Ideal Poultry - Shipping Wednesday *06/27/12* - Anyone Else??

We got our BB Bronze turkeys in the spring, so probably in April and we harvested mid-November so they lived longer then the commercial turkeys. These birds grow so fast, I think the industry standard is 4 1/2 months, so you should have nice sized turkeys by Thanksgiving.

I had Ideal throw in 4 black broilers in with my layer chicks so I'm interested to see the difference, if any, between the Freedom Rangers and the Black Broilers. I'm not raising my meat chickens or turkeys as a way to save money, because with the way we do things and the breeds that we choose to raise, it takes longer to get to an appropriate weight and this costs money. I think of it as raising food for my family in a humane and ethical manner.

Oh yeah, we also invested in a whizbang chicken plucker this year. I was so expensive, $750 with shipping, but man it was worth it when it came time to pluck the birds. Having this machine, and watching Food Inc, is what pushed us to buy meat birds.

Debr! I still havent figured out how to post pics! I promise to start working on it.... As to your Brooder issue how bout using a wading pool (somewhere someone posted a nice wading pool set up for chicks it looked pretty quick to set up in a pinch)...
Our Box brooder is doing pretty well I left the sides up pretty high4ft-- but am alittle concerned about ventilation-- it got all the way up to 104 yesterday (box is covered with 1inch poultry netting and an old window mesh screen and it is under a shade tree)...I think it is safer to NOt cut holes in the side (with my old box, my predator dog would stick her nose in the vent holes and get really worked up-- I am taking her with me when I go out of town this weekend)..
.Had heat lamp query-- first night they did fine active and chirping and eventually settled normally semi clumping in front of the lamp light(its on the outside of the wire dog crate we have them in at night-- last night it was still 90 degrees in the room we have them in (windows open)at 10pm at night-- so I didnt turn the lamp on til about 11pm ( I am a night owl)-- Well dogs woke me up @3am barking at something (unrelated to the chicks) and I went in to check on them -- they were in 2 clumps on seperate sides of the rectangular dog crate as far away from the lamp as possible-- so I know it got way to hot for them, turned off the lamp.
They are fine this am-- my question is, given that my husband and daughter go to bed at 9pm and NOTHING wakes them up-- should I just hide the lamp and have my daughter put an old wool blanket over half the crate at 9pm before she goes to bed?I think it is safer to risk chicks having a couple of hours at 70 degreees than having them overheat all night inteir crate.... I am going into town to look for a feather duster to hang in the crate tonight ( I will leave @8pm after I get them settled)-- I dont get back til Mon at 12am! Working!
Please someone answer soon... Thanks so much!

Janie1968: I am hoping so, they seem to be growing at record rates right at the moment LOL. I read up on the whizbang and may try to save up for one next year! I really do want to raise enough meaties that I will never have to buy chicken in the store again and we eat at least 1 chicken a week!

CAjerseychick: I am sorry I didn't see your post earlier! Unfortunately, I don't have alot of experience with raising chicks so I wouldn't have been able to give you a good answer. I hope your chicks did fine this weekend?

On the same note, we have had to separate some chicks due to pecking and since we only have the one EcoGlow, the pecked chicks are in a plastic tote with just each other for heat and they seem to be doing just fine.

I am not sure what caused the pecking to start, but all 3 of the injured chicks are the cornish rock meaties. I think what happened is that we were extremely busy this weekend and didn't get to check the chicks as often as normal.

We finally started building the chicken house and were outside all day, came in for lunch and I checked them, they seemed fine, but when we came back in that evening they had knocked over their water and were almost out of feed. I had changed to a trough feeder and they (nor I) like it very much so tomorrow my husband is stopping on his way home from work and getting a gallon size waterer and feeder AND picking up our bigger boxes!

We got the floor done on the new hen house and will start on the framing tomorrow. I still have to buy windows, tin for the roof and siding and am hoping to be at the point of picking those up this coming weekend (we will see how it goes).

