My baby chicks arrived by mail today...

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My chicks arrived today via the USPS. They shipped Wednesday and arrived today (Friday) so that was rather quick. We had one casualty but McMurray Hatchery had included a free chick so we ended up with what we expected.

How long should I leave the paper with the food sprinkled on it in the brooder? A day or two. The brooder has a wire mesh bottom so I'd like them to eat out of their feeder so clean up is easier and I don't have to worry about them trying to eat poop.

Thanks, Anita

-- anita holton (anitaholton@mindspring.com), August 24, 2001

Answers

Congrats on your new "babies" Anita! You must be very excited. I live in the city and have always thought that if I ever do get out to the country like I hope, the first animals I'd like to have would be laying hens. (Couldn't do the raise 'em, kill 'em and fry 'em thing! - LOL) Is this your first experience with chickens? Or have you had them before? Personally I don't know a thing about 'em but would love to learn if I had the time and right place. Anyway good luck to you and keep us posted as to how things are going for you with them.

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), August 24, 2001.

Anita, I recieved my chicks today from McMurray also. I was thrilled, although I was shorted 5 chicks and 1 was dead. One also looks like he might make it to the Pet Cemetery out back. Although McMurray promised to make up the difference, I would rather have had the missing chicks. What I would do if I were you, is place a small layer of hay or grass clippings in the bottom of the brooder. I plan to use mowed grass from the yard. It gives the chicks something to peck at and also keeps their feet and legs from getting deformed on the wire. Hope this helps!

-- Rett Clark (gravehunters@aol.com), August 24, 2001.

Anita, when I always get my chicks the first thing I do is take them to my brooder pen which I have already set up with water, feed, and heat lamp. I carefully crab each chick one by one and dip their beaks in the chick waterer and then let them loose next to it. They usually stay for another drink or two. After that they eventually find the chick feeder and learn how to feed theirselves. Then I discard the box they came in. So far in the last two years that I have been raising them I have only lost one that has gotten sick within 24 hrs. of receiving them.

-- Russell Hays (rhays@sstelco.com), August 24, 2001.

www.feathersite.com has a multitude of information on chickens. I just was exploring it yesterday.

-- Ardie from WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), August 24, 2001.

make sure you keep them plenty of water! make sure whatever you have on their floor that's it's not slippery! that can get bad and costley leg injuries on slick floors!

if they are moving way away from their light they are too hot! if they stay right under it they are too cold!

baby chicks are addictive!!! I got my first ones EVER this spring and all 20 of them lived! then I got five more "Easter egg" chickens and all five of them lived!

I bought mine directly from our local co-op so didn't have to worry with them coming in the mail.

all I learned about them i learned on the internet from asking questions here or at BACKWOODS HOME's forum!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), August 24, 2001.



We had one of our Easter chicks injure her leg on hail screening. She developed some nerve damage and couldn't walk, and eventually expired. She was a real sweetie, too, loved to be held and petted. Later I got ducks from McMurray, and my chickens came through a local feed supplier who orders hatchlings from Privett Hatchery. After Red died, we switched to garden peat moss for bedding for almost all of them because it's an inert substance, absorbs moisture well, and simulates the feel and texture of natural soil. Peat is a little messy if you don't have a grid to put your watering jar on, but we just changed the water twice a day.

-- Claudia Glass (glasss2001@prodigy.net), August 25, 2001.

Been brooding chicks for many years now, I always put down old toweling on the floor of the brooder the first week. The chicks like the softness and I have never had leg deformities from a slippery or sharp floor. After the first week, I use pine wood shavings or newspapers on the floor, depends on how many I'm brooding. Always keep their food in the chick feeders, but scatter their daily allotment of grass and greens on the floor everywhere for them to pick and scratch through.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), August 26, 2001.

Don't forget the chick grit. You can 'salt' their food with it to be sure they get enough to avoid the manure stuck on their backsides (pasting up).

Clean fresh water is good also. Clean and rinse well their waterers EACH DAY and replace them in the chick house. Always offer the chick feed in the long feeder as well as sprinkled a bit on the paper.

Report any casualties to Murray McM. immediately and they will credit your next order regardless of the extra chick.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), August 26, 2001.


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