Raising baby chicks is a rewarding adventure filled with fluffy cuddles and quirky antics.
About 18 months ago I started making sourdough bread. Then I saw a meme: “sourdough is the gateway to chickens.” If that’s not the truth! Four months later, my family adventured to our local farm supply store and came home with eight baby chicks.
Two Barred Rock
Two Brown Leghorn
Two Rhode Island Red
Two Buff Orpington
We’ve done everything we knew to do as first time chicken owners… All spring, summer, and winter we let them free range in our backyard. In the winter, we used the deep litter method and ensured their coop was comfortable. They ate table scraps and produce from the Aldi dumpster (more on that in another blog post). And their coop is always clean.
Despite all that, last week I noticed the webbing between the toes on one of our Barred Rock girls was swollen. This led to a deep dive on bumble foot, a bacterial infection causing a swollen, inflamed foot pad. Sure enough, our girl had the telltale black scabs. We soaked her in warm Epsom salt water and gently cleaned the area with Banixx for Chixx.
After a week of using Banixx and soaking her multiple times we were able to scrape the scabs and grit that’d built up over time right off, no problemo!
Raising chicks teaches patience and vigilance, turning novices into confident flock keepers in just a year.
The Granola Moms 
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