AbbeyLehman
06-03-2009, 08:07 AM
One chick died 2 days ago right before I moved them to the new coop. I was expecting it since that particular chick had been sickly for just over a week. It rarely moved, and when it did it was a crawl--I don't think I ever saw it *walk* after the first couple of days. Its favorite spot to sit was apparently under the roost, as it almost always had poop on its back. It grew very quickly at first and was the biggest for a while, then seemed to just stop growing. When I was transferring the chicks into a tote to take them to the coop, I just left the (now) little guy in the box where they were growing. When I came back, he was dead.
The second chick I discovered when I went out to check on them this morning. It (I can't tell male/female apart yet--first timer here) was lying belly up between the waterer and the feeder. No signs of predators (I should think not--my coop is like Fort Knox), no signs that I can tell of pecking or anything else. This chick had all of a sudden grown tremendously in the last 2 weeks or so--it was by *far* the largest and I had high hopes for it. It didn't even *sound* like a chick anymore--it had actually been clucking like a fully grown chicken for about a week and a half.
I brought all 12 home on April 26th from Tractor Supply. I've been feeding them Dumor Chick Starter and was putting apple cider vinegar in their water for about the first 4 weeks. I started giving them a small amount of grit mixed into their food when I moved them to the coop, as I wanted to start giving them small amounts of greens/weeds/etc. They were living in 2 *large* cardboard boxes tied together in my sewing room (yes, I have SO much cleaning to do) with wood shavings in the bottom. There are also wood shavings in the coop. They had a light 24/7 for all but the last week, when I started phasing out the light and gradually opening windows and turning on the ceiling fan--sort of hardening them off, I guess you could say.
I think they were just under a week old when I brought them home--don't know exactly, but I would say they're roughly 6 weeks old now. It was pretty chilly last night, but they seemed alert this morning.
I don't know what to do, and know DH says we won't be able to eat any of them because they're all going to drop dead. I think he's exaggerating just a *touch*. What should I do??
TIA,
Abbey
The second chick I discovered when I went out to check on them this morning. It (I can't tell male/female apart yet--first timer here) was lying belly up between the waterer and the feeder. No signs of predators (I should think not--my coop is like Fort Knox), no signs that I can tell of pecking or anything else. This chick had all of a sudden grown tremendously in the last 2 weeks or so--it was by *far* the largest and I had high hopes for it. It didn't even *sound* like a chick anymore--it had actually been clucking like a fully grown chicken for about a week and a half.
I brought all 12 home on April 26th from Tractor Supply. I've been feeding them Dumor Chick Starter and was putting apple cider vinegar in their water for about the first 4 weeks. I started giving them a small amount of grit mixed into their food when I moved them to the coop, as I wanted to start giving them small amounts of greens/weeds/etc. They were living in 2 *large* cardboard boxes tied together in my sewing room (yes, I have SO much cleaning to do) with wood shavings in the bottom. There are also wood shavings in the coop. They had a light 24/7 for all but the last week, when I started phasing out the light and gradually opening windows and turning on the ceiling fan--sort of hardening them off, I guess you could say.
I think they were just under a week old when I brought them home--don't know exactly, but I would say they're roughly 6 weeks old now. It was pretty chilly last night, but they seemed alert this morning.
I don't know what to do, and know DH says we won't be able to eat any of them because they're all going to drop dead. I think he's exaggerating just a *touch*. What should I do??
TIA,
Abbey