My new EcoGlow arrived today, so tomorrow I have to clean up the old one and get it sent back. But like I said earlier, I am doubtful most of them really need it at this point. However, some of the laying chicks are still pretty small so I am going to keep it in with them until they go outside at which time I will be using it for our new order.

Which I have changed... again! Having "housing" problems with this first batch has made it not quite as enjoyable as I was hoping for, so I don't want as many chicks this next time, so I went from 23 chicks to 12.... and no ducks! I decided ducks are more a spring adventure (thinking easter time LOL)

I am still planning on ordering a batch of meat chicks later this year (when it is not so hot out) but before I do that, we are building a better brooder (I want it big enough to house 30 chicks until 4 weeks old without overcrowding... not sure how big that needs to be LOL, and I want to be able to divide it into 2 sections if I need/want to seperate chicks or have 2 different batches brooding... I want it portable too and thinking about putting it on wheels. Yeah, I know, I am not asking for much LOL, wait until I tell my husband my plans hahaha).

All future chicks, once we get the big coop built, will go out to the grow-out coop at 3-4 weeks, which will be our current little coop modified to be better suited for young chickens (we are going to expand the run area, etc). It is right next to the big coop and the runs will share a fence section so the hens can get used to seeing the chicks so there will hopefully be less drama when they are big enough to safely free-range and/or be integrated into the flock.

Instead of building a portable brooder for in the house, I am considering building a permanent one in the new coop, either under one of the poop boards or over my supply area... again, a "wait and see" situation, but either way, I am not doing cardboard boxes for 3 or more weeks ever again!

I have read about using a kids swimming pool, which would work great until the chicks are a couple weeks old, then all hell would break loose every time you had to remove the lid for cleaning - I know because we have had to change our cleaning routine dramatically - otherwise we would have birds flying all over the house every time we fed and watered them! It had turned into a chicken round-up rodeo LOL.

Well all but one of the cornish rocks have been pecked. I called my chicken lady and she said it is because they will not defend themselves, so we have the 5 of them seperated from the rest.

I wish they would not make the cornish so darn sweet, they are way too easy to get attached too because they are so friendly, curious and cute (i.e. big and fat LOL). I am going to be extra glad to get this batch moved out and the new chicks here for my kids to attach themselves to since the new chicks were specifically selected as pets versus just livestock.

Unfortunately we are not working on the new coop tonight because my husband has to turn our hay due to the stupid rain falling on it after it was put down LOL. But I am still hopeful we will be able to pick up the rest of the materials this weekend and get it finished in time.

On a positive note, I got my website updated. I think it is looking pretty good, I still have alot of research I want to do and add to it and some areas I have not started yet.

No new chicken boxes today, but they did say that they got an update message about receiving them tomorrow. I have been telling myself "one more day" for about 2 weeks now LOL (I called about them before the 4th!)

Hope everyone is having a shot of cooler weather - we have cooled down about 10 degrees during the day and it has really made a difference.

Ummm, so I went out to shut up the chickens and gather the eggs, and put that stupid broody BACK on the nest with the one remaining turkey egg, which I was giving two more days to hatch (due to hatch by tomorrow)... and as I was reaching in to get her, I heard... PEEPING from the other nest! Out of all the odds, 1 out of 20, the darn turkey egg hatched! I quickly snatched up the baby and my husband got a dog crate, stuffed in some shaving and put the broody in. Once she settled, we stuck the poult under her. I am sooo temped to go back out and get it and just take the EcoGlow away from my 3 week olds. BUT, I want the broody to raise the poult - not me! And he would be lonely with no other buddies.

