Consolidated Kansas

[patricia]

Wow, Shotah, what a neat idea for a greenhouse. I had drill this past weekend and madly trying to catch up. This site really goes to town over the weekend. Still have not heard anything from K State. I will probably call later this week if I haven't heard from them. I did look up the tracking on UPS and the birds got there on Friday. I came home and was looking at all my pens and thought I had lost my female call duck. I looked in back of the shelter and she is sitting on eggs. I think I will just let her sit and see what happens. I am now without a non-related white serama for my little lonely rooster. Does anyone have any white serama eggs for sale? I also see that there is a connection with reptiles, I do not have a bearded dragon but I do have a euromastyx. One of those "I'll feed it and take care of it mom" deals. The store said it would only need a 10 gallon tank and six years later it is in a 55 gallon tank which I clean. Husband feeds him peas daily with nutrition supplements. Thank goodness it only eats veggies.

 

[chicken danz]

So sorry Ivy. I know you have probably left by now. I hope all goes well.
Patricia, I have my white Seramas separated now but of course they are objecting and stopped laying. They should start very soon. I also have tons of Serama eggs in the incubator and heaven only knows what those might produce. I have a couple of white babies. I will try to determine what sex they are. They are probably 2-4 weeks old. I have one white rooster spoken for already.
HEchicken. You need to provide light for newly hatched baby chicks. They can't eat and drink in the dark. It doesn't have to be their heat source but they do need some sort of light.(preferably red) I have one of those ceramic heat bulbs but the instructions say not to use it with a hood or it will over heat and possibly cause a fire. I don't have any fixtures without hoods. I guess I could remove one of them.
David I was reading your post on the hoop houses. I haven't made one but have read about them from the lady who invented them. You need to use the lighter weight panels so they will bend more easily. I just think that is something people should be aware of before they spend lots of money on the project.
I found some vinyl flooring now that I went and bought 5 gallons of paint for the breeding house floor. It would cost me a couple hundred dollars but would work so much nicer. I mentioned it to DH and got no comment. I suppose ultimately it will depend on what he says because he would have to get it for me. It is super heavy.

 

[HEChicken]

HEchicken. You need to provide light for newly hatched baby chicks. They can't eat and drink in the dark. It doesn't have to be their heat source but they do need some sort of light.(preferably red) I have one of those ceramic heat bulbs but the instructions say not to use it with a hood or it will over heat and possibly cause a fire. I don't have any fixtures without hoods. I guess I could remove one of them.

I guess I'm trying to picture your set up where they would be in the dark without a heat lamp, as mine get plenty of natural light during the day....I just sit the brooder under a window and its plenty light. That's kind of why I prefer the ceramic heat emitter because they are on a natural light day/night cycle from the get go.

I did use the heat emitter with a heat lamp hood but it was pretty low wattage. Plus I had it plugged into a rheostat so it wasn't even putting out maximum heat. I didn't have any issues but will have to keep an eye on that. My last batch of chicks were brooded by a broody hen and it was so nice not have to worry about any of these issues. My plan is to get a couple of hens of a very broody breed after we move, and hopefully I won't have to brood too many more batches of chicks anyway

 

[patricia]

Ivy, I am so sorry to hear about your husband. Hope all goes well and keep us informed.
Danz, Sorry to hear about your chicks. I had the same issue one year and it was so sad. I also now either use two separate bulbs in a larger box or go with the ceramic. I am glad to see you read the instructions, I had my first ceramic bulb in a regular hood and could have burned the house down. When I called the company about another issue, that is when they told me I would have to put it in a wire hood. Always something...Just let me know when you might have eggs or a bird on the seramas. I just cannot afford to have birds shipped anymore with only a part time job. I really want to stay home for awhile so just working odd jobs and drill is working so far.

