Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[Celtic Chick]

Our 8 chicks arrived yesterday - these are the first time we've had chickens so we are quite excited. The look on my 4.5yo daughter's face when she saw them was pure joy, it was great to see. She picked one out right away and named it 'chicky chick' (she's obviously not too creative w/naming things). My 1yo son looked at them, waved, and then continued strolling about the garage looking for trouble to get into.

All the chicks seem to be doing great. There was one that was worrying me a bit early on but maybe she was just tired from the travel. They're all eating and drinking and pooping and running around now. Very fun to watch.

We had paper towels down over pine shavings for the first day, and I removed the towels this am (except under their water & food, helps keep things a little tidier it seems?).

Impressed with how much they are eating! Granted a bunch ends up on the ground, but still they went through way more than I thought they would in the first day.

They aren't eating it. Look through the pine shavings.

They will dig it all out of the feeder until it is empty because they are looking for pieces small enough for them to swallow. You need to grind the feed almost to a powder when they are so young. A coffee grinder works well to do this. Try not to overgrind. .

Putting Sav A Chik or some other vitamins/electrolytes in the water will help them all perk up. If you do not have any, you can dissolve some sugar in their water or you can give the one questionable one some watered down Gatorade. Not the diet stuff (G2). A tiny bit of yogurt mixed with some feed would work too if you don't have any of the other things I mentioned on hand. Hope this helps (HTH) and have fun with your new babies.

 

[dustergrl]

Our 8 chicks arrived yesterday - these are the first time we've had chickens so we are quite excited. The look on my 4.5yo daughter's face when she saw them was pure joy, it was great to see. She picked one out right away and named it 'chicky chick' (she's obviously not too creative w/naming things). My 1yo son looked at them, waved, and then continued strolling about the garage looking for trouble to get into. All the chicks seem to be doing great. There was one that was worrying me a bit early on but maybe she was just tired from the travel. They're all eating and drinking and pooping and running around now. Very fun to watch. We had paper towels down over pine shavings for the first day, and I removed the towels this am (except under their water & food, helps keep things a little tidier it seems?). Impressed with how much they are eating! Granted a bunch ends up on the ground, but still they went through way more than I thought they would in the first day. Anyway, very much looking forward to the journey ahead! Here's a pic of one of them:

Welcome! What a little cutie!

They aren't eating it. Look through the pine shavings. They will dig it all out of the feeder until it is empty because they are looking for pieces small enough for them to swallow. You need to grind the feed almost to a powder when they are so young. A coffee grinder works well to do this. Try not to overgrind. .

If there is paper under the feeder, wouldn't you be able to tell if they were throwing it? Mine ate copious amounts of starter early on.

 

[Cindlady]

Hi All!

Cute chick.

Nothing new here..... Night All!

 

[jvls1942]

good morning,

the chicks are digging the feed out of the dish because that is what they do..

you do not have to grind their food any smaller.. there is enough small pieces in the mix to get them going, and after a day or so, the largest bits are small enough,,

when I worked on the chicken farm, we fed the feed as it came,, by the truck load,, never had any chicks starve..
can you imagine re-grinding enough feed for several thousand chicks ?

you would be amazed at how large a piece a chicken can swallow..
they can swallow a mouse, whole..
once while butchering, we found a quarter in one chicken..

to start the chicks off,, we use the base of a fruit jar feeder,, it has holes all around the base where they can poke their heads in,, no room for their feet.. very little waste ..

In a nut shell, feed them, watch them waste the feed and enjoy ..

..........jiminwisc.........

 

[cuties]

Hehe Jim yes. They waste so much feed! And it never ends!
Good heat Kildare. Those Brahmas are so beautiful
congrats on the new chicks bc! What kind did you order?

 

[Celtic Chick]

good morning,

the chicks are digging the feed out of the dish because that is what they do..

you do not have to grind their food any smaller.. there is enough small pieces in the mix to get them going, and after a day or so, the largest bits are small enough,,

when I worked on the chicken farm, we fed the feed as it came,, by the truck load,, never had any chicks starve..
can you imagine re-grinding enough feed for several thousand chicks ?

you would be amazed at how large a piece a chicken can swallow..
they can swallow a mouse, whole..
once while butchering, we found a quarter in one chicken..

to start the chicks off,, we use the base of a fruit jar feeder,, it has holes all around the base where they can poke their heads in,, no room for their feet.. very little waste ..

In a nut shell, feed them, watch them waste the feed and enjoy ..

..........jiminwisc.........

No, you do not have to grind their feed any smaller, but since I started doing it, they don't waste hardly any feed anymore. Maybe I just have freaky chicks though.

They do make big grinders for bulk amounts of feed. Here is a link to one.

http://www.strombergschickens.com/product/La-Milpa-Powered-Mill/feed-mills

I think the large production farms could just order the feed from their mill already finely ground? The feed Bigz uses for his layers is almost powdery, if I remember correctly.

I have one of those feeders with the holes too. My chicks would pull the food out towards them with their beak, not their feet, and have it emptied at the end of the day. But that is just my freaky birds.

It is instinct for chicks/chickens to dig & scratch about in their feed. They always seem to be looking for a tastier tidbit than the last and wind up wasting a lot of their food that gets buried amongst the wood chips. It is just a fact of life with them. I was just trying to help by sharing something that I found that worked for my chicks over the past few years.

 

[brentonc]

Yes, they are spilling a good amount (can see it on the paper towels around the feeder), but for my novice eyes I was still surprised.

In an case, they seem pretty happy so far. Thanks for the tips.

 

[bigzio]

Gentle Evening Weather before I place the brats on the grill in a minute.

Yep, chickens are the " spillers of feed " it's why the ability to free range makes happy chickens....they will feed outside all day...finding fun things to eat all day, and spilling nothing that costs money to replace....my birds are happy free, and miserable when being penned up...kinda off topic...just sayin.

gotta go grill...bigz

 

[chickendreams24]

https://img1.etsystatic.com/060/0/10890260/il_570xN.766715791_cbal.jpg

 

[momgille]

Well to change the subject... those Packers sure sucked!
Daughter is back from Washingtonton state for the week. she said the fires are fierce enough in the Seattle area it is difficult to see clearly because of the haze.
Gary is officially retired and my house-husband...
Chickens are doing well... trying to sell a couple of BLRW roos... Cuties your birds are beautiful... Such yellow legs and all...Still not crowing thank the lord
I can not imagine how big they would be had I tried to fatten them up instead of free ranging them and having them on regular layer feed!
Oh and btw the neighbor who had the plastic zip ties on her birds only 2 weeks now and those birds are no longer limping... Still angry that I had to tell her and that those poor birds limped probably for 2 years... Just makes you shake your head.