Can I raise Chicks in my backgarden?

[keesmom]

On a side note, do you have a plan for the excess cockerels that would hatch?

 

[kashifk95]

I can give them to that fox that visits my garden on an empty stomach on a regular basis.... JUST kidding!

Guys thats for the help I just realised I can encourage one of my hens to become broody and just slip in a few fertilised eggs and BAM!

 

[junebuggena]

I can give them to that fox that visits my garden on an empty stomach on a regular basis.... JUST kidding!

Guys thats for the help I just realised I can encourage one of my hens to become broody and just slip in a few fertilised eggs and BAM!

Actually, it's not that easy to get a hen to go broody. First of all, you have to have a breed that is prone to brooding. Many breeds have had the broodiness bred out of them. Secondly, just leaving a pile of eggs around has never had any affect on my broody-prone hens.

 

[bruceha2000]

Unless you are set up to care for them properly, you should not even consider hatching them. Nor would it be a good idea to use the nest box as their heated space. The very last thing you want to do is to train chicks to sleep in a nest box.

What she said

Quote:
AND what she said! Broodies go broody when their hormones decide they should. Copies of "Playchick magazine" with pictures of hens on nests and cute little chicks running around isn't going to do it.

WIRELESS heat? About the only wireless heat I know of would be something that burns gas or oil, is radiant rather than circulating air or water that YOU would have to monitor 24x7 for a month. The other option would be solar gain stored in a LOT of mass but it would be unlikely to radiate heat on a reliable basis unless it is MASSIVE. Think huge wall not a shoe box.

For electric you could spend a fair bit of money, build a large bank of deep cycle batteries in parallel and an inverter to convert the stored DC power to AC, then plug in your Mama Heating Pad. Have 2 sets of batteries so you can be charging one in the house while using the other outside in the coop.

 

[hermit01]

I'm in Georgia (30 miles south of Atlanta), it gets crazy cold here in the winter. I put up a tent in our small fenced garden, I built the tent frame with used 2" by 4" lumber, the tarps are the cheap ones from Harbor Freight. I built a brooder cage with a wire floor space about 2 1/2 feet x 3 1/2 feet, put a heat lamp in the top on a thermostat, covered the floor with plastic (for 2 months, clean every 2 weeks), and cover it with shavings. Inside the cage, I have a wire box with one side open, I keep a heating pad on it turned on low. So far we have had success with ours over the past two years. We turn out 12 to 16 chicks each time.

We've had so much success we have started doing the same with our does, and so far we've only lost 1 bunny. Its not uncommon to lose a few chicks or kits, but our lose has been really low. I hope this information helps at least a little.


Lee

 

[aart]

I'm in Georgia (30 miles south of Atlanta)....... it gets crazy cold here in the winter. I put up a tent in our small fenced garden, I built the tent frame with used 2" by 4" lumber, the tarps are the cheap ones from Harbor Freight. I built a brooder cage with a wire floor space about 2 1/2 feet x 3 1/2 feet, put a heat lamp in the top on a thermostat, covered the floor with plastic (for 2 months, clean every 2 weeks), and cover it with shavings. Inside the cage, I have a wire box with one side open, I keep a heating pad on it turned on low. So far we have had success with ours over the past two years. We turn out 12 to 16 chicks each time.

We've had so much success we have started doing the same with our does, and so far we've only lost 1 bunny. Its not uncommon to lose a few chicks or kits, but our lose has been really low. I hope this information helps at least a little.


Lee

For some reason the two parts of that sentence don't go together.
How cold exactly is "crazy cold"?
Oh and Welcome to BYC!

 

[lazy gardener]

For some reason the two parts of that sentence don't go together.
How cold exactly is "crazy cold"?
Oh and Welcome to BYC!

 

[Hay Belly]

The very last thing you want to do is to train chicks to sleep in a nest box.

Explain why.

 

[lomine]

Explain why.

Those that sleep in nest boxes, poop in nest boxes. You end up with poop covered eggs.

 

[lazy gardener]

Because they will carry that behavior over into their juvenile age, and possibly beyond. When birds sleep in the nest box, they poop in it. That leads to poopy eggs, and hens hopefully won't want to lay their eggs in a poopy nest box.