It's been a very busy 5 weeks. Sorry it's taken me so long to post. We've had some very sad, and very happy things happening around our home. First the sad - one by one, our five chicks died over the course of about 2 weeks. First, Bertha was seemingly suffocated by the rest overnight. She was fine the night before, though she still hadn't really been growing and was under the pile of chicks the next morning dead. Then that same day, Ruthie died. She'd been sick for a few days and I thought she probably wasn't going to make it. So we were down to 3. Then a few days later, I came home after being gone for about three hours to find Molly with her head stuck in the feeder. I got her out and she was still alive but she seemed to have messed up her neck and she died the next day. A few days after that, Ruthie came down with similar symptoms to Ruby and died in about two days. Bob was the last remaining bird and she was doing great - until I came down one morning to find that she seemed to have hurt one of her legs and couldn't put weight on her right leg. We worked with her, hand fed her and watered her but within just a few days, she also died. I was sad, frustrated and determined to figure out what was causing my chicks to die.
I quickly ordered new birds, 8 this time, and Cathie was kind enough to pick them up for me. It's convenient having Meyer Hatchery just a couple hours from Toledo. I also decided to start them on organic chick starter feed just in case there was a food issue. I'm now pretty sure that at least Ruthie & Ruby had coccidiosis. In hindsight, they were exhibiting those symptoms. It's possible other had it as well but they weren't acting like these two when they died. I purchased some Corid so that I would have it on hand if the new birds showed any sign of problems. I'll talk more about the 8 new birds in a moment.
In addition to the 8 new chicks that we brought home two weeks ago this past Tuesday, we also have another new addition to our home. 5 weeks ago Thursday we received a call from Children's Services for our county letting us know that our boys' mother had a new baby, a girl, and wanted to know if we would take her to foster and possibly adopt. We spent a difficult 4 hours talking on the phone from our workplaces and talking to our supervisors, family and friends before deciding to say yes. That Friday, we brought our 8 day old foster daughter home from the hospital. She was born 6 weeks early and only weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces. In the last 5 weeks she's gained almost 3 pounds and will weigh just over 8 pounds today for her six week birthday. Even though she was born with substances in her system, she's doing great with no physical issues or concerns. Time will tell if there will be other developmental issues. We have been very lucky that our youngest son, also born positive for substances, has shown no real impact from the drugs. We just hope that she fares as well.
It's been raising a newborn, along with our two boys, that's kept me from writing these last 5 week. Since I'm staying home with the baby, we decided to pull our boys from daycare to save money so I've been taking care of all three, which has been an adjustment for me. As with most babies, she was only sleeping for around 3 hours at a time before needing fed, which greatly impacted our sleep, and my ability to write. We've found a routine now and she's starting to sleep closer to five hours between bottles at night which has helped greatly. We'll know in the next few months if her parents are going to lose custody of her or not & whether we'll have the opportunity to adopt her. Hopefully we will be able to make her a permanent family member. The boys are wonderful with her and are so excited to have her in our home.
The 8 new chicks have also been a blessing, and are growing much quicker than the last batch of birds. I was able to get another Light Brahma and a Dominique, but the other's are different breeds than the first ones. Our oldest son decided that he wanted to use the names from the recently deceased chicks for the new ones. Here's the new flock - at about 3 days and two weeks old:
 |
| Our new Light Brahma - Bertha |
 |
| Speckled Sussex - Ruby |
 |
| Speckled Sussex - Ruthie |
 |
| Golden Cuckoo Maran - Dolly |
 |
| Dominique - Molly |
 |
| Buff Orpington - Bob |
 |
| Salmon Faverolles - Patsy |
 |
| Delaware - Viney |
All these birds seem to be doing great. I got concerned that they may have had coccidiosis because I thought I saw some reddish tinted stool in their brooder. I treated with Corid for 6 days and changed their brooder. I'm no longer seeing irregular droppings and they are very energetic. None of us can believe that these chicks are only two weeks old because they seem more like our old chicks did at three and four weeks. We're not sure why but I'm guessing it's the change in feed. Though all my research showed that they should have done fine on my ground grains, I'm wondering if these are faring better because of the organic chick starter. By the time their fully grown I'll have them on grains. Currently, I provide sprouts, ground grains, and hard boiled egg in addition to their starter feed. They get egg every day and either sprouts or ground grain daily.
These girls are more curious and have more energy and are more active than the last bunch as well. We're holding our breath to get past 5 weeks since none of our last set made it that far. If things hold as they are currently, we should make it. I'll keep you posted!
