Kittens and Chicks

Julie, daughter of Maude and still essentially a kitten herself, finally had her kittens. 5! Born Thursday May 21st sometime in the PM, in Kaaren's luggage, relocated to cozy towel lined box.

Wednesday May 20th I picked up the new chicks for Mom and I. Barred Rock, Auracana, Light Brahma and Golden Queen. Thought I was doing great this year, really becoming an adept Poultry Farmer, because I didnt "lose" any due to drowning, overheating or just weak chicks the first few nites. I didnt have a chick feeder tray, the ones with the holes in them to keep the chicks from standing in their food tray. I was using a small household serving tray, and it seemed to work just fine aside from the chicks throwing their feed all over. Then we had a cooler nite and the chicks crowded onto the tray and one of the Barred Rocks was trampled to death. The Barred Rock must be a more fragile breed, I remember that was what I lost last year.
On May 29th I noticed I lost 2 more chicks....another Barred Rock and a Light Brahma....not sure why this time, they werent trampled, cold or overheated, and they had food and water. The only thing I noticed was the food was getting low, and the chicks had to reach down into the holes of the feeder to get at it....possibly the two that died werent able to reach down that far? Or possibly just weak chicks, which does happen.

Chick tips:

1. Do not put water dish under heat source, they will crowd under heat source and chicks can drown
2. Do not put heat source too low, chicks can become overheated and die
3. Do not use dish with any sort of depth, chicks will crowd in it and trample eachother
4. I read not to feed chicks the layer mix, it can mess up their reproductive system, use starter grower feed
5. Make sure the chicks can reach inside the holes of feeder trays to the food, if food levels get low, some may not be able to reach all the way down to reach the food.