WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? WHAT DID YOU JUST RECEIVE?

[chickadee5002]

I added ACV to my first batch of TSC chicks (4 out of 6 had Pasty Butt) and it seemed to work wonders. They had no more Pasty after that. Yes I agree, I added Pro-biotic for the first 3 days and I think the over doing it contributed to the Pasty butt. Now they have only ACV in their water after I gave them a whole day yesterday with just plain water to so to say, flush their systems. I hope this works as I go on vacation in 2 weeks and I don't want to come home to dead chicks even though by care taker has taken care of chicks before. Thank you for your advice.

 

[potagergirl]

My EE chicks are shipping May 19th from Cackle, I am so excited!!!!!

My white crested black polish and splash cochin are shipping on the 19th from Cackle !!!!

Counting today we have 16 days left

Feel the excitement it's better then Christmas you get peep, peep, instead of carve that bird!

 

[JekkaLynn]

I have been giving my little chicks a sprinkling of parakeet grit on a little piece of watermelon everyday and have had no pasty butts....fingers crossed

 

[Bean789]

LOL Jewellan! My 3 week old cheepers are in my kitchen as well and so far, considering there are 2 toddlers running around this house all the time, they have survived the stress of their arrival and the constant commotion in the kitchen. The little ones often peer into the brooder and 'coo' at them and laugh at the antics in the box. I am in a dilemma at the moment as I sold my house and I haven't found a new home yet. Argh! Appointments tomorrow at several houses to make a final decision which one I want to live in. My little cheepers will be 8 weeks old on the day I close on my sold home and we will have to find a place to go until we close on a new one. I have a portable run for them, but can't build their coop as yet. Hopefully, a temporary rental will have a garage I can keep them in for just a short while longer before it becomes critical that they have a final home.

 

[Jewellan]

LOL Jewellan! My 3 week old cheepers are in my kitchen as well and so far, considering there are 2 toddlers running around this house all the time, they have survived the stress of their arrival and the constant commotion in the kitchen. The little ones often peer into the brooder and 'coo' at them and laugh at the antics in the box.

They seem to be settling down a bit, but they are still really frightened. Especially if you reach for them. And I may have to turn the heat lamp off today, It is really warm in my kitchen and I don't want to BAKE them, I want to raise them.

 

[Bean789]

They seem to be settling down a bit, but they are still really frightened. Especially if you reach for them. And I may have to turn the heat lamp off today, It is really warm in my kitchen and I don't want to BAKE them, I want to raise them.

Mine still squawk and run when I reach from them in the brooder. But I pick them up and talk to them and coo at them and tell them they are all right. They get quiet in just a couple of seconds and then the exams begin and the petting and loves in between. I move them from one box to another in order to clean their brooder so they are handled quite often. This is my first batch of chickens ever and I am so enjoying it. It is surprising how attached to them I have become. I have them in a 2 1/2 X 5 ft box with their water and food at one end and the lamp on the other. The kitchen is tiled and cold so I put a large towel underneath the box. They decide if they want to get under the lamp and I find that they often still get under it to sleep. They also still sleep cuddled next to each other. So adorable!

Correction.....my brood is now 4 weeks old! That explains whey they look so big now! Where did the time go? LOL

 

[Spitzboyz]

LOL Jewellan! My 3 week old cheepers are in my kitchen as well and so far, considering there are 2 toddlers running around this house all the time, they have survived the stress of their arrival and the constant commotion in the kitchen. The little ones often peer into the brooder and 'coo' at them and laugh at the antics in the box. I am in a dilemma at the moment as I sold my house and I haven't found a new home yet. Argh! Appointments tomorrow at several houses to make a final decision which one I want to live in. My little cheepers will be 8 weeks old on the day I close on my sold home and we will have to find a place to go until we close on a new one. I have a portable run for them, but can't build their coop as yet. Hopefully, a temporary rental will have a garage I can keep them in for just a short while longer before it becomes critical that they have a final home.

Couldn't wait until you moved into the home till you got chicks, huh? I too have rushed things in the past even though they did'nt make much sense. I once adopted a dog while I was in a "no dogs" rental knowing I'd be in a "dogs allowed" rental in two weeks. Good luck!

 

[aatx]

Hopefully our "death trend" is almost done with. We lost 2 the first day, one that first night, two more the next day, and one more the next night. I found the last one dead when I checked on them about 2:30 am Saturday night (guess it was actually early Sunday morning.) No deaths since then, so this has been a better 24 hours. So, we have 22 living right now.

I'm not sure what caused it... Shipping stress? Poor health right from the start - 3 of them were Dominique bantams? Two silkies - did they get pecked on the head? The other one was a buff orpington - fine when I went to bed, dead when I checked next. Combo of several things?

I did make one change, and I don't know if it was needed or not, but I thought better to be safe than sorry. I changed bulbs. Just in case there was any chance of Teflon poisoning being to blame. My bulb did not say anything about a Teflon coating or being shatterproof, but it also didn't say anything about being safe around animals. So, I gave up my red bulb, went to Wal-Mart at the crack of dawn and purchased a 150 watt bulb (regular kind, not flood) and a 60 watt bulb. In this same brand and box, some said stuff about being heavy duty and having the protective coating, so buying the ones without that on the box, I felt pretty safe.

I haven't made up my mind if I am going to go home at lunch and check on them or not. Temp had gone down a bit overnight, so I turned on the second light (60watt) as well. May need to turn it off, but they have plenty of room to get out of the strong heat. With both bulbs on, the corners without the bulbs were reading around 85 degrees. At the hottest point yesterday, under the big light was 106 degrees. When I went to bed, it was reading 98 degrees, and when I got up it was reading 93 degrees. Going just by behavior, they seem to be doing well with the temps, and easily self regulating. I haven't seen any panting or holding out their wings and they only huddle together under the light momentarily to warm up and then go back to playing or eating.

I had figured I would put my zip ties on them this weekend to start telling them apart, but with the deaths, I haven't wanted to stress them out any more than is necessary. I catch them all at least once per day to refresh the bedding and do a pasty butt check. Everyone goes in one box, do what I need to do with the bedding, then I go through them in the box. If they are clean, back in the brooder, if they need a butt bath, they go into a smaller box. It doesn't seem to stress them out too much aside from the initial catching them.

They make me nervous the way they will be all zipping around playing, eating, drinking, flapping their wings... and then a group runs over close to the light, comes to a halt, and just basically collapses in a pile for a 5 minute power nap. Then the cycle repeats.




And here is the dog who is OBSESSED with them. (Not pee at the bottom - water I spilled from their waterer - I am not good at carrying those to empty them out.) When we let her in, we sit in a chair and let her stand on our knee. She just watches in amazement. If I put her out, but I stay in there to handle the chicks or their bedding, she barks and whines. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to correct that, while not scaring the chicks by talking loud or snapping my fingers.

 

[Moishe]

I'm in week 4. I used ACV for the first 3 weeks. No pasty butt, no other issues. No deaths. They just went out into the coop since the weather will be between 55-75 for the next ten days.

 

[iwiw60]

When mine starting getting pasty butt I stopped putting additives in the water. Just plain old water and after I cleaned them up no more pasty butt! I also heard you can put in Apple cider vinegar? I think that's right. I just used water and that seemed to help. Hopefully you can get them back to normal!

Yes, apple cider vinegar...1 TBLSpoon per gallon. Works wonders.