This question has probably been asked 50,000 million times before (and I don't exaggerate) but what do you feed new chicks? Also do I have to separate them from the other chooks? They're due in about 2 weeks.

-- Perilous Pauline from Australia (paulinej@angliss.vic.edu.au), February 23, 2000

Answers

I usually take them out for seafood or real good italian if they are vegitarian.

Oh....THOSE kinds of chicks.

Er....sorry.

Watch for wise-guys and keep your...

-- eyes_open (best@wishes.2all), February 23, 2000.

Left myself right open on that one! Should've said little chooks.

-- perilous (paulinej@angliss.vic.edu.au), February 23, 2000.

To the perilous one:

a good stop-gap if you get caught out is rolled oats. Everything for chickens goes better if it's dampened with water - not too wet, as a paste will tend to stick to their beaks and even over/in their nostrils. They need dry as well though, so they can come back and pick during the day.

Since you've got a fortnight, you might as well try to get the right stuff, which is "chick starter crumbles". You could do your own, with bran, pollard, and blood & bone powder; but it's not worth the trouble these days. Email me if you want more detail - I'm nursemaiding a small group on the farm at the moment.

The following, based on where you work, assumes you're at least somewhat suburban - although it would apply even out in the country.

Hit the yellow pages, go through "Farm" - particularly "Stock feeds and supplements". Also "Farm equipment and supplies", "Rural produce merchants" and particularly "Grain & produce merchants". You might be surprised what's tucked away in back streets, particularly in suburbs which have been overtaken by the rural sprawl in the last twenty years or so - and what's hanging around horse stables and racetracks as well. Let your fingers do the walking after you've sorted out a list of suspects, and don't be afraid to ask them for advice - they may be able to point you to a closer source you wouldn't have found. If you're stuck, ring a few racehorse trainers and ask them if they know of a produce merchant nearby.

When you've found a produce merchant, take a look around as well. They've got a fascinating range of things, in bulk at savings. Dog food, cat food, grain for when the chooks have grown, rat & mouse baits, feed bins, poultry feeders and waterers - interesting, thought- provoking, economical. Sometimes some garden tools. Medications for the poultry if necessary - good to know in advance. Advice free. They want to sell you stuff, but most of them would rather have a long- term customer than one big sale. Fascinating.

If you have the chickens hatched in house, or adopted by a broody hen, Mum will look after them. It's probably better to have them separated in a "chicken yard" for a couple of months, although most of them would survive anyway - mostly they just wouldn't get their crumbles before the grown chooks had muscled them out and scarfed the lot. There's some chance they'd pick up diseases as well, although I tend to think they're better off being exposed and either dying or developing immunity as soon as possible.

P.S. Low flat water dish for a couple a weeks - say a cake tin. Clean it out often - Mum will scratch for food, and a lot of what she scratches up ends up in the water dish.

Best wishes.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 23, 2000.

and are you going to then have a "chook raffle"??? The yanks don't know what that is. Taz...who went to many a chook raffle in Tassie land.

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), February 23, 2000.

Pauline - or Taz - might be able to get away with it. Chook raffles tend to be run by and for the sports club types though, mostly football or cricket, and I wouldn't care to compete.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 24, 2000.

At the risk of sounding like a simpleton, I suggest that you stop at your local feed store (if there is one convenient to you) and ask for a bag of chick starter. That is what we use in the US, and I assume you have a similar product down under.

Probably you could get along by making something at home, but the commercial stuff has all the nutrients they need. You might want to check to see if it has medications in it, if that is something you want to avoid. Good luck with the chooks.

regards,

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), February 24, 2000.

Pauline...for what it's worth, I never tire of reading these chicken threads. I always seem to learn something new!

-- Mumsie (shezdremn@aol.com), February 25, 2000.