Hi I am a newbie

kchicnc

In the Brooder
Jul 24, 2015
34
1
26
NC
Hi I live in NC... I own 12 chickens and 1 roo...I have 6 full grown chickens around a year old .. 2 eggers, 2 barred rocks a little Cochin mix and a mixed rooster... I have 7 baby bantams.. 2 silkie paints, 2 tolbunt polish, 2 Cochins can't remember their color and a partridge Cochin... We had a dilemma last night and couldn't turn on the heat lamp it was 66 degrees ... I am sure it was warmer in the brooding area.. We were attacked by bald hornets when our security light came on outside .. We just checked on the chicks this morning and they are fine.. We turned the heat lamp on.. When we left them yesterday evening it was 95 in the brooder ... I sure it got lower than that.. I am new to small babies .. Will let you know how things so ... Thanks for having me Kim
 
Hello Kim! Welcome to the forum!

Don't forget to decease the temperature by five degrees a week. (So 95F for newborns, 90F for one week olds, 85F for two week olds, 80F for three week olds, and so on.)
This of course is just a rule of thumb, if the chicks seem too hot or too cold adjust accordingly.

Good luck! :)
 
One of them were sneezing every second ... I went out there this morning and it's not as bad... It's drinking water and eating.. I started on antibiotics in the water and have been using the Vetrx... I also keep electrolytes in their water... I have grown so attached to them... We had them in here for awhile but it was too cool and the heat lamp was so hot that it was hot on the plastic crate ... So put them in their hutch in our wood working garage .. All seems fine but the hornets .. We sprayed the outside of the building ... Gonna move them out and make sure they are gone .. Thanks so much for the advice ... :)
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Chicks do a lot of sneezing. Not only to being in close quarters with a lot of bedding and dust, but because they themselves are molting and with all of them molting in a small space, they are breathing all these feather shaft skins.

So if these are dry sneezes, I would discontinue the antibiotics. These meds are hard on tiny growing livers and kidneys. Chicks will molt about 7 times before they are of laying age. So you are going to see a lot of sneezing for a while, at least until you get them out of the brooder.

As for the electrolytes, be careful using these. They are mainly salts and can dehydrate tiny babies.

Good luck with all those hornets!! We have a lot of those things around here and wow are they pests!

Enjoy your new babies and welcome to our flock!
 
Hi, welcome to BYC!

Maybe you're already set up this way but if you put the heat lamp at one end of the chick's brooder, they'll move closer to and away from the heat as necessary to self-regulate their body temps. You can still drop the temp by 5 degrees per week as mentioned above but giving the chicks the option to be warmer or cooler is a good way to go. You'll know they are too hot if they all stay away from the heat lamp, and you'll know when they are too cold if they're all huddled right under it.

Have you checked out the Learning Center yet? There are a lot of really good articles there:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Good luck to you, it's nice to have you here!
 
I went to check on them this morning and the one doing all the sneezing was lifeless... She ate out of my hand and drank some water... I am thinking that by her( just looks like a she to me lol)... Being the smallest that she needs more TLC... The rest are thriving and running everywhere ... She sneezes lots and acts like she is having a hard time breathing... I turned off their heat lamp ..I turned it on this morning so that it would knock the chill off since I couldn't get in the garage last night ..its 90 degrees in the garage with no air on and it's not shaded ... We keep a thermometer in their to keep a check on their temperature... Can I continue with the VetRX?.. Thanks so much for the info.. And these hornets are awful!!..
 
I went to check on them this morning and the one doing all the sneezing was lifeless... She ate out of my hand and drank some water... I am thinking that by her( just looks like a she to me lol)... Being the smallest that she needs more TLC... The rest are thriving and running everywhere ... She sneezes lots and acts like she is having a hard time breathing... I turned off their heat lamp ..I turned it on this morning so that it would knock the chill off since I couldn't get in the garage last night ..its 90 degrees in the garage with no air on and it's not shaded ... We keep a thermometer in their to keep a check on their temperature... Can I continue with the VetRX?.. Thanks so much for the info.. And these hornets are awful!!..
Exactly how old is this particular baby?

Not all chicks make it to adult hood. However sometimes runts need more heat and for a longer period of time.

Let me know how old she is first.
 
The one that is acting sick is the partridge Cochin bantam... She is a tiny thing and 1.5 weeks old ... I had the heat lamp on and they were all in the nesting box trying to stay away from the light... The light is a red 250 watt bulb... The silkies are a little older at 3 weeks .. I have had 3 and 4 month old birds but never had any this young... Babies are lots of work but I love them... I haven't seen any hornets today ... Seems they only come out at night which is weird ... Thanks so much for everyone's help...
 
The one that is acting sick is the partridge Cochin bantam... She is a tiny thing and 1.5 weeks old ... I had the heat lamp on and they were all in the nesting box trying to stay away from the light... The light is a red 250 watt bulb... The silkies are a little older at 3 weeks .. I have had 3 and 4 month old birds but never had any this young... Babies are lots of work but I love them... I haven't seen any hornets today ... Seems they only come out at night which is weird ... Thanks so much for everyone's help...
I would separate this weak bird and keep her in her own area. I would keep her at 95 to 98 degree temps at all times. Keep a good thermometer you know is very accurate directly under the light on the floor. Use an infra red if you have one. This light spectrum is very healing and penetrating. Feed her some warmed chopped hard boiled eggs. Eggs are excellent emergency food for babies and contain all the building blocks of life. Don't leave any around after she is done eating the egg as it can spoil under the high heat. They can live on eggs exclusively for long periods of time. Keep her like this for the next week and see if she can pull through. But again, not all babies make it to adulthood and runts can be difficult to keep going as they usually have something going on inside that prevents them from developing properly. However I have had runts survive and actually become larger than all my other birds.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
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