I told the kids not to be surprised if he isn't alive in the morning. The broody wasn't clucking at him or anything, but she also didn't peck at him, so I am hoping by morning she will have turned into a Mommy. I was planning on going to bed early tonight and getting some sleep.. yeah, not likely now worrying about that poult.

debir1966 said:

Ummm, so I went out to shut up the chickens and gather the eggs, and put that stupid broody BACK on the nest with the one remaining turkey egg, which I was giving two more days to hatch (due to hatch by tomorrow)... and as I was reaching in to get her, I heard... PEEPING from the other nest! Out of all the odds, 1 out of 20, the darn turkey egg hatched! I quickly snatched up the baby and my husband got a dog crate, stuffed in some shaving and put the broody in. Once she settled, we stuck the poult under her. I am sooo temped to go back out and get it and just take the EcoGlow away from my 3 week olds. BUT, I want the broody to raise the poult - not me! And he would be lonely with no other buddies.

I told the kids not to be surprised if he isn't alive in the morning. The broody wasn't clucking at him or anything, but she also didn't peck at him, so I am hoping by morning she will have turned into a Mommy. I was planning on going to bed early tonight and getting some sleep.. yeah, not likely now worrying about that poult.

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Wow I think the broody hen is surely the way to go!
How does that work for a Turkey doesnt it outgrow momma hen pretty fast? Or does it not need to be in her feathers to stay warm by the time that happens? Keep us updated- did the poult make it?!

Well, still surprised, the poult seems to be doing well so far. She was out from under the hen when we checked on her (again) a little while ago and while we were watching, she snuggled herself back under the hen.

CAjerseychick: I have done a little readin on hens raising poults, other people have done it, but I wish I could find more information! I know poults have a high mortality rate, so I will not be surprised if this little one doesn't make it, but I am hopeful.

We got our boxes! So tonight is the big transfer and cleaning - thank goodness 'cause they are reaaaally starting to stink! Hubby is hot and tired, so I don't know if we are going to get to work on the hen house tonight or not, he is taking a nap under the AC right now LOL. I just keep thinking we have got to have SOMETHING for them by the 26th - and the days are getting mighty slim.

debir1966 said:

Well, still surprised, the poult seems to be doing well so far.

She was out from under the hen when we checked on her (again) a little while ago and while we were watching, she snuggled herself back under the hen.

CAjerseychick: I have done a little readin on hens raising poults, other people have done it, but I wish I could find more information! I know poults have a high mortality rate, so I will not be surprised if this little one doesn't make it, but I am hopeful.

We got our boxes! So tonight is the big transfer and cleaning - thank goodness 'cause they are reaaaally starting to stink! Hubby is hot and tired, so I don't know if we are going to get to work on the hen house tonight or not, he is taking a nap under the AC right now LOL. I just keep thinking we have got to have SOMETHING for them by the 26th - and the days are getting mighty slim.

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Sounds good so far debir, if the hen can get that little poult thru the first couple of weeks all the better right?
I have utilized a 4 ft by 4ft cardboard box as an indoor run attached to my wire dog crate(that has the brooder lamp on it-- my 9 yr old used it all weekend when I was away and all the babies made it!) -- the temps have dropped a good 20 degrees (60's and 70's during the day... 46 was the low the last couple of nights) and it just makes it easier this way...
Love cardboard boxes!

My friend had a broody hen and I had turkeys laying eggs around this time last year so I gave her eggs for her hen to hatch. Three hatched out and survived to maturity. Something killed and ate her female turkey this spring and we harvested her toms on the 4th of July. I think because it is so warm in the summer that when those babies outgrow mama it's not a big deal. Plus birds feather out faster when they are outside compared to inside. The funny part was that the toms would display to any black chicken (because mama was black) and ignored the female turkey.

Janie1968 said:

My friend had a broody hen and I had turkeys laying eggs around this time last year so I gave her eggs for her hen to hatch. Three hatched out and survived to maturity. Something killed and ate her female turkey this spring and we harvested her toms on the 4th of July. I think because it is so warm in the summer that when those babies outgrow mama it's not a big deal. Plus birds feather out faster when they are outside compared to inside. The funny part was that the toms would display to any black chicken (because mama was black) and ignored the female turkey.

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OMGosh that is so funny, I hope there were not any unfortuante turkey-chicken mating incidents!