17 baby chicks hatched on Christmas

[Tatiana110]

yes, hulled millet.

However, we stopped adding it at about 7 weeks old, as they did not like it as much as larger grains. Replaced with whole oats.

 

[ladyearth]

Tational110
so if you replaced the millet with whole oats.. did you also keep the steel cut oats?otherwise receoe the same?
thank you

 

[Tatiana110]

After 6 weeks old, we replaced all the cut/crushed graines with whole grains, with the only exception being corn and peas. They are still split/cracked.

The lentils in the recipe were removed and they are getting them as sprouts (same amount). The only reason we did that is to give them something exciting to nibble on (as oppose to being part of the fermented mix).

Tatiana

 

[Tatiana110]

8 weeks old as of yesterday - getting large and beautiful.

Ameraucana rooster



Ameraucana (not sure, hoping it is she)


Barred Rock pullet


Caramel Queen

Caramel Queen


Welsummer pullet




Barred Rock pullet


Welsummer roo


Caramel Queen


Light Sussex roo






Light Sussex pullet


Barred Rock roo






Barred Rock pullet

 

[newwestchick]

I'm jealous of your wellsummer! I didn't get any. Here's some pics of my bunch from today

 

[ladyearth]

Tatinta110,
got whole grain of wheat.....how do you "crack" wheat ? bought it last year in 40 lb bag from Amish mill, too. cracked corn lots of time. bought it whole from Amish milling company.. can use the hand crank universal grinder? or will it be fine too fine?
I assume whole flax and not flax meal? I have both ....more bought flax meal though.
I will have to buy hulled sunflower seeds...I saw some at Tractor Supply... As I buy the whole BOSS in 40 lb bag.. oh wheat germ is that the "raw" or toasted ? the Raw wheat germ was 95 cents versus the toasted was over $2 a pound....... Asked my Hubby to go by the Amish store and get some of this stuff. Not organic most of it was a dollar a pound....
Oh since I never got around to doing sauerkraut myself yet. Can I use the "juice from some veggies I pickled? or just add some ACV or what about commercial "jarred sauerkraut?" I try to buy it in glass jars. or is it too salty?
I offer my almost 1 year old pellets and grains I mix from the Amish....
Oh have you given the chicks MILO ????
CAUSE it is so hard sometimes to tell the chick starter from the dried poo.....esp when the poo gets near their little PVC Xmas tree lights heater...
They luv their 3 inch pvc heater. they cuddle next to it single file or lay or sit on it....or put their chest next to it... Looks so cut at nite... with the soft glow of the xmas light thru the thin walled PVC...
Sorry to run on thank you

 

[Tatiana110]

so sorry for not getting to respond sooner (got an unexpected adoption of chicks that someone has no idea what to do with).

We use flax seeds, not meal.

Re sunflower seeds - you can use non-hulled small black ones, just process it in a food processor (after fermentation) and it'll do. Actually, I now prefer to ferment all whole grains first, and if you need to feed it to baby chicks, you can use food processor. 7 weeks old chicks and up will eat them whole (except maybe whole corn, which 7-9 weeks old will not eat whole yet). The next best thing will be cracked grains. Any finer powers are difficult to deal with, as they go through a strainer easily, and you'll lose lots of feed this way.


You do not need anything but water to start fermentation process (sauerkraut liquid will just speed up the process initially - and no, the jarred stuff will not be good as it was pasteurized and hence no bacteria in there). After you started, you'll use your fermented liquid that you strained to add to your next batch.

Hoping this makes some sense

Tatiana

 

[Tatiana110]

11 weeks old - family photo

 

[newwestchick]

Hey Tatiana!
Well, the boys went off to the processor at 16 week, MAN were they huge! The Sussex dressed out 5-5.5 lbs, and the Barred Rock at 4.5-5 lbs. They are delicious with gorgeous yellow marbled fat (sorry if you are not eating your cockerels, if you are I would be thrilled to hear how they fared!).
And, very exciting, the girls started laying last Saturday. Chicken Little (believe it or not, the Light Sussex that got almost pecked to death) is the rock star so far, an egg every 24-36 hours or so and two double yolkers. Her eggs have been all over 45g, with a 72g one yesterday! Also one of the Caramel Queens - Ginger - lays a nice small speckled brown egg every other day so far. She is not winning any awards for size but they are adorable. Tody, very thrilling, we had our first Ameraucana egg, I was not home but I suspect Cordon Bleu the lavender hen. She was making all kinds of crazy chook noises last night. It was big for a first egg, 50 grams.
I gave them some stinging nettle this morning and it has been our most productive day so far with 3 eggs all before midday. Herbs are in the nesting boxes and they seem to be dropping them in there for the most part.
I would love to know how yours are doing!!
Cheers
Vanessa

 

[Tatiana110]

Hey Tatiana!
Well, the boys went off to the processor at 16 week, MAN were they huge! The Sussex dressed out 5-5.5 lbs, and the Barred Rock at 4.5-5 lbs. They are delicious with gorgeous yellow marbled fat (sorry if you are not eating your cockerels, if you are I would be thrilled to hear how they fared!).
And, very exciting, the girls started laying last Saturday. Chicken Little (believe it or not, the Light Sussex that got almost pecked to death) is the rock star so far, an egg every 24-36 hours or so and two double yolkers. Her eggs have been all over 45g, with a 72g one yesterday! Also one of the Caramel Queens - Ginger - lays a nice small speckled brown egg every other day so far. She is not winning any awards for size but they are adorable. Tody, very thrilling, we had our first Ameraucana egg, I was not home but I suspect Cordon Bleu the lavender hen. She was making all kinds of crazy chook noises last night. It was big for a first egg, 50 grams.
I gave them some stinging nettle this morning and it has been our most productive day so far with 3 eggs all before midday. Herbs are in the nesting boxes and they seem to be dropping them in there for the most part.
I would love to know how yours are doing!!
Cheers
Vanessa

Hi Vanessa,

I am so happy to hear that your hens started to lay! That's so exciting.

Ours are not doing that well, unfortunately. They have been under stress in the last month - first a bear came and broke the pen. Thankfully I was around and managed to scare him away. But the birds almost had heart attacks! Then a few days later, a hawk came. He attacked our duckling, but could not take him, just injured him. Then he saw the chickens! He started to come back periodically, sometimes 3 times a day, scaring the chickens. He would walk around the chicken pen, or he sometimes attack the wire mesh, trying to break in. The birds are so scared, any noise, they are panicking. I guess until the stress goes away, nobody is going to lay any eggs.

The closest to egg laying are Barred Rocks and one of the two Light Sussex hens. Two Barred Rock hens are doing the 'egg squat' for me since last week. So they should be laying, if not the stress . Welsummers are far from laying - their combs are not red and still small, so I guess they are late bloomers. The remaining 2 Ameraucanas must be gender-confused. They behave like roosters (including jumping on hens), but they do not crow, and they are small, and theirs combs just started to turn red. So I am still hoping they are just confused hens!

We butchered 3 roosters - 2 Light Sussex and 1 Ameraucana. Ameraucana dressed 5 lbs (surprisingly) and tasted like a wild bird, so delicious! Light Sussex dressed 5.6 lbs. I liked Ameraucana taste better. We still have 3 roosters remaining, the last Light Sussex is going next week, he is a very big boy and a loud crower. We only have 1 Barred Rock roo, and we will keep him. He is gentle to the ladies, unlike the other roosters (Sussex roos are nasty!), and he is weighing 8 lbs as of last week. He is huge! The largest boy. Welsummer roo is tiny, nothing to eat, so I guess we are keeping him too. LOL.

Yes, the yellow fat was so surprising for such lean boys, and it was delicious! The giblets are so tender and tasty. We fried the first Sussex, and roasted the second. Roasted was better. Soup was so good too! Can't wait for the next

Here is our lonely Barred Rock rooster, Vaska.


Welsummer roo, named Chizhik. He is tiny, despite all his attempts to appear taller.


Sussex hen and the last rooster.




The last pic shows the Ameraucan roo. He was my favorite rooster, very friendly to people. But he really harassed the pullets, and crowed non-stop since 5:30 am. This had to stop, as he was adding more stress. I was so sad to see him going, could not butcher him myself, so I had to ask my father in law. But I managed to do the plucking and the rest. So I guess I got other that. And he was so delicious!

We also have another batch of chicks that are getting to 2 months. These are 6 Production Red (4 girls - 3 wheaten and 1 mahogany, 2 boys), 2 New Hampshire Red (boy and girl), 1 Black and 1 Mottled Cochin (a boy and a girl), 1 Danish Leghorn pullet, 1 Buff Orpington pullet, 1 Buff Brahma pullet, 2 Australorps (roo and pullet), 2 Wheaten Blue Ameraucanas (boy and girl), and 3 more Sussex (a girl and 2 boys). And 14 Muscovy ducklings, 1 month old. It is a bundle!

The hawk is really wearing me down, I am hoping he'd give up and won;t come back, but he has been quite persistent. Every time I hear the panic noise in the chicken pen, I go and and check. Have not seen a bobcat or raccoon around the chicken pen yet, but they are somewhere around.

How many hens have you kept?

Tatiana