California - Northern

[Audio51]

Someone in Yolo County had a brooder fire that caught a barn on fire--killed some chicks:



Click on the picture to make it bigger.

This is another reason why brooder plates are better.

Man...that's awful! Poor chickens. This has been a big fear of mine.

Quote:
Just got my 2 this morning. They are so well made and so easy to assemble!

Last year, I thought about making my own plate type heater with a heating pad. I just went ahead and bought the Premier 1 plates this year and I'm pleased with them once I figured out the correct height and how often to adjust it. I just saw on Jeffers that there is a heat pad made for chicks. Has anyone tried the Thermo-Peep Heat Pad?

http://www.jefferspet.com/products/k-h-thermo-peep-heated-pad-9-x12#more-info

I did this with a heating pad, baker's cooling rack covered with screen and little drawn butter cups for legs. It worked well for the chicken chicks, but the quail chicks would get up in between the heating pad and the screen. I lost a couple that way.

Bator is running, stable and Spot Check accurate

; Premier1 brooder plate has arrived

(it looks awesome) and I get to pick up my assorted English Orpington eggs

from Jeff tonight. I love it when Christmas lasts thru March!

I got my Premier1 Brooder plates today too! Aren't they great? I processed my older quail breeders yesterday, cleaned out the pens and moved the 5 week olds out there. (They are Golden's and Jumbo Browns so I sexed them as I moved them. 7 hens and 19 roos! I can't believe it..... Looks like I will be doing a lot more processing in the next week or so..) Tomorrow I will blean out the brooder they were in and move the chicks I have into it with the brooder plates. Can't wait to try them out...

I just found this!
Picture below is from this site: http://smartools.pharmdev.org/iu.html


How cool is that?

-Kathy

Very cool! I will definitely be saving that link!

 

[KernH]

Someone in Yolo County had a brooder fire that caught a barn on fire--killed some chicks:



Click on the picture to make it bigger.

This is another reason why brooder plates are better.

I bought a small premier and a large premier today on your suggestion. Kern

 

[farmhand]

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[Ponyfeather]

It's like you two were made for each other ...

Sadly I can't take roosters, or I'd have loved to take a set.

 

[jeremy]

The weather is perfect in Oakland today, so I snapped a few pics.

It's a hard knock life... soaking up the sun, & dust bathing.




I'm falling in love with this little Blue pullet, I need to name her, every day she seems to blossom more & more.




& my Chocolate boy, a bit bleached from all the sunshine we've had this "winter".

 

[Ponyfeather]

Those are beautiful pictures.

 

[EZFarms]

is there anyone that can help me by doing me a favor? i and a woman by the name of Judy are trying to find someone to bring two ducklings from Sac to Chester California. its a three hour drive i just don't have a car that will make it. she is part of a waterfowl sanctuary in Sac. Its already been posted in a group on facebook but no one has emailed her yet. your help is much appriciated by her and i and the ducklings




(also i have had no more deaths in my flock and everyone is getting color back in their combs. ive also kept tabs on them and have not seen any new buggies)

 

[sewandgrow]

I bought a small premier and a large premier today on your suggestion. Kern

It's wise to take advice from the pros........LOL

 

[PetRock]

I do want to warm those of you who are getting the Premier 1 heat plates. Be sure to adjust the height so your chicks are just touching or not quite touching the plate when they are standing. I had a hard time gauging what height to use and I had 2 chicks get small b

urns from the plate. One had it on its head and the other had the burn on its back. I used Vetericyn followed by Rooster Booster Pick-No-More to keep the other chicks from picking on them. They have both recovered.

One other problem I had involved my 9 month old Siamese mix cat. I use a 4 ft metal stock tank as my second brooder. It has a drain hole on one side that was the perfect size to stick the electric cord for the heat plate through. Unfortunately, it was also the perfect size for Ronan to use to fish for chicks. He got 2 of them.

One had its body slashed open and its intestines perforated. My DH culled it for me. The 2nd one had a slash on the top of its leg. I am using Vetericyn on it and she seems to be recovering but may end up with a limp. Of course, it had to be a pullet! My first Pita Pinta hatches are very heavy on cockerels so every pullet is even more precious. I felt like it was my fault more than the cats. He was just doing what was natural for a cat. I know have the hole filled and the tank pushed against a solid object so he can't even get to that side. I seem to have to learn lessons the hard way.

 

[juststruttin]

I know this is not chicken-related, but it is farm related so I hope you all enjoy it.

Our neighbors cows jumped the fence a couple of weeks ago. We called the owner's home and cell numbers and no answer so we left him a message telling him that we had some of his cows. The cows were tearing up our garden so we decided to herd them into one of our empty pastures. Three days later, we ran into he owner at a coffee shop and told him we had 6/9 of his cows. He informed us that he never checks his messages and apologized. We told him, no problem we are enjoying having them and asked if we could keep them a little longer to mow down the grass. We have now had them for 3 weeks and have not only been impressed by their grass mowing abilities but in the amount of water they drink. Six 1000lb steer drink a full bathtub of water every day. Filling the tub is hard to because they insist on drinking out of the hose. They are soo cute and have certainly been fun additions to the farm.

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