Chicken bald back

[Luvachicken]

At Squires today they had some very sweet pekin bantam chicks.

They were not very old and you could just see their new feathers coming through.

Their water holder, although it had water in, was full of sawdust so there wasn't actually any water to get to and their food bowl was empty.

It was only about 3pm.

 

I told the lady at the front desk about the food and water and she said she would tell someone about it.

She also told me the chicks got fed at certain times during the day.

Is this right ?

I thought chicks and chickens are supposed to have access to food and water all the time ?

[Egluntyne]

They should certainly have access to water at all times. There are those who feed their hens at set times so that food isn't lying about to tempt vermin.

 

If the chicks are very young, they should be under a brooder of some sort. Sounds as if some folk will be bringing unwanted cockerels back in a couple of months.

[Luvachicken]

I did see a red light in the roof of what they were in but I couldn't tell if it was on or not.

There was one that was quite a lot bigger than the others. He /she did stand out.

 

Not a bad price though £18 each.

I could have bought them all if I didn't already have some

[Cat tails]

£18???

That is a steep price, considering someone could go home with cockerels... Chicks go for max €10 here. And those are rare breeds.

[Luvachicken]

£18 that's nothing

I once saw some beautiful gold laced wyandottes there and they were selling them for £45 each

[mullethunter]

That sounds expensive to me too Luvachicken. I paid £20 each for mine sexed at 10 weeks.

[Cat tails]

My chickens were €20 each at 12 weeks. Which is about £14

[Luvachicken]

I suppose people will fall for the awww factor and will just pay it.

[mullethunter]

They are hard to resist! I only got mine by accident.

[Redwing]

my chicks are fed twice a day and often the bowl is empty when we refill it but as long as they get enough food overall I am not too worried

 

As for the water you only have to leave them for half an hour before they fill their water with shavings so its hard to say that they went without water for any length of time really

[Lewis]

I was working at a show a few a few weeks ago where we had a dozen week old chicks, they were constantly kicking shavings into their drinker that we had to clean it out every hour or so.

 

I usually suspend my drinkers or have them raised on a brick but as they were not my chickens and at a show in a different brooder we didn't have that option.