Beware of raising winter chicks

[gritsar]

I've seen the suggestion thrown around a few times over the past few years that winter chicks don't reach their full potential size-wise because they have to spend energy not only for growing, but for keeping warm too.

As I said in my first post, MOST HENS that are going to go broody will go broody in the spring and summer. I know it's possible for them to go broody at any time in the year, but the major outbreaks of broodiness tend to run spring through summer. I myself had a winter broody hen that hatched her chicks in February. The difference being, she was keeping them warm and taking care of them, not me. Her more sensible sisters waited till spring.

 

[Me & Jack]

My feelings are that we are creating non-hardy chicks and chickens by giving them too much heat too long.

I agree with you, whidbeylife4me (love, love, love W.I.). An older man I met at a poultry show also told me that chicks will feather out faster and be hardier if they aren't "coddled" with heat lamps for too long. Guess the trick is knowing when it's the right time to turn off the brooder lights!​

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

I will never, ever raise chicks in the winter. With the temps were get here.... theres no way they'd be warm enough unless they stayed in the house.

 

[NightsInWhiteSilkies]

Me & Jack :

My feelings are that we are creating non-hardy chicks and chickens by giving them too much heat too long.

I agree with you, whidbeylife4me (love, love, love W.I.). An older man I met at a poultry show also told me that chicks will feather out faster and be hardier if they aren't "coddled" with heat lamps for too long. Guess the trick is knowing when it's the right time to turn off the brooder lights!​

Wow, I didnt know this. This is good to read. Thankyou!​

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
Right now I've got 12 hens I got late in the summer and they probably won't lay til some time in spring. That's why I try to have them earlier so they are laying before the snow flies. Like everything else in life ya gotta plan for these things. I put six eggs under Frenchy in a private pen. I have no doubt she'll be happy as a clam.

 

[Arielle]

This thread has been an interesting read.

One valuable reason to hatch in the winter is to capitalize on the hens that are good winter layers. Collect their eggs (and their genetics) to produce more winter layers. Of all my girls, only a few are still steadily producing eggs. Most have shut down despite a light. A few have started laying again without any supplemental light. I would think that is a valuable trait to have in a flock.

 

[twentynine]

I agree with Mike as a rule, --- be prepared for your chickens BEFORE you order them, I will add however, be prepared what ever time of year it happens to be.

It suprises me to no end the number of chicken people right here, that buy chickens, get them home and have no place to brood them, They end up in the bed room or bath room. Next thing you hear is complaints about noise, dust and smell. No coop, no brooder, and even sometimes they buy chickens, raise them for 6 months, finding out then that ownership of chickens is illegal where they live.

The very next thing you read are those very same people on one of the subforums blaming, Mom, Pop, Sister, Brother, City Council, Next Door Nieghbor, because their lack of forsight and preparation has made chicken keeping a bad business. Tell you a secret-- they ain't no way I would raise or keep chickens if I had to brood them in my house-- any part of the house!

Now in particular, I prefer, Yes! you are reading that correctly, I prefer fall or early winter chicks. While feeding them and keeping warm can be a challenge, in my climate (SE La.) it is not a huge challenge with moderate preparation. We do not have sub-zero nights, we don't even have many nights below 32*F. The advantage I like is with a late fall early winter hatch, I grow out a layer, that begins laying in late Feb or early March. A SPRING CHICKEN. Everything you guys read about spring chickens is right. When they come of age, they hit the ground running. Fewer pullet eggs, better production, it all works for me.

Right now currently I have 10 barred rock pullets that will start producing eggs in late Feb. I have and always have had some winter time vegetables planted in a portion of their run to provide "green" supplement. They are looking good and I have suffered no loses, or illnesses.

The key is proper preparation. The big factory chicken houses can do it in the winter, because we get eggs and broiler chickens all year at the grocery. So if they can do it and make a profit, we can do it as small timers.

 

[Me & Jack]

they ain't no way I would raise or keep chickens if I had to brood them in my house

I LOVE hatching and brooding in the house -- because I get to watch the whole process and then interact a lot more frequently with the chicks. I don't do it for the warmth-factor; I do it for the fun-factor. The dust, noise, or smell don't bother me at all, especially the smell since I clean the brooder daily. Having said that, I have brooded outside in the coop when raising broilers, but for my show birds or bantams I love having them in the house!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think it's more challenging to raise chicks in extreme weather. Depending on where you live, that could be in the winter or the summer. Shipping has more of a chance to go wrong in extreme weather, too. If it's your first time raising chicks and you're having them shipped, do yourself a favor and skip the extremes of temperature. Chick's are pretty adaptable, but they're better off not trying to travel when it's -20 or 115 degrees out. Tiny bodies without much for resources freeze or dehydrate more quickly. It's also nice to be able to have more moderate temperatures, where they can be outside in the grass before they're even feathered out.

 

[shellyga]

I pretty much agree with all the posters that state BEING PREPARED for grown chickens when you buy (or in my case - hatch) chicks. Ordering or hatching eggs is a commitment that many do not think through. Same with those people that rush out to buy a bunny or duck at Easter - they don't stay little for long. I enjoy hatching eggs through the winter and have spaces in my house for the growing chicks. Here in GA.. most of our super cold (if you can call it that) weather is in January and February. Once March comes, my chicks are nicely feathered and ready to go to the outside brooder.. I still have a lamp on out there.. but much more room for them to run around to get used to being a chicken rather than a house pet. Our summer temperatures were brutal last year and I lost several batches of chicks from the extreme heat.. much easier to keep them warm than to keep them cool. I also had 4 broody hens in 100+ temperatures.. each with a frozen water bottle in front of the nests and fan blowing for them - still lost one hen that was so in "broody trance" that she would not leave her eggs..

I have enjoyed reading this thread -- very informative.. now back to check the incubator for chicks hatching today..

Shelly