What's the hardest part?

[heritagebirds]

Quote:
That is exactly what I was going to say!

 

[sandiatonimarie]

Hi, I am raising my first ever batch of chicks this year and have to agree with most of what has already been said -- day old chickens are very easy to raise, you know what they've been eating and how they've been treated because you're the one doing it and they are great fun to watch and raise.

This forum has been by far the best source of information and ideas.

So go for the day olds, like someone else said -- you won't be sorry.

 

[DianeS]

Other than that it is like ordering a teenager to skip the cute lovable toddler stage... Get the day-olds... You wont be sorry....

ROTFLMAO!

OK, this is where I 'fess up that I got my dogs as adults (or almost adults) from a rescue. And I got my cats as strays - they were both older. And I'm going through classes to adopt a child - one older than age 5.

I never put it all together before, but apparantly I don't DO babies! Maybe I need to get day-olds just so I can break that cycle! (Or go back to the idea of getting ones at the point of laying, because apparantly I have a good thing going without the littles!)

 

[3littlebirds]

I wouldn't worry about it I was worried too when I got my 3 day-olds. I'm pretty sure I had a crop impaction in one of the chicks though, but adding apple cider vinegar to the water, removing food for a day (except for yogurt and olive oil), feeding olive oil drops by hand and massaging the crop fixed it. She is now a robust, healthy hen. It may have gone away on its own but I didn't want to take any chances.
Another one of the chicks stopped growing at one point and seemed to get really weak, and I thought maybe it was coccidiosis so I switched over to a medicated feed for a while. I don't know if this did anything, but she is alive and fine today if a bit on the scrawny side (I'm back on organic feed now BTW).
Chicks are pretty hardy and I would definitely recommend raising day-olds.
I would just recommend adding apple cider vinegar to their water (1 tbsp vinegar/gallon water) as an all-around preventative health measure, and supplying them with chick grit to avoid crop impactions, and things should go fine.