19 chicks left on my doorstep! Roosting pic added, page 4

[Kedreeva]

Wow... good luck with this.

And I agree, meat birds have a really hard time of it once they get grown... We have a bunch that are just about ready and they can barely stand because they have gotten so huge, 3-4 times larger than the other birds their age we got at the same time. It's just ridiculous.

And if you need a simple, cheap watering system, bowl with a rock in the center (one that takes up most of the bowl except the edges) will keep them from getting in to the bowl and it's easy clean, just taking the rock out and rinsing the bowl. If you mean you need a system you don't have to clean out every day.... when they invent it let me know XD I swear my polish cheeps make it their business to pick up shavings and put them in the waterer.

 

[LarryPQ]

If anyone can do it, Gritty can.

 

[Jkioneil]

i am interested to see how this goes for you. i had a few cornish x and they died from thier size i guess. organs grow to big to fast. i hope yours make it longer

 

[gritsar]

Okay, got the waterer figured out. I have a bunch of 12" x 12" squares of plywood that I got for free. I just raised a chick waterer up on a few stacked blocks for them so they have to reach up a bit for a drink. I'll need to get another feeder at the co-op, but can make do for now.
The plan for now is to move the new chicks to the segregated section of the coop (instead of the OCs), sometime this weekend or beginning of next week. That way I can begin free ranging them since the coop is outside the fenced yard. The dogs have free run of all of the fenced yard. The OCs can stay on the porch a little longer. I can't afford another coop for a few months yet. Hopefully by September. DH is not physically able to help me build another coop at this time, so the plan is to buy a large wooden storage building and retrofit it as a coop.
These chicks will live out their lives here, however long or short that life may be. They deserve a chance.
Thanks for the help and the votes of confidence.

 

[gryeyes]

 

[SkyWarrior]

I was losing my broilers at 6 weeks due to ascites.

If I had a recommendation, cut their feed back and free range them. Otherwise, I don't think they'll get much past 4 months.

Good luck!

 

[nanawendy]

This may sound weird... but the thought came to me. You have already saved these chick from a useless life. How about when they get to the right size, you and your DH cull them and give them to the local food bank? My son did a job shadow in our area and we've given food through service projects.... but I realized they DO use small donations. I've planted extra rows in the garden for this and that(zuc's!) I would thik they would be tickled with anything you couldn't use.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
Bravo! That's a wonderful idea.

The other thought is that they will make good chicken dinners, if you're not vegetarian.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
Cornish xs don't really need to be off the ground. They get so heavy that they have trouble walking up planks to the coop and they don't usually perch. If you can give them a pen outside with a top to keep them safe from predators, they'll do just fine.

 

[gritsar]

Well, knowing that my bio-security was already shot to you-know-where - no telling how long these chicks set outside the screened door, just a few feet from my OCs before I discovered them - I still did my best to keep the brooders as far away as possible from each other. OCs on the extreme east side, new chicks on the extreme west side. It's just too hot to put them in any of the outbuildings, which are all made of metal and uninsulated.
Checked on them before going down for a nap. Everyone was peaceful, also settling down for naps, in their respective brooders.
Woke up to absolute pandomanium on the porch. Most of my OCs are out of their brooder and running here and there and everywhere. Jumping in and out of their own brooder, plus the new chicks brooder. Four of the new chicks are out, wandering around. Two of them are sound asleep in the OCs brooder. Everybody is getting along fine so far.

The best laid plans.....

DH is talking about turning the entire east side of the screened porch into a brooder.