Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:23 pm Post subject: have the chicks been feed?
hi all
i have no way of telling if my babbies are being feed by their parents. i know i have to find the crop but it is very hard to see from the top of the box. Why i am concerned is that there necks look very skinny. and i presume the crop is at the base of the neck. from what i can see they dont seem to have that much bulge in the area. cananybody please tell me the correct procedure to determine if my babies are getting enough food.
p.s i think another babby hatched today that makes 4 altough i could not seee him only the egg was not there i hope he was under the others.
James,
Unfortunately there is no real way on knowing how much each chick is being fed while in the nest unless you continually disturb the hen. Doing that may see her abandon the nest completely. Young chicks are usually fed every few hours by the parents and without food they would die very quickly. If the birds appear healthy then I would suggest all is fine.
You should also consider at what time you have noticed the crops appear empty. If mum has left the box it could well be to gather food as feed time approaches. Young chicks need to empty their crops fully before being fed again to prevent such things as sour crop. This is when the food goes hard and settles in the crop of the chick.
Dont panic. Keep the fresh food amount up and feed it twice a day. Make sure there is fresh water daily and all should be fine.
i have red on your previous posts about the consiquences of disturbing the hen. I have been checking the nest everyday before the eggs had even been laid. BUT i only got inot this rutine because it has always been so easy the birds never raised an eyebrow at any time. I never check if the hen is in the nest i wait until she comes out to have some food. In your opinion or anyone elses do you think i am interupting the breeding to much or not?
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