Mrs

[foxychickjo]

 

Hi there, I have recently added 6 ex bats to my flock of 3 lovely omlet girls. We are still at the seperation phase allowing the newbies to find their feet and gain their strength before we let them all get together. I can see the pecking aggro coming already between Hilda and Betty!!

 

I have bought some apple cider vinegar as a tonic for all the girls to add to their water. Is this ok to do so, will it affect their eggs and how much do you recommend? The site that I bought it from says 10ml per L for chickens but the actual product itself is for horses.

 

Also, do I need to worm the girls at any point including the original girls that I got from omlet?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Carol U]

Hi, congratulations on adding to your flock. Hope we'll see pictures some time. A breeder who recommended apple cider vinegar to me suggested 5ml per litre (although I wouldn't think 10 would make a huge difference) and said only to use it for three days at a time as a pick-me-up, otherwise it would lose its effect. You can build your ex-bats up by giving them extra protein while they are regrowing their feathers. Mealworms are great for this (all pet shops have the dried ones), also tuna is good (the one in spring water) or even things like cat food. A little cod liver oil in their food is also good - especially in winter. You will need to worm them all sooner or later, but maybe wait till they've had time to settle in. There are various threads on here about worming, which I'm sure someone will point you to. Good luck.