BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Gorman Farm]

Cool idea. I hang a group of cheap feather dusters for the chicks. No added heat but it traps their own body heat, and gives them a "natural" instinct behavior.

I have tried several different methods, including outdoors & indoors with heat lamps, etc. For me this is the way that allows the chicks to choose, and there is less threat of fire, and overheating. With my first tries at raising chicks I am sure I lost some due to chilling or over heating, and I just knew there had to be a better way. Even though I am in Florida, I found that no heat just didn't work for me, we keep our home temp between 70-73 degrees, so they chicks still needed some heat source. I also found that with shavings from the start I could not tell what the poop looked like, and I wanted to be on top of any chick that had "off droppings" so I don't put them on shavings til the end of the second week. I also like them to learn to peck at the food without ingesting shavings til their digestive system had a chance to mature a little.

 

[Kassaundra]

I have tried several different methods, including outdoors & indoors with heat lamps, etc. For me this is the way that allows the chicks to choose, and there is less threat of fire, and overheating. With my first tries at raising chicks I am sure I lost some due to chilling or over heating, and I just knew there had to be a better way. Even though I am in Florida, I found that no heat just didn't work for me, we keep our home temp between 70-73 degrees, so they chicks still needed some heat source. I also found that with shavings from the start I could not tell what the poop looked like, and I wanted to be on top of any chick that had "off droppings" so I don't put them on shavings til the end of the second week. I also like them to learn to peck at the food without ingesting shavings til their digestive system had a chance to mature a little.

I exclusively brood on yard dirt or bought sand. I have a ceramic heat bulb so no light they get natural light / dark cycles from day one. If I don't have a scaleless (completely naked) chick in the group I wean them off daytime heat at about 1.5 weeks (when inside) and by 3 weeks they are off all heat. But when I have a scaleless I have to provide heat longer. If they weren't such drama queens about wearing clothes I could take them off heat sooner.

 

[Gorman Farm]

Early hatch for the turkey chicks not due til the 17th.

 

[DesertChic]

Early hatch for the turkey chicks not due til the 17th.

So cute! What breed?

 

[DesertChic]

I'm once again down to less than 100 chickens. Woohoo!

 

[Gorman Farm]

So cute! What breed?

[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.870588)]Those are Narragansett I have some Royal Palms set too.
Let's see if more hatch on Easter, and then I have another batch due on 28th. I also have two turkey hens sitting on eggs.
The turkeys are a hot commodity around here, I have a waiting list for chicks. Last year I advertised a few adults for sale in early November and sold them in about an hour.
I can sell them and pay my feed and bedding bill for a year for all my birds.[/COLOR]

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I'm once again down to less than 100 chickens. Woohoo!

(Wondering how long that will last....

)

 

[Gorman Farm]

I'm once again down to less than 100 chickens. Woohoo!

How much less? It probably won't last, did you count what you just hatched..?

I don't have nearly that many, but I would if I could.
On a side note we did get the smaller extra coop up..maybe I should get another one..

 

[DesertChic]

(Wondering how long that will last....

)

As long as it takes to thoroughly clean the incubator and set more eggs so.....about 30 days.

How much less? It probably won't last, did you count what you just hatched..?

I don't have nearly that many, but I would if I could.
On a side note we did get the smaller extra coop up..maybe I should get another one..

As of yesterday and including this last hatch I was down to 99, but today is butchering day #2. I'll be down to 98.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:

I have almost 100 including the chicks (who are all so big it's hard to call them chicks any more). But after culling, I'll be back down to 50-60, which is still A LOT for me!!!! I'm building like crazy to keep up...