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10:03 am
February 10, 2009
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Hey Linda, try not to get too freaked out. Chicks are so simple most of the time… chick starter, water, warmth, paper towels on the floor. The details all work themselves out. When I was a kid and we got chicks for the first time, we had no idea about anything more than that! They did just fine!
The bigger they got, the less time they spent right under the warmest part, so we started raising the light bulb. Now books and literature specify the 5 degrees thing, and it is pretty sensible so that's what I say because it gives people a more solid guide, it's not some kind of "rule" rule, it's a guide. 
If they stay huddled up close together under the bulb, or sit there piled on top of each other, they're too cold, if they're heading for the edges where its cooler, they're too warm. Easy huh?
It's been shown that they thrive more if they're not kept overly warm and transition to relatively normal temps fairly quickly. They're chickens, not tropical hothouse flowers as someone told me once.
3:59 pm
September 7, 2010
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We are feeding our chicks a chick starter recommended from Southern States, the place we purchased our chicks.
We built a temporary area (8' X 24") in my cellar, husband wasn't crazy about that, but oh well. The heated bulb is hanging on one end with pine shavings and the water and feed on the other end. It seems to be working well. I haven't lost any chicks yet but I know it is always a possiblity. Orginially I only wanted 10 but ended up with 20, my husband was to thank for that, even though he wasn't crazy about buying chicks. He really just likes to give me a hard time.
We have our chicken coop (8' x 8") closed in and under roof with the nest boxes almost finished, just in time before the rain started. We are taking a couple days break. We're not spring chickens anymore. 
Will start again the first of the week with roosting area, small door with ramp to outside, windows, door and trim. Then the next week is the enclosure. Hopefully by then we can move the chicks to the coop. My grandkids are really excited abuot gathering eggs. We better have a few hens in the bunch!!!! I was to tight to purchase guaranteed pullets and went with the mix and am keeping my fingers crossed. Haven't figured out what I'm going to do with any roosters yet. I just want to keep one. My husband says the frying pan, good luck with that one!!
Thanks again for the help, I tend to panic when it comes to my farm animals.
10:25 pm
January 9, 2012
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Wondering
we have had chickens for years and I have never seen anything like what is happening with one of our buffs. Her feathers are weird, frizzed. Months ago we thought she was coming out of a molt but this is not changing back to reg. feathers. She use to be a normal, beautiful buff. She seems healthy, and the roos have no problem with her looks 
I don't know if she is laying?? Just wondered if anyone has ever had this happen or if you know why? Thanks
10:00 am
October 5, 2010
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I have my chicks but can't figure out the temp. thing cause I have it set at 95 as recommended and they are always huddled down at the food end of box and so I lowered it to 90-92 and still the same thing. Should I have any concerns. They are eating and drinking okay and no pasty butt so far.
2:17 pm
November 9, 2010
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I tried looking back how old are they? I am assuming that they are only a week or so if you have the temp around 95. I wouldnt lower it any more than 90 right now. Wait a few days see how they do. Sometimes mine will huddle around away from the light then 10 mins later will be laying all over the place. Oh how big is your box? Is it closed in at all? Those can make a diffrence in the temp too.
5:16 pm
February 10, 2009
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Yep, there should be room for them to get out of the heated area to a cooler section if they want to especially during the day when they're moving around and active. Under the center of the 'circle of light/heat' it should be 95 for the first week, then drop it by 5 degrees or so each week till it's 'room temperature' right there, but there should be room to escape the heat if they want to as well.
That being said, watch how they act, if they're huddled right under the bulb they're cold, if they're struggling to get away from it, they're too warm so you're doing right to raise the bulb. If they're sort of loosely scattered around looking comfortable, they're probably just fine. They shouldn't be in a drafty place, but they do need some fresh air too.
There is some evidence that they do better on the whole if they're not overly kept warm and this time of year they will probably do just fine as long as they're not in a drafty spot or in a room that is air conditioned.
