Daily Journal: 50-Cornish X chicks from Schlecht

[Brunty_Farms]

Hands down.... great hatchery. I'm getting 3.5 - 4 lb birds dressed at 6 weeks from all roosters. I have yet to hit that mark with any hatchery so far. I waited until 7 weeks on the first batch and they were some that were hitting 5-6 lbs dressed. I haven't seen those numbers in a while.... I recommend them to anyone. St.Run.... $0.88 can't be beat.

 

[bnentrup]

46 birds remaining from original 51:

Well, another bird died last night. I hope this still is average mortality and not a big epidemic unfolding. I feel that this guy died possibly by trampling on the feeder. I am switching to a round feeder today instead of troff style. I am going to hopefully have a brooder complete today as well. My goal is to get these guys in the garage asap, but do not want to do that without having a thermostat connected to a light. I would put them in the bathroom, but we have a zoo right now with a stray cat and her 5-kittens (Stray, but our