17 baby chicks hatched on Christmas

[Tatiana110]

Did these guys come from true north farms hatchery in surrey/Langley? We picked up 22 from them on Christmas Day (hatched on the 23rd)

Mine are doing excellent too! All the same breeds except no Wellsummer.

yep
;0)

 

[Mazmanian]

Very interesting! What are your costs for feed by mixing yourself? Is it more expensive or comparable to buying an organic feed? I assume the veggies come from your mentioned garden, but do you grow any of the grains?

Sorry for all the questions (I could think of more lol), I am super interested!

 

[Tatiana110]

Very interesting! What are your costs for feed by mixing yourself? Is it more expensive or comparable to buying an organic feed? I assume the veggies come from your mentioned garden, but do you grow any of the grains?

Sorry for all the questions (I could think of more lol), I am super interested!

The cost is $0 so far (well, not quite), as we share our own grain food with them.

But in summer we'll be growing amaranth and sunflower seeds for them. We also grow clover and alfalfa, and buckwheat. Not sure if they will be eating buckweed, we'll see.

The cost of organic whole grains are from $18 to $22 per 50 lb bag, depending on the grain (corn and black sunflower seeds cost more than barley or wheat). The rough estimate is when you ferment the grains, you'd use 30% to 50% only compared to when you feed them dry grain.

The greens come from the garden, so do the worms and bugs.

So I expect to be able to feed them at least at 30% of the 'normal' cost, if not less. My hubby thinks we can even get to 15%, but as a former project manager, I am always more conservative in my estimates.

If grain is non-organic, it will be half the price of organic grain. So even with 100% organic feed, it'll be cheaper for us. But what is more important, it will be much healthier for the birds.

Thank you for the great question!

 

[Tatiana110]

newwestchick, are yours also flying over 2'? Our Ameraucanas are the best flyers, I think we got 2 roos and 1 hen. The roos are flying very well. Once I open the mesh cover, he'd be out of the brooder in 2 seconds!

 

[newwestchick]

[COLOR=333333]newwestchick, [/COLOR]are yours also flying over 2'? Our Ameraucanas are the best flyers, I think we got 2 roos and 1 hen. The roos are flying very well. Once I open the mesh cover, he'd be out of the brooder in 2 seconds!

I only have a roost at about 12", but I am sure they could! The top of the brooder is about 3.5 feet and they can boost up almost that high when they're excited. They should be outside in the coop/run this week!! So exciting. They need more stuff to do They are super active. I'll post some pictures of them outside once we make the move.

The Sussex and barred rock Roos seem to be later bloomers than the pullets. Pretty easy to tell them apart. The ameraucana's are going to more difficult- but I'm hoping my sweet lavender one is a pullet.

 

[newwestchick]

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

 

[Tatiana110]

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

one Ameraucana (roo) and one Barred Rock hen fly up and get on my shoulder in about 5 seconds when I open the brooder cover. This happens every time, meaning when I put a feeder, waterer, etc. LOL

I am not sure Light Sussex can be identified this early - if I just by how fast feather grow, I'd have only 1 hen out of 5. But who knows

I have heard that true Ameraucanas can be identified at ~3 weeks by looking at the comb - 3 rows means roo, 1 row means hen. I am looking at mine, and they are hard to tell, but 1 is definitely 3 rows, and he is the biggest. The other one is difficult, but he is fighting / challenging everyone. The 3rd is very small, hoping it is she.

 

[Tatiana110]

One of our Welsummers is a definite rooster


and the other two are hens.

 

[Tatiana110]

A couple of pictures from 2 days ago (2.5 weeks old). The smallest one is 154g (Light Sussex), the largest one is 235g (Barred Rock).

 

[newwestchick]

I found the Sussex really easy to sex, the hens feathered way faster. My Roos still have just small wing feathers comparatively but at really big. Same for the barred rock.
Upside is the Sussex Roos taste good! Same for the barred rock.