Everyone is good! David Bowie was just sort of plodding along, still acting weak, despite my extra vitamin ration for her.
But in the past 24h I've noticed a huge improvement! She's standing most of the time, her legs just look stronger and bigger, and her whole body is starting to feel more muscle-y and less chick fluff-y.
They're growing alarmingly fast so we finished the in-between sort of mini-run today, which we can put in our basement.
That is great! I ended up getting a heating pad for the chicks I got on Friday because when I went to set up a third brooder for the chicks hatching today my last lamp wouldn't work. All of them seem to really love it except one stubborn EE. She stood on top and made a racket all day until I finally turned off the lights and tucked her under for bedtime. I'm amazed at how much quieter that group is compared to the chicks that are a week older and under a reptile heat bulb that puts off very little light.
Here are the first 6 chicks that hatched, I have two more drying off in the incubator. The chipmunk ones are from my two EE hens and the black is from my Cuckoo Marans. Our rooster is a Welsummer.
The chicken Facebook group I'm in has a lot of drama.
What kind of drama are we talking here?
pets versus food medicated starter versus non diatomaceous earth versus none bedding: sand versus hay versus straw versus shavings swearing in posts: okay or not? egg selling prices chick/egg/pulley/rooster selling prices coop security
pets versus food medicated starter versus non diatomaceous earth versus none bedding: sand versus hay versus straw versus shavings swearing in posts: okay or not? egg selling prices chick/egg/pulley/rooster selling prices coop security
I had no idea the land of chickens was so controversial.
Although I should have guessed. The newfie dog group I'm in has a fair amount of drama as well. I swear all these groups are like revisiting high school...
linewifekat, I gave them some of the 36 hour soaked crumbles this morning. The LOVE it! It's hilarious! I need to figure out a feeder for it because they're all going crazy shoving each other.
ovenrack has it started bubbling yet? Make sure you stir it a few times a day. I'm glad they like it! They'll also drink less water since it's a wet feed.
ovenrack has it started bubbling yet? Make sure you stir it a few times a day. I'm glad they like it! They'll also drink less water since it's a wet feed.
It hasn't, but I read that even soaked feed is good, so I gave it to them anyway.
I've been stirring it a bunch - morning and night, plus several times whenever I walk by.
According to the worker leading this morning's chicken meet and greet at our children's museum, you can tell what color egg a hen will lay by looking at her earlobe. I apparently was the only ignorant one who seemed surprised bc all the other parents nodded along as if they already knew.
<---ignorant as I just eat the eggs I buy at the store
Hey linewifekat, the crumbles are definitely fermenting (bubbling) and the chickies LOVE it.
I'm not refilling their dry food anymore, and just giving them a fresh pan of wet fermented mash a couple times a day. Maybe 4-5 times? Is that a good idea, or should I always have dry available?
THey're not having any other food yet. I tried to give them watermelon and they were confused. I bought dried mealworms but haven't given them yet.
Post by linewifekat on Apr 6, 2017 13:04:19 GMT -5
I wouldn't feed anymore dry feed. Just refill their bowl a few times a day like you're doing. When they got older I just feed them twice a day. I'm a very precise person and it's so hard to find concrete information on how much feed to give them a day. When they're older I think I read 1/2 cup/day/bird. But my friends think my birds are fat lol.
I don't think you're supposed to give them anything but crumbles until they're 5-6 weeks old. Then you can give them chick grit so they have it in their gizzard to help digest the other food like bugs and scraps.
Sounds like I need to try the fermented feed. I'm so sick of the bigger chicks wasting their dry feed! You should give them some of the meal worms, it is SO fun to watch! If their mama was raising them they'd be eating bugs and grass and whatever they could find. I do like to provide some chick grit to help their crop develop though.
It appears that one of my buff orpingtons is broody. I'm trying to decide if I will let her hatch some eggs and which ones I will give her if I do. I really wish I could tell my brown eggs apart!
I wouldn't feed anymore dry feed. Just refill their bowl a few times a day like you're doing. When they got older I just feed them twice a day. I'm a very precise person and it's so hard to find concrete information on how much feed to give them a day. When they're older I think I read 1/2 cup/day/bird. But my friends think my birds are fat lol.
I don't think you're supposed to give them anything but crumbles until they're 5-6 weeks old. Then you can give them chick grit so they have it in their gizzard to help digest the other food like bugs and scraps.
Okay, cool.
According to my chicken FB group they can have other things, I just haven't introduced much. I felt like watermelon is delicious and mostly water, so it was safe. They didn't know what to do with it, though.
I've got chick grit and have already given them some with the watermelon since I wasn't sure. Lol. Ah well.
I'll probably just stick with the fermented crumbles until the bags run out and they're outside. It should be plenty.
And you're right, their poop is less and less smelly!
One of my buff orpingtons is broody. I think she started the same day my chicks hatched. I did some research about swapping out the eggs for day old chicks but everything said the hen should be setting for at least a couple if weeks before you try. I'm thinking I'll give her some eggs to hatch. It will be fun to watch her raise some babies. I just have to try to decide which eggs to give her. I could hatch out more of the marans eggs for dark layers, more EE eggs for olive eggers, or I could just give her the mixed regular brown eggs, from Buff Orpington, Black Australorp, Naked Neck, and Silver Laced Wyandotte. I'd love to give her just the NN or SLW eggs but I can't tell any of them apart.
Then Comes Family, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.