bad or half-baked chicken advice you've received?

[Manningjw]

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Our chickens worked out quite well following that basic guideline. The instructions we followed also put strong emphasis on having a range of temperature within the box - ie the heat lamp pointed into a corner so they could pick either warmer or cooler locations and watching their behavior. That is a general guideline followed by every feedstore and hatchery I have come across.

The key was reading their behavior. If they were huddled up all together directly under the light and not moving around much, too cold. If they were spread out to the edges away from each other and the light, obviously wayyyyy too hot. Chicks in a box don't have a hen to keep them warm unfortunately, and those mother hens are little heat bags!

 

[al6517]

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Agreed !!!! ever wonder why there are so many ......... OOhh my please help my chicks have pasty butt !!!. Well it's because they have the temps in their brooders at 40,000 degrees, and most of these people have had them shipped from the chick factories and they think they need all kinds of weird remedies to bring them back to health when all they need is some water and a lower dose of searing heat and some air flow will do wonders.

I am glad you said that I got tore up pretty good a while back for trying to reason with... well you know.

LOL yes I know and I allways expect the same, but mainly it comes from chicken folks who read more internet than actualy know their birds. That's expected in the internet age everything is true................ didn't you know that ??.

 

[allpeepedout]

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This. You can read sad thread after thread about "Chicks dying" where it sounds like chicks are possibly being cooked, often in a plastic container or aquarium with very little ventilation. Often the advice is to increase the heat... and more die... And much of the high temp advice is from the hatcheries.

 

[allpeepedout]

That chickens can't be trained. Should have seen my roo self-load in the dog carrier tonight for the trip from the field back to the coop. Good Boy! (He even has to duck his head and crouch to get in.)

 

[gale65]

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And just as much is from this board. If you did a search on it, you'd probably find 90% recommend the high temps. The learning center here says the same thing, as do ALL of the books I have read on chicken raising. So it's not only the hatcheries. Luckily we brooded in our coop so even though we did use heat (it was down to 40 at times here) our chickens had about 8 sq feet of floor space (about 4 feet high) to start and about 16 sq ft after a couple of weeks so they could get away from the heat. I can see how heat in a rubbermaid tub type brooder would be a bad idea.

 

[Justhatched]

I just read some today. "Whatever you do, no egg shell, eggs, etc. I was once told by an old rancher it was okay if the eggs were cooked, but he was oblivious to the fact all his chickens were eating their own eggs. Bad news." Also " you need a rooster to get eggs."

I can't believe some of these things.

 

[gale65]

"you need a rooster to get eggs."

This has come up on so many seasons of watching Survivor. It always cracks me up (or ticks me off if I like the tribe better) when they get a reward of a few hens and a roo and they decide to kill a hen to eat because they want to keep getting eggs and think the roo is necessary for that.

The sad thing is that sometimes there's a supposed farmer/rancher/country boy/whatever on the tribe.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
And just as much is from this board. If you did a search on it, you'd probably find 90% recommend the high temps. The learning center here says the same thing, as do ALL of the books I have read on chicken raising.

How very true and a shame to be honest ................... less cutesy pie & snuggly wuggly chatter and more facts based on first hand experience would certainly help put more chicks in a better position to thrive.

 

[Manningjw]

Quote:
I have yet to read any hatchery info that suggested the entire brooder should be a consistent temperature and without ventilation as some people are suggesting they do. Maybe that is the problem, people aren't reading all of the directions.

The hatchery information that i have read stressed the importance of having a variable amount of heat throughout the brooder, ie one side/area that is hotter than the rest (lamp to one side or pointed to corner) and also stressed the importance of adequate ventilation to prevent it from getting too hot throughout *never ever cover the top*. They also stress the importance of watching your chicks behavior to see if it is too warm or too cold for them. The behavioral cues are blatantly obvious. For instance, when our chicks were too cold, they huddled up together and tried to get underneath one another directly under the heat lamp and largely didnt move around much. I saw 2 week old chicks exhibiting this same behavior at around 80 degrees. At 85 degrees they were happy and eating/drinking but still not straying far from the middle of the heat lamp.

Here is a sample from mypetchicken.com:

Pay close attention to how your chicks behave. If they're all crowded together directly under the heat source, they're cold. Lower the heat lamp or add another one. If they're around the edges of the brooder, avoiding the heat and each other like the plague, they're too hot! Raise the heat lamp. A happy flock will happily be exploring all around the brooder.

Our local feedstore that raising thousands of chickens each year in brooders stands by the same guideline and issues the same warning about chicks dieing from cold in the first few weeks of life.

From reading some of these posts it sounds as if people think chicks can survive 40 degree weather without a heat lamp or mother hen...​

 

[al6517]

Oh yeah forgot................. it is allways important to read the directions on the box and the instruction booklet provided when raising young animals.

Sure they need some heat and some spots more temperate, but the issue here is how long is long enough, and that can't come from a hatchery instruction sheet, it must come from common sense and what's best for the chicken in the long run.