It's been a very busy 5 weeks. Sorry it's taken me so long to post. We've had some very sad, and very happy things happening around our home. First the sad - one by one, our five chicks died over the course of about 2 weeks. First, Bertha was seemingly suffocated by the rest overnight. She was fine the night before, though she still hadn't really been growing and was under the pile of chicks the next morning dead. Then that same day, Ruthie died. She'd been sick for a few days and I thought she probably wasn't going to make it. So we were down to 3. Then a few days later, I came home after being gone for about three hours to find Molly with her head stuck in the feeder. I got her out and she was still alive but she seemed to have messed up her neck and she died the next day. A few days after that, Ruthie came down with similar symptoms to Ruby and died in about two days. Bob was the last remaining bird and she was doing great - until I came down one morning to find that she seemed to have hurt one of her legs and couldn't put weight on her right leg. We worked with her, hand fed her and watered her but within just a few days, she also died. I was sad, frustrated and determined to figure out what was causing my chicks to die.
I quickly ordered new birds, 8 this time, and Cathie was kind enough to pick them up for me. It's convenient having Meyer Hatchery just a couple hours from Toledo. I also decided to start them on organic chick starter feed just in case there was a food issue. I'm now pretty sure that at least Ruthie & Ruby had coccidiosis. In hindsight, they were exhibiting those symptoms. It's possible other had it as well but they weren't acting like these two when they died. I purchased some Corid so that I would have it on hand if the new birds showed any sign of problems. I'll talk more about the 8 new birds in a moment.
In addition to the 8 new chicks that we brought home two weeks ago this past Tuesday, we also have another new addition to our home. 5 weeks ago Thursday we received a call from Children's Services for our county letting us know that our boys' mother had a new baby, a girl, and wanted to know if we would take her to foster and possibly adopt. We spent a difficult 4 hours talking on the phone from our workplaces and talking to our supervisors, family and friends before deciding to say yes. That Friday, we brought our 8 day old foster daughter home from the hospital. She was born 6 weeks early and only weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces. In the last 5 weeks she's gained almost 3 pounds and will weigh just over 8 pounds today for her six week birthday. Even though she was born with substances in her system, she's doing great with no physical issues or concerns. Time will tell if there will be other developmental issues. We have been very lucky that our youngest son, also born positive for substances, has shown no real impact from the drugs. We just hope that she fares as well.
It's been raising a newborn, along with our two boys, that's kept me from writing these last 5 week. Since I'm staying home with the baby, we decided to pull our boys from daycare to save money so I've been taking care of all three, which has been an adjustment for me. As with most babies, she was only sleeping for around 3 hours at a time before needing fed, which greatly impacted our sleep, and my ability to write. We've found a routine now and she's starting to sleep closer to five hours between bottles at night which has helped greatly. We'll know in the next few months if her parents are going to lose custody of her or not & whether we'll have the opportunity to adopt her. Hopefully we will be able to make her a permanent family member. The boys are wonderful with her and are so excited to have her in our home.
The 8 new chicks have also been a blessing, and are growing much quicker than the last batch of birds. I was able to get another Light Brahma and a Dominique, but the other's are different breeds than the first ones. Our oldest son decided that he wanted to use the names from the recently deceased chicks for the new ones. Here's the new flock - at about 3 days and two weeks old:
|
| Our new Light Brahma - Bertha |
|
| Speckled Sussex - Ruby |
|
| Speckled Sussex - Ruthie |
|
| Golden Cuckoo Maran - Dolly |
|
| Dominique - Molly |
|
| Buff Orpington - Bob |
|
| Salmon Faverolles - Patsy |
|
| Delaware - Viney |
All these birds seem to be doing great. I got concerned that they may have had coccidiosis because I thought I saw some reddish tinted stool in their brooder. I treated with Corid for 6 days and changed their brooder. I'm no longer seeing irregular droppings and they are very energetic. None of us can believe that these chicks are only two weeks old because they seem more like our old chicks did at three and four weeks. We're not sure why but I'm guessing it's the change in feed. Though all my research showed that they should have done fine on my ground grains, I'm wondering if these are faring better because of the organic chick starter. By the time their fully grown I'll have them on grains. Currently, I provide sprouts, ground grains, and hard boiled egg in addition to their starter feed. They get egg every day and either sprouts or ground grain daily.
These girls are more curious and have more energy and are more active than the last bunch as well. We're holding our breath to get past 5 weeks since none of our last set made it that far. If things hold as they are currently, we should make it. I'll keep you posted!