 

[ChooksChick]

Spent some time this evening figuring out material costs for a hoop "run". By my rough estimate to build a 6'x20' run would cost right around $200-$250 in materials. The cattle panels are 4'x16' & are surprisingly cheap; $18.79 at TSC. Most expensive item to buy is the 1/2" hardware cloth. I saved some costs by using regular poultry wire on the top half of the run & 1/2" hardware cloth along the sides. Adding a tarp over part of the run for shade/cover adds another $30-$120 depending on what kind of tarp you buy. TSC has a heavy black tarp that would cover roughly half of the run for $45. Enclosed both ends with a simple framed 2x4 wall cover with OSB plywood with a small door in one end. Even looked at putting wheels to the run so I could roll it around to different places in the back yard. Going to spend sometime this weekend working up my design in SketchUp so I can getter a better idea of exact material list. At first glance though, this might be an option I really have to consider.

You might consider something we did when we originally set up ours: We used cattle panels with hardware cloth along the bottom, cut in half to make 4'x8' fence panels that could be moved around. When cutting the panels in half, I cut through the middle of a column of squares, also cutting off the very end wire on the other end of each half so I had wires sticking out all along the sides. On one end I used a jig I made to bend the wires into 'hooks' and on the other end I bent them all into 'eyes.' I then had all these 4'x8' panels that I could hook together. Eventually when we figured out what we wanted to do, we planted 4"x4" posts and permanently set them in place, using screw-in hooks and eyes on the posts. We can still take down the panels or re-arrange if we like. It is also helpful because I can take one down and drive the truck in to dump mulch or sand, etc.

If you do this, you can have the luxury of testing space and placement prior to setting things in, and you can move the components of the run better if they break down into moveable pieces. One other trick: dig holes for posts but put large PVC pipe in the holes, so you can insert the 4"x4"s and remove them later if you want. If you make your posts tall, you can still attach covers on the run, or netting, or grow vines over. The idea of all of this, of course, is only valid if you will be closing the pop door at night to secure them. If not, the whole run must be hardware-cloth-covered for predator prevention.

Danz, you soooooooooo need to get yourself a couple of EcoGlow brooders, and they're on sale right now!! I got a pair and haven't passed a day since where I wasn't glad I did! The small ones pay for themselves in 4-5 weeks of savings over a heat bulb, and with as may bulbs as you're running, you could save a small fortune! There's no fire risk, they clean-up easy, and they actually seem to make the chicks harden off faster! I'm buying a couple of the big ones the minute I get it saved up, and I'll NEVER own a heat lamp again!

Anyone here who is getting chicks to brood should look into them- 18 watts for the small one...don't know about the large, but the small is adequate for 20-30 chicks, and you NEVER have to worry about whether they are too hot or cold again. That's a HUGE difference in cost from a 250w bulb! I've had good luck with the ceramics but they break easily and you end up having a $60 hunk of ceramic waste. They also use the same amount of electricity as the other heat bulbs.

I can't say enough about the difference. I guess there's another brand- Sweeter Heater- I'm not sure how they compare in price, but I guess they have even bigger sizes so you can hang one over cold-sensitive breeds' roosts. It would prevent frostbitten combs and whatnot. The idea is they heat with infra-red, so there isn't a large electricity draw, since it's not necessary for them to heat the air.

Crud. Now that I see they're on sale I want to order a big one NOW so I can save! Why'd I have to look??

Wasn't someone on here saying they were a distributor for Brinsea?

I'd be interested in finding out how to order without the insane shipping costs. It's a total price whammy to charge $16 for each unit, when it's a $6 shipping cost and they could put them in ONE BOX. I tend to lose respect for companies that do things like that.

I'm trying to talk TSC into carrying them, just to stop so many folks from having to deal with fire-hazard lights and mucky bum chicks who have it too hot or too cold. That'd save folks a lot on shipping, too.

