets over to Scout Red to raise. All well and good but SR didn’t want to stay on the ground with them so they slept with Welch, who was incubating eggs at the time. LP also pushed Welch out then sat and bonded the keets last summer. That was helpful, she was like an Aunt that protected the keets. This morning, I’m not sure what LP was trying to do, but she was attacking and chasing Welch and endangering the keets under foot so I chased her out. I think that the flock may have stopped laying, though there could be yet another nest I can’t find. I’m still so sad for Scout Orange losing her nest and Mud Pie losing her life. Muddy’s feathers are still everywhere! I feel terrible every time I step through them. I took the last few days of eggs out of the fridge and am hoping to sell them to someone who wants a fall hatch as I feel that would honor Muddy. Anyway, I wonder if LP wants to take the keets since there will be no more nests this year…

So, back to the heat light. When I chased the confusion out this morning, I turned on the 250 watt heat light and it was 47 F out (coop temperature log pictured). There is a sickly keet I’m particularly concerned about and expect to lose (upper keet in close up pic). It’s the pastel that was one of the three keets hurt by Hamlet. This pastel keet seemed to bounce back a few hours after the attack with no visible injuries, so it went back in the coop. The royal purple keet with the injured leg was permanently removed from the coop and added to the brooder. I can say confidently now that the little injured RP was the pinto I wanted! But it needed its legs hobbled, had pasty butt, etc so I didn’t try to add it back to the coop but sold it to someone who knew that it was injured but was willing to take care of it. I hope it’s doing well. The little pastel keet that stayed has had something wrong for a few days. I realized yesterday that it was lethargic and stunted next to its clutchmates, so I decided to treat for the treatable and added amprolium to the keets’ water this morning at the high “outbreak” dose. That keet looked rough this morning but spent some time under the heat light, ate some food, drank some amprolium water, and has perked back up. Most of the keets spent time under the light this morning as Welch didn’t stop her pacing to give them a warm up until close to 10 AM. Way too long for 12 day old keets to live at 50 F! Now the coop is warming in the sun and they are all looking pretty lively. I really hope the amprolium and heat help the little pastel keet! I’m wondering if the stress of the attack/injury last week depressed it’s immune system so it became more susceptible to coccidiosis…

Have you given it a booster dose of nutridrench? When I searching for help for Singleton's splayed legs, I noticed @R2elk advised B complex vitamins in water many times, so looked to see it's effects. Over all, it just seems beneficial
https://veteriankey.com/avian-nutrition/ - and nutridrench doesn't have Bs.
So I added it to their water for the 1st cpl of weeks. It helped Singleton's leg, didn't prevent her from overheating in heating pad. The triplets and twins were very strong & healthy. Didn't prevent whatever happened in the field. But my remaining twin is strong & healthy.
It's pouring here today and chilly so I hung out in the coop for awhile, snuggled w/that twin a bit.
Found these, and pic doesn't do justice bc that little one w/tiny dots comes off⁹ as black/dark gray when in person it's brown. But hopefully you can see my frustration re different lighting, as these are w/ & w/o flash- or, you'll see nothing.