It's been a very busy 5 weeks. Sorry it's taken me so long to post. We've had some very sad, and very happy things happening around our home. First the sad - one by one, our five chicks died over the course of about 2 weeks. First, Bertha was seemingly suffocated by the rest overnight. She was fine the night before, though she still hadn't really been growing and was under the pile of chicks the next morning dead. Then that same day, Ruthie died. She'd been sick for a few days and I thought she probably wasn't going to make it. So we were down to 3. Then a few days later, I came home after being gone for about three hours to find Molly with her head stuck in the feeder. I got her out and she was still alive but she seemed to have messed up her neck and she died the next day. A few days after that, Ruthie came down with similar symptoms to Ruby and died in about two days. Bob was the last remaining bird and she was doing great - until I came down one morning to find that she seemed to have hurt one of her legs and couldn't put weight on her right leg. We worked with her, hand fed her and watered her but within just a few days, she also died. I was sad, frustrated and determined to figure out what was causing my chicks to die.
I quickly ordered new birds, 8 this time, and Cathie was kind enough to pick them up for me. It's convenient having Meyer Hatchery just a couple hours from Toledo. I also decided to start them on organic chick starter feed just in case there was a food issue. I'm now pretty sure that at least Ruthie & Ruby had coccidiosis. In hindsight, they were exhibiting those symptoms. It's possible other had it as well but they weren't acting like these two when they died. I purchased some Corid so that I would have it on hand if the new birds showed any sign of problems. I'll talk more about the 8 new birds in a moment.
In addition to the 8 new chicks that we brought home two weeks ago this past Tuesday, we also have another new addition to our home. 5 weeks ago Thursday we received a call from Children's Services for our county letting us know that our boys' mother had a new baby, a girl, and wanted to know if we would take her to foster and possibly adopt. We spent a difficult 4 hours talking on the phone from our workplaces and talking to our supervisors, family and friends before deciding to say yes. That Friday, we brought our 8 day old foster daughter home from the hospital. She was born 6 weeks early and only weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces. In the last 5 weeks she's gained almost 3 pounds and will weigh just over 8 pounds today for her six week birthday. Even though she was born with substances in her system, she's doing great with no physical issues or concerns. Time will tell if there will be other developmental issues. We have been very lucky that our youngest son, also born positive for substances, has shown no real impact from the drugs. We just hope that she fares as well.
It's been raising a newborn, along with our two boys, that's kept me from writing these last 5 week. Since I'm staying home with the baby, we decided to pull our boys from daycare to save money so I've been taking care of all three, which has been an adjustment for me. As with most babies, she was only sleeping for around 3 hours at a time before needing fed, which greatly impacted our sleep, and my ability to write. We've found a routine now and she's starting to sleep closer to five hours between bottles at night which has helped greatly. We'll know in the next few months if her parents are going to lose custody of her or not & whether we'll have the opportunity to adopt her. Hopefully we will be able to make her a permanent family member. The boys are wonderful with her and are so excited to have her in our home.
The 8 new chicks have also been a blessing, and are growing much quicker than the last batch of birds. I was able to get another Light Brahma and a Dominique, but the other's are different breeds than the first ones. Our oldest son decided that he wanted to use the names from the recently deceased chicks for the new ones. Here's the new flock - at about 3 days and two weeks old:
|
| Our new Light Brahma - Bertha |
|
| Speckled Sussex - Ruby |
|
| Speckled Sussex - Ruthie |
|
| Golden Cuckoo Maran - Dolly |
|
| Dominique - Molly |
|
| Buff Orpington - Bob |
|
| Salmon Faverolles - Patsy |
|
| Delaware - Viney |
All these birds seem to be doing great. I got concerned that they may have had coccidiosis because I thought I saw some reddish tinted stool in their brooder. I treated with Corid for 6 days and changed their brooder. I'm no longer seeing irregular droppings and they are very energetic. None of us can believe that these chicks are only two weeks old because they seem more like our old chicks did at three and four weeks. We're not sure why but I'm guessing it's the change in feed. Though all my research showed that they should have done fine on my ground grains, I'm wondering if these are faring better because of the organic chick starter. By the time their fully grown I'll have them on grains. Currently, I provide sprouts, ground grains, and hard boiled egg in addition to their starter feed. They get egg every day and either sprouts or ground grain daily.
These girls are more curious and have more energy and are more active than the last bunch as well. We're holding our breath to get past 5 weeks since none of our last set made it that far. If things hold as they are currently, we should make it. I'll keep you posted!
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