6:35 pm
October 5, 2010
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The chicks are 4 days old today.They are in a old toy box of mine that has no top an it measures 27"x18 1/2" and its height is 15" . I have 8 chicks. When they get a little bigger then I was going to put them out in the chicken coop with the light under them. I have t hem in our basement on top of boards and a insulated foam board so wouldn't get cold from the concrete. So no drafts and air condition. The bottom of the box has linoleum and newspapers and paper towels on top of that. I raised the light again to see what they do. They are eating and drinking good. I have one little one that I worry about if that would get pick on.
10:44 pm
February 22, 2010
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My son lost so many chickens and chicks to some kind of predator ( always in the chicken house). Finally he just let them be free range, mainly because they were afraid to go inside the house in the evening. I told him he might just as well butcher them all because they wouldn't last outside at night.
Guess what? his little flock of 10 is doing fine. let me correct that…flock of 18. One of the Australorps hatched out 8 chicks! That was almost 3 weeks ago and they are all in fine form. As a matter of fact another hen is setting! It has been several months since he has tried to shut them up at night. He makes sure they have water but hasn't given them any feed for quite sometime. They are plump, perring, happy chickens. Of course they live in the country and have a large barn…small mule barn…and a loafing shed…and an old garage where the chickens tend to hang ( they still won't go in the chicken house).
They have lots and lots of eggs.
I could never let my hens just run willy nilly all over the place. I would stress over every rise or drop in temp on my chicks…Maybe it's a good thing I don't have any chicks. But one day…I will have some and I will be just as worried as Linda!
8:19 am
October 31, 2010
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Miss Judy – What part of the country is you son in?
9:14 am
February 22, 2010
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Leah's Mom…
He lives here in west central Missouri. We had a very, very mild winter this past year and a very warm spring. He did say that if we had a typical winter he would have had to do a lot of feeding. I think the chickens ate the other animals feed 
. We did see insects very early on this year. My grandson said "It's fun to watch those little chicks come running to momma when she clucks danger to them."
9:28 pm
October 5, 2010
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So my chicks are 10 days old and a few of them have diarrhea and I can't find any where to know what to do. No blood in it. I have purchased today medicated chick starter to see if that helps. Not that I wanted to cause I was hoping they would be organic some what. I will put them back on organic after all this bag is gone. Any suggestions on what to do. I give them a vital pack that has vitamins and electrolytes in it also. I don't want to lose any. I will be very sad.
10:33 am
February 10, 2009
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Linda, it sounds like you're doing what you can, it's pretty hard to know exactly what will 'cure' diarrhea in chicks. I understand about the organic thing, but now that you've given the medicated feed, best to keep it up for them to get the benefit because technically they can't be considered organic anymore… though IMO what really matters is what you feed them once they start laying. Chickens process out what they eat really fast, so if anyone were to ask me, (which they aren't) the medicated feed for chicks is just a smart thing… but that's not the 'rule' to get actually certified… though most of the hoops they make you jump through are rather impractical for everyday life!
Sorry, I get a little irritated at that stuff I'm afraid. Anyway, medicated feed is a protection against coccidiosis, and is really only a preventative, so I'm afraid if that is what they HAVE, it won't help them get over it… it WILL help prevent it though and since getting coccidiosis on top of whatever is affecting them now would probably do them in it's not a bad idea at all. Anyways, as I said, I'd stick with it now that you've started it.
You can get the liquid baby vitamins Poly-Vi-Sol (sp?) just make sure you get the ones with NO IRON! and put a couple drops in their water too. Don't overdo those though. Again, NO IRON!!! Added iron is pretty much a poison for even full grown chickens, so be careful there.
11:25 am
October 5, 2010
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Thanks Deborah,
I am so glad you have such knowledge about chickens. Its a big help for me to know that I can come to this forum and get the help I need.
2:14 pm
June 2, 2010
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With the last batch of chicks we had we had one that had "poopy-butt" for several days. Make sure that the butt doesn't paste shut. Not a lovely visual but it can create a real problem. If it does happen you'll need to remove the offensive material. Warm water on a rag works well. After a few days and some adjustment, all chicks ended up doing well.
