What are these l brackets for

[Sarasauru89]

I'm totally new to keeping chickens and am currently incubating some eggs from a friend (Cream Leg Bars).

 

I've spent all week learning about chicks and chickens but still have a few questions!

 

- Can chicks have apple cider vinegar added to their water straight away? If not what age can they have it from?

- When do chicks need worming? Can they pick up worms from birth (e.g. like dogs and cats) or would they only need to be wormed when they start going outside?

 

So far I have bought:

- Chick drinker and feeder (can't tip over/drown)

- Chick grit

- non-slip mat for brooder

- Heat lamp

 

And I'm building the brooder. Am I forgetting anything?

[Beantree]

Hi Sara. Chick's diet is critical in the early stages so I would not advise using ACV at all until they are at least 6 months old. We don't use it at all. Chicks can pick up worms only when exposed to them outside. We worm with Flubenvet at 6 months. We experimented with Avipro Avian (probiotic) in the drinking water for the first few days and I thought the growth rate was improved. We didn't buy medicated chick crumb and the probiotic was an experiment, which seems successful as they are all outside now and no-one appears ill.

 

We use a red heat lamp on 24 hours for the first week then switch to day and night using an electric hen. We've just bought a small Brinsea unit which worked OK, but you have to be very careful of the ambient temperature. If it's too cold in the room it could be too cold under the hen. In our case we had a dull emitter connected to a thermostat.

 

The drinkers initially need be nothing more than a very shallow dish. What you will find is that chicks in the first week will fall asleep at any time and the danger is they fall asleep in the drinkers and drown. In the first week the floor is covered in kitchen roll, then we switch to soft shavings, the type bought for small pets like mice. Chicks feet are very delicate.

[Egluntyne]

I would recommend that you use medicated chick crumb to avoid the disastrous consequences of coccidiosis.

[miller30]

I'm now going to totally muddle you lol sorry but if I'm using unmedicated food I put acv in water from day old to protect against cocci if I'm using medicated I don't but to be honest it doesn't matter which feed you use you still run the risk of cocci leanne

[Sarasauru89]

Thanks for the replies everyone

 

I have a small shallow dish I can use for them until they can be trusted with a proper feeder so that's not a problem!

 

After a bit of research I think I will go for unmedicated feed - from what I've gathered the medicated feed seems best if your keeping large numbers and won't be able to keep on top of the cleaning, which we will and we will only have a small number of chicks (please correct me on this if I'm wrong!).

 

The probiotic drink sounds like a good idea, I'll look into that.

 

What is the consensus on ACV? Shall I just give them a small amount or leave it out until 6 months?

[Beantree]

Coccidiosis is present in the outside environment, or even a cellar or garage. After 6 weeks they should be immune to it as their digestive flora will be established. This is the reason for the probiotic Sara, but it is a first time experiment for us and perhaps we were lucky with this hatch?

 

We have previously always used unmedicated crumb when chicks are reared to 6 weeks inside the house, or in a clean building like a disinfected trailer or shed, but use medicated (with ACS) crumb if they are reared outside. The ACS does restrict the growth rate, but not as much as if they caught coccidiosis of course because it is fatal. Having said that the only case of it we have ever had was a Cream Legbar at 4 weeks old reared on unmedicated crumb in an old cellar. She was hunched up and pooing just blood and the vet pronounced her terminal. In desperation I filled her crop completely with probiotic yoghurt and she recovered in 3 days and went on to live another 6 years. None of the others caught it.

 

ACV is claimed to have benefits with health but we stopped using it. To kill worms it has to be so concentrated (3% raises the acidity of the gut enough) they won't drink (we experimented and 1 ½% was their limit) and it is expensive anyway.

[Sarasauru89]

Thanks for all the info Beantree, fingers crossed everything goes smoothly!