Enjoy your chickens! :) What kind are you getting, and are they going to be for meat, eggs or as pets? Good advice on what to feed from shelly & fanci. Avoid layer ration for youngsters of course, and remember that chickens are omnivores--they can eat practically anything, just like you and I. For goodies you can offer raw corn on the cob, diced tomatos, diced grapes, raisins, leftover pasta (cut up into non-chokable lengths), scrambled eggs, that last bite of two of your cheesburger, etc. Really the only non-nos are raw meat (can carry harmful bacteria) and chocolate (toxic to birds). Everything else in moderation is good. Cat food is high in ash and salt and so can damage the birds kidneys, so offer it as a rare treat and in very small amounts. Chickens LOVE live mealworms, you can get some at your pet store (kept refrigerated, so ask at the counter). Make sure to keep your chicks very well protected in the tractor, predators are VERY patient and clever about getting a chicken dinner, especially at night. They are adept at tunneling under wire and reaching through it, or just plain ripping through things like chicken wire, which is NOT designing to keep chickens safe (it's not strong enough). If you click on my 'My Page' link, there is a link there to my chicken info site, which has tons of chicken information (and pictures finally, yay!) that may help also. :) Velvet ~:>

My chickens are not pets, and they have a large enclosed yard where they can eat the naturally occurning seeds and bugs. They also eat the small snakes and mice the come into their yard through the fence. But I provide them with supplemental feed so they can get what they need to be healthy. Young ones get medicated feed because they are hatched with certain pathogens in their systems already and need looking after from day one. I also add a few drops of clorox to their water to keep the waterer sanitary for the health of the chickens who use it. When they get older I also use a wormer twice a year to keep them from a miserable death. Maybe it isn't "natural" to give them all these things, but it's healthier for them and also for us. You could use the analogy that humans are naturally supposed to be vegetarieans and to live naturally we shouldn't put chemicals in our bodies. That would include the innoculations against dreaded diseases that wiped out thousands of people in past history. I like it better this way. My three children grew up healthy and my 84 year old mother has had regular health care all her life and she's doing fine. Health care isn't "natural" but it's better than the alternative, both for humans and for our animals. Cheryl

I agree about the omnivore thing - but a lot of species (including us humans!) can process vegetable proteins so they don't necessarily require animal (including insect) proteins. (This is how people who eat only vegetables and fruits are able to survive, their bodies can process the vegetable proteins - which can be harder to get in the amounts that humans need to survive, but, it can be done.) I don't know about chickens, though. (Cats and ferrets are obligate carnivores, meaning that their bodies are absolutely incapable of processing vegetable proteins so they require animal proteins...which is why cats and ferrets should never, ever be on vegetarian diets. EVER.)

BrendaSue, I'm glad to hear that things seem to be okay. To answer your question, you do not need a special thermometer to check their temp. Just a regular thermometer--either digital or the old fashioned mercury kind is fine. If you use a mercury thermometer, it is wise to attach a 6 inch string to the end with the hot glue gun, and attach a clothespin to the string. To check their temp, lubricate the thermometer (I spit on it, but you can use KY Jelly or vaseline or mineral oil if you prefer), then insert it into the horse's rectum. If using the mercury thermometer, insert it until there's only about 1.5 inches sticking out, then clip the clothespin to the horse's tail and wait 3 minutes, remove, and read. If using digital thermometer, insert it about 2 inches into the rectum, and you have to stand back there and hold it until it beeps the ready signal. Don't use the mercury thermometer unless you have the string attached--they have been known to "disappear" into the horse's rectum--NOT a good thing! Normal temp for an adult horse is 98-100. I would consider 101 to be a mild fever in an adult, and 102 or above is a fever for sure. In a yearling, 101 would be pretty normal, and anything above 102 would be a fever. In a foal, normal is 100-102, and above 103 would be a fever. Horses are like people, and some horses "run hot" all the time, so if you really want to be in tune with your horses, check their temps several times on different occasions to get a baseline normal. If you want to check their pulse, you can feel in the groove under their jaw--this can be a bit tricky and it's good if you can get somebody to show you how. Average pulse for an adult is 30-40 beats per minute, but for a younger horse, it is higher (yearling is 50-60). To answer another comment you made, bellyache is the same as colic (just like a baby). Colic can be caused by gas, constipation, a twist in the gut, diarrhea, spasmodic colon, etc. And just like a baby, a horse can't tell you where or why it hurts, and that's what makes it so complicated. To be honest, in my opinion, I would have worried more about founder than colic with this episode. Somebody commented that it takes more than one time in the grain bag to get foundered, and I disagree with that statement (not trying to start a fight here, I just disagree). You stated that their hooves were warm, and that is a symptom that a horse is trying to founder. Horses' hooves are usually cool to slightly warm, even in the summer they stay pretty cool. It's a good idea once things get back to normal to go feel their hooves and see what normal feels like (again, some horses' hooves are normally warmer than others). If I were you, I'd continue to keep an eye out for signs of founder. If you see them standing with their front feet "parked out" in front of them--stretching them out so their feet are more under their head than under their shoulder--that is a sign that they are in pain from founder. You can look up founder (or laminitis as it is also called) on Google and see the causes and symptoms. Glad to hear that things sound okay. I heard a quote once that said "Horses spend 99% of their time trying to kill themselves, and we spend 99% of our time trying to prevent them from succeeding." Keep us posted!