My friends raise layers and broilers for a living and they often have this problem in the beginning. They attribute much of it to stress. Once things settle down, the problems seem to go away. Obviously, if the bird is really sick other measures must be taken but if the bird seems fine except for this one issue it may be stress related. They do not use medicated feed and they're raising 400 broilers every 8 weeks.
3:24 pm
February 10, 2009
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Yep, broilers aren't around long enough to worry about, and I've always thought that they might not flush out the meds well enough within those few weeks so I can see why they don't feed it to broilers, but I do feed it to my layers since they're going to be around at least a couple years.
12:59 pm
October 5, 2010
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I called the hatchery where I purchase the chicks from. Her name was Linda too cute. She said too that good thing to put on medicated feed and also wanted me to dilute the Vital pack by half. Linda said that it can take a while to get out of their systems. Also to let her know by Monday if they are still doing yellow foamy poop to call and I will have to put them on a antibiotic. You know How I feel about giving that to them. But again I don't want any to die either. I know of at least one that is doing it and don't know how many others are. I try to watch but that takes forever to see. Keeping my fingers cross this will work and I won't lose any of my babies. Hubby said that my bird Teakco (Hahns McCaw) is being replace by 8 others now, so he gets attended to last…. LOL..
11:49 am
October 5, 2010
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I am getting frustrated with these chicks still having yellow poop. They all been on medicated feed and they have been antibiotic since last Thursday. I read to only give it to them for 5 days and I think The lady from the hatchery said to give it to them a couple days longer. Today I scrabbled up eggs to feed them to see how that goes I also read to give them Greek yogurt. What does any one else suggest. Should I just not worry about yellow poop unless they look sick and having blood in poop. going to clean coop out tomorrow and put new bedding down. Also I raised there dishes on a old shelving I found so they are not contaminating there food. They have not been outside yet. I wanted to get fence up next week and get them out. I am at my wits end…
5:29 pm
November 9, 2010
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I am curious…could the medicated chick feed give them yellow poop?
I hate to say this but if I was in your situation, I would put them out and see what happens. It was one of the hardest things I have ever had to come to grips with personally that they can and will die. I am animal lover and I hate to see anything die, but after so many do with no reason at all, you become a little numb to it. I know this is not the news or advice you may want BUT that is all I have and Good Luck.
11:16 pm
October 5, 2010
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Mammaleigh,
I started them off with out the medicated feed and just organic and the electrolytes in their water. I switch them to the medicated feed after the hatchery told me it would help them. Some times it is yellow and other times its not. I just give up and what happens to them is what happens to them. As long as I don't see them starting to get really sick I am not worrying about them any more. We started on the fencing yesterday. I am hoping that tomorrow we can get it finish. They are just so curious about out side when I open the door.
A funny thing happen the other day. I was in sitting in the coop with them and I grabbed Penny the one that was really sick and I held her for a while and then I let her go. Well she jump right up next to me so I put her on my lap and petted her and she just closed her eyes and was loving it. I think we have bonded after she got so sick. Penny is my New Hampshire Red. All of them are getting pretty much all feathers but my Dominique one. She is still a fluff ball. She does have some feathers but not like the rest. She is also smaller then the others. She should be about the same size as some of the others when grown. They will be 6 weeks old on Monday so they need to get outside.
Thanks for all your info and help. I really do appreciate all I can get an chicks too. Being that I am so new to this.
9:25 am
November 9, 2010
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I would watch the dom, see if the older chicks are pushing it out of food. I have had that happen before, I had one that got sick and stoped growing…the others got huge and the other was still so small compaired to them. I started making sure that when I fed them that I had put separate feed out for that one. Now she is almost as big as the other ones and is the most sweet. It sounds like you are doing everything right and great…some just come a little sick from the get go. GL with it keep us updated with them!
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