Okay... off to clean out the brooder.


edited for clarity

 

[chicken danz]

Patricia, I'll see what I have when I go out to feed in the brooder. I am not hurrying to get out there cause it's cold.
HEchicken, baby chicks eat and drink around the clock. That is why they put those little red attraction lights in manufactured brooders. I've read that from several books but have never put it to the test to see if they failed to thrive if they didn't have light. I just know wehn the lights burnt out I lost chicks from smothering.
I just looked in one of my books and here is more reference to why you need light.
5.4 Chicks and Light
Chicks are attracted to light.When baby chicks are placed in a brooder house they don't know which parts are warm and which parts are cold. But if the heat source is also the brightest part of the brooder house, the chicks will be attracted to it. Some brooders such as infrared lamp brooders, give off light in their normal operation. Ones that don't are generally provided with light sockets for attraction lights. After about 3 days the chicks will have learned where the heat source is and will no longer need extra light as a beacon.
If here are patches of light in a brooder house the chicks will be attracted to them and may not move when the sun goes down. If they don't go back to the brooder they may chill or smoother as they huddle together for warmth. Small patches of sunlight are more troublesome than larger ones as they will try to cram themselves into a smaller patch than can be accommodated there. Light under the brooder will help convince chicks to head home at sundown.
Chicks can't eat or drink in the dark. It's a standard practice to leave the lights on continuously for three days so they have more opportunity to find the feeders and the waterers.This light should be relatively bright. Once they know where everything is, they don't need much light to get around, but when everything around them is new they are better at figuring out the world around them if it is well illuminated.
Pg 36-37 Success with Baby Chicks. Robert Plamondon.

 

[Trish44]

...

Trish --- How did I miss the part about bunnies? I want to get a bunny, just one, this year. What kind will you have?
[/quote) KarenS, I plan to have chinchillas , I just haven't gotten up to Hutch to pick them up yet. I have black new zealands, english spot mixes, & plan to get some mini rex when I find some.

 

[Ivywoods]

Haven't left yet... just getting ready.

Chooks How do you keep the chicks from hopping on top of the thing and pooping all over it?

 

[HEChicken]

HEchicken, baby chicks eat and drink around the clock. That is why they put those little red attraction lights in manufactured brooders. I've read that from several books but have never put it to the test to see if they failed to thrive if they didn't have light.

I'll admit I didn't stay up all night to observe but when my broody hen raised my last batch of chicks, I really don't think they were active at night. Once dark fell, they crawled under her and stayed there until morning light. I tend to try to do things the natural way as much as possible and have never liked heat lamps because having light on 24/7 seems very unnatural to me. I know that with lights on they WILL eat around the clock, but I'm not convinced they NEED to eat around the clock.

Chooks, you make a good point about the energy savings of the EcoGlow over heat lamps/ceramic bulbs. I've actually never had mine at the full 250W as I find they get way too hot with that much heat, unless the lamp is way high above them, which means a lot of wasted energy anyway. Instead I put them on a rheostat and have the heat source only about 12" above the chicks. I don't know how far I have it turned down but don't think I'm using more than about 150W that way - still a lot more than the EcoGlow. I've looked into them but they really do seem expensive, especially once you've added in the shipping. If you have any luck convincing TSC to carry them, I'll be more likely to give one a try. Although, my preference really is to let broodies raise most of my chicks in the future - cheaper still!

 

[chicken danz]

I would have to buy at least 6 of those ecoglows to cover my brooder house and they would have to be an extra large size because I often have 50-100 chicks in each section. I use 100 wt flood lamps for my heat. They don't use quite as much energy and I'm running a supplemental heater in there set at 70 degrees to add to overall warmth. I had too much ventilation going because it had gotten too warm in there the day before. My bad. I forgot to shut it down and that made it more susceptible to having cool spots. My excuse- I am sick and was letting other people care for my birds. The ceramic bulb I have is 150 wts. It uses more heat than the lamps and it worries me a bit because I have had chicks break bulbs before by jumping up. I've designed a heater in my mind using an old electric hair dryer (the hood kind). I figured I could put a metal plate on the bottom and it would radiate heat down but my DH says it won't. I guess I have to make a proto-type and just test it.
When I had a single brooder in a chicken house, I had one designed with a heat lamp at each side of a 4 foot square. That way if one bulb burnt out there was always a second source of heat they could go to. It worked wonderful. Unfortunately I outgrew that setup and it won't fit in my current sections. I would like to move all my chicks to my breeding trailer at some point where I'd have room to set it up a more efficient way. The problem is I sell my birds way too cheap and all of this expense comes out of my limited income. I guess I should be more proactive on selling newly hatched chicks so I wasn't so over crowded.