Search results for query: *

I seem to remember someone using it for quail. Just might have to push it down further to get it at their backs since they're smaller. I've used MHP for chicks, keats, poults, ducklings, and goslings now. My own quail project is waiting until this spring.

K&H makes hard plastic outdoor kennel pads for dogs/cats too. I used a large one in a wood frame (that I built) in my grow out pen this spring for my second batch of chicks and it worked great as an MHP. I've got chicks in the brooder now, so will fire it up again once I'm ready to move them out.

Are you planning on brooding frequently? I think if I would have designed it, I would have just made a removable box that hung onto the side of the tractor and connected with it via a smallish door (wire panel across it until you were ready for a panic door integration).That way the regular...

At 3 weeks they should be wearing their "feather jackets" so it will keep the important bits warm as long as they aren't in strong winds. I would put a huddle box in their tractor so they can concentrate their body warmth when they need it at night, but otherwise wouldn't worry. The cooler...

I picked up some Polish from the feed store while stocking up yesterday. Poor little things fell asleep in the box on the way home, woke up briefly when I transferred them to MHP, and slept like the dead for the rest of the afternoon and the whole night. First time they'd had respite from...

I have two EE roos (raised by MHP) that look like your top pic. They are both very gentlemanly and I plan on keeping both (I have some roos of other breeds that will have to go bye-bye in their place). I think your roo in the bottom pic is very striking with the white though!

Not an expert, but I think you're going to have to beg/borrow/build a second incubator to use as a hatcher if you want to keep both sets. As you said, the humidity require to hatch the guineas will likely drown the silkies.

If you know what you want and when you want them, order as soon as it is possible to order. Some of the rarer breeds go really fast!

Sounds good to me. I think I had it on that setting when I brooded in my basement early this spring...it was roughly 50 degrees.

Yeah, they'll kick the bedding up and over it too. They're quite vigorous about looking for tidbits. At least you can learn from other's (my) mistakes!

Chicks get the hang of nipple drinkers really quickly--just tap it yourself until there is a hanging drop of water to catch their attention. Once one gets it, they'll teach the others. Unfortunately, the chicks will probably be able to jump-fly to the top of your shower curtain and pop through...

That size should be perfectly sufficient for taking six chicks to the point of sufficient feathering not to need it anymore.

If your nighttime temps have been like mine, you probably could get away with just a huddle box in the coop. It will concentrate their body heat quite nicely.

I did something completely different this time since it's been so warm. I got a random assortment of chicks to replace some of the ones I lost in the massacre. I've got them divided into three guinea pig cages (using those cool waterers from gun dog supply) and I simply bungied the heating pad...

Well, I was trying to hold their wings down...they're just very strong and slippery! And they flip out just as much at night. Maybe more since they can't see you. Catching them wasn't a problem since they were in a 10x10' enclosure; holding onto them without breaking anything was the issue...

Heh, I had to handle my five guineas who have all their adult feathers in (moving them from an unsecure pen to one secured against predators) a few weeks ago and they beat the tar out of me! Great news for the pullets they're with in terms of protection, but I really hope this is the last time...

An Olive Egger is just a specific kind of Easter Egger really. So like aart said, depends on your goals.

:weee

Can you lean a board on the platform so that it's not an alternative roosting spot? At least until they get in the habit of using the others?

Mine started laying at 15 1/2 weeks, but I have some Golden Buffs, and sex-links tend to mature early. But, it was one of the Dominiques that reddened and squatted first, so who knows? I haven't actually seen any of them laying yet...they're very sneaky about it. The few times I thought I...