Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[Happy Chooks]

At least you are making some improvements in hatching Kim!

 

[faykokoWV]

At least you are making some improvements in hatching Kim!

yes, its good to hear its getting better

 

[pickledchicken]

I'm in...lets do it


I'm hoping I got a blue Roo with this one !

 

[Helen in the Desert]

Hey Pickledchicken, where did you birds come from?

 

[pickledchicken]

Hey Pickledchicken, where did you birds come from?

Helen I picked my Barnevelders up from Doug Austin

 

[mountainvieworchards]

Good news Kim

The changes you made must have improved things a bit.

I'm a couple pages behind but you were discussing bedding in brooders. I also use paper towels in the brooder box the first couple days, before they really start pooping a lot. I think it stays drier than wood shavings which have a way of getting into the water. and getting all wet. This year I have had 10 hatches so far and in one of them and only one of the hatches I had chicks eating the paper towels. It was really weird. I think one of them started and they all played monkey see monkey do. I quickly moved them onto straw. There were no ill effects from the paper eating and I didn't lose any chicks.

Here are some low maintenance chick brooding ideas that I have been using and having good results with less work.
After the first few days on paper towel in smaller brooders I put them on fine straw that I scoop out of the hay mow in my barn. After a winter of feeding sheep all the fines from the hay and bedding straw accumulate on the floor and I find this makes nice chick bedding. I am a deep litter fan from the get go and when they mess it up I just pile more on top. The chicks love to pick and scratch in this stuff and they eat the finer pieces of hay, so the bedding is food as well. After a couple weeks crowded in a box like this I move them into my 6 x 8 brooder coop. I used deep litter straw and old hay in that coop. I keep the brooder coop closed up tight with feed sacks in cold weather but as soon as I start getting 60 degree days I open up half of the screened front. I use a heat lamp hanging for the older chickens and a plywood Ohio State Brooder Hover for the younger chicks. The brooder house keeps them happy with more room and more chance to get warm or cool as they need. They stay in there from week two to week five or six and then they go into a grower pen that is not heated.

I clean the box brooder once after the chicks were in there for two weeks, just dump it into the compost and clean it out for the next batch. The brooder house and grower pens get cleaned once at the end of the growing season. Its deep litter piling it in as needed. Usually it just needs a careful raking to prevent caked litter. The chicks love to dig and dust in the litter. Also it is claimed that the deep litter has anti coccidial properties after it has been collecting for a while.

So some of you who like everything sparkly clean and disinfected might cringe at this but the proof is in the pudding. My birds are healthy and the pens don't smell.

A real upside to deep litter is the savings in work of not having to clean and scrub and change litter so often.

The birds keep it mixed well. You have to use your nose and eyes to know when to rake or when to add more litter. I don't like to smell any ammonia and if I do I act fast to put some more litter and increase ventilation.

Andy

 

[AyaBlodgett]

Hi Pickledchicken! Who is Doug Austin that has Barnvelders?? Aya

 

[pickledchicken]

Hi Pickledchicken! Who is Doug Austin that has Barnvelders?? Aya

Hello Aya

Doug can be reached at [email protected]

 

[AyaBlodgett]

Thanks Pickledchicken!
I'm still looking for a Roo with a "chest of redish brown feathers with a sharply defined lacing of lustrous greenish black". (SOP) Do you suppose that trait is extinct in the U.S.? Aya

 

[BlueCamas]

Hey guys, just wanted some critique on my Bantam Barnevelder trio. They were hatched on 1/1/12 and I'm itching for eggs!


So what do you think? Are they SQ?