17 baby chicks hatched on Christmas

[Tatiana110]

Unexpectedly we got our 1 day old baby chicks almost a month earlier - they hatched on Christmas We were supposed to get them at the end of January, but because of the avian flu the hatchery would not be hatching any eggs after this last batch, so we were happy to take these chicks home.

We ordered 15 from a small local hatchery, and they generously added two extras. I am not new to raising chicks, but I haven't done it for the last 30 years, so I was worried about caring a good care of them. They all made it. Now they are 2 weeks all, all active and healthy.

We've got 1 Caramel Queen, 3 Welsummers, 5 Light Sussex, 5 Barred Rocks, and 3 Ameraucanas (black).

We feed them home made grain mix fermented + fresh veggies and greens, all organic. They also get some home made cottage cheese 3 times a week or earth worms, which they love very much. No chick starter feed, we are determined to feed them the 'old-fashioned way', they will get access to our permaculture garden when the weather gets warmer and when they get outdoors .

I can post our fermented baby chicks mix formula if there is an interest.

After 7 days we moved them into a larger brooder (4' x 6'), and they love the space.

They have grit and coarse sand available all the time, and I brought a box with our garden soil to them, they enjoyed pecking at it, and now they love scratching there, in hopes of finding more worms.

Some pics of the 1 day old chickies -











There they are at 6 days -


















Tatiana

 

[Tatiana110]

at 6 days our chicks discovered a joy of dust bathing - it is so much fun to watch!
(best viewed in HD)

 

[newwestchick]

Soooo one ameraucana flew out the top of the brooder today when I removed it. Three feet easily!

 

[Tatiana110]

3.weeks and 3 days old - they are growing so fast

 

[Tatiana110]

Our 7 month old rooster, Vaska. The father of the chicks. I can't believe how huge he got! Very nice boy, gentle and quiet and calm.

 

[newwestchick]

We did have a broody! One of the caramel queens. I put 6 light Sussex eggs under her (we don't have a rooster, I got them from True North) and she hatched out two chicks, both pullets. One got taken by a rat at one week old, the other made it through and is now almost as big as her mom! She should start laying by Christmas We named her Louisiana.

 

[newwestchick]

Nobody molting, all still laying and the broody Ginger has resumed laying too.

Ginger hatched Louisiana on July 10, she's been done with her for about two weeks now. She won't have anything to do with her baby anymore!

 

[Tatiana110]

The chicks are almost 2 weeks old. Some can fly very well - 2' feet or more. The roos started fighting already

 

[BonRae67]

They are beautiful. I would love to have your chick food recipe. I should have new ones in less than 10 days.

 

[Tatiana110]

They are beautiful. I would love to have your chick food recipe. I should have new ones in less than 10 days.

Thank you

Here is the recipe (since the babies are still small, we used organic grains intended for human consumption, but starting at 3 weeks old I intend to switch to animal grade organic whole grains)

- 1 part steel cut oats
- 1 part pearl barley
- 1 part quinoia
- 1 part millet
- 1 part wheat germ
- 5 parts cracked wheat
- 1 part flax seeds
- 2 parts hulled sunflower seeds
- 1 part split peas
- 2 parts lentils

Since the last 3 ingredients are quite large and will need to be cut into smaller pieces, we ferment them separately and then cut them into small pieces and mix in with other grains before feeding.

To start fermentation process, I added a tea spoon of home made sauerkraut liquid. If you do not have it, no problem, it'll just takes 1 extra day to ferment your first batch. Then you can use the liquid from the 1st batch to head-start your second batch, etc. It takes 3-4 days to ferment the first batch, and 2-3 days for the subsequent batches if you reuse the liquid (at 65F). WIll be faster at higher temperature. It is important to make sure you have 1 inch of liquid above the mix level, so no mold ever forms and everything stays fresh and smells nice.

Starting from 6 days old, I add thinly cut greens (like kale, dandelion, chickweed or mustard greens) into the mix. It works great. Or, you can serve the veggies separately, after they ate 80% of the grain mix. I also grate fresh potatoes, rutabagas, carrots, beets, broccoli and serve it separately, with every second meal.

The advantages of the fermented feed:
- chicks poop actually smells quite nice
- no diarrhea
- no feed waste - they pick up every bit
- they do not drink a lot of liquid - because they do not lose liquid with diarrhea, and they are getting moist feed.
- they have big appetites
- since they eat it quite fast, there is no time for them to poop into the feeder, they are busy eating it.

It is very important to have chicks grit for them if you are feeding this mix.

Also, on the 1st day I just gave them 1 boiled egg with some corn meal. They started to get the fermented mix on the 2nd day, and greens and veggies on the 3rd day.

They also have rolled oats (dry) available all the time, but by day 5 they stopped eating it, as they now prefer fermented mix.