I just feed them damp wheet-bix and rolled oats at the start and other small scraps, they don't take long at all to just eat like a big chicken really.
Sorry to hear that, Kram.Well that's unlucky, one of the chicks about to break out this morning must have been completely rolled back exactly upside down on to the hole where it was getting for an hour or so after I put it back and looks to be dead nowMust have strangled itself or something trying to twist back around..
Also the first chick that came out pretty sure isn't even Pekin because it has nothing on its feet and is the same colour as the others, must be either a cross or one from an unusually small Sussex egg
That's a shame because I really wanted to replace the little Buff ones (although still very happy to have 1 little black chap) ah well maybe next spring. ****ing fox.
I can't remember the taste but I remember the dead chooks running around and can still remember the horrible smell of wet feathers in the laundry where Mum had soaked the chooks prior to plucking them.
Oh ffs the other last one died after hatching out
Now overall have 5 adult hens of different ages, 5 pullet hens and 1 cockerel, 2 little un Sussex and the mother with 5 chicks.
Mother seems fine but doesn't seem to feed them as much as usual just eating herself.
The other one after it managed to completely get out but died a couple of hours later so there was probably something wrong with both of them anyway. Don't recall any dying late like this late before but with the last mum getting crook and inconsistent temperature from that causing the late hatching it's not surprising I guess.Sorry to hear that, Kram.
It's a very wise person who first coined the saying, "Don't count your chickens until they've hatched."
The poor little bugger would've provably been too weak to get itself out of trouble. It's such a shame!
Well, THAT'S important!
What do you mean by don't feed them? Mine usually grab any food in their beaks and offer it to the chicks first before eating it themselves. I know they don't have to eat for quite awhile but the Sussex seem to be pretty much interested at pecking at food straight away once they are clean and dried off after hatching. Haven't noticed the Pekin eating yet but they seem to be significantly weaker when hatched and the ones I've had before have taken full day or 2 to get much strength and coordination.
Mother hens don't feed chicks, do they? Chicks don't usually eat for about 2-3 days. They've got enough in them from being inside the egg to go without. And isn't there stuff left in the shell that either the mother or babies eat?
The special chick food is called "starter crumble" and has antibiotic or something in it to prevent coccidiosis (sp?)- that's from 0-6 weeks.
Have you ever taken eggs straight from an incubator? The mother doesn't feed them. That's sort of what I was saying- the chicks quickly fend for themselves.
I think you're right there, unfortunately. A few things went wrong, didn't they? I think you were worried about eggs that didn't seem to be getting under the mother to be kept warm, when she originally sat on them.
Animals aren't as silly as us humans thinkThat's SO cute!!
My cats often sit in the pen with my chickens, stalking the local pigeon population.
I don't know how they can tell that my chicks are off limits.
They know who is part of the household.
Nah don't usually name chooks specifically and they all look almost the same at this stage anyway. They are all good, will start letting them out of their cage for runs in the yard in a week or so when they are too big to get nabbed by any crows.lol!! Had to have a laugh... "The rooster has sex with all of them"... "That's perverse!"
How are little Smokey and his siblings going?? Have you named the others yet?
I'm positive it was an eagle. 
Bunnings, City Farmers, online?
lol- some breeds do that all the time. Can you lock her out of the area? Just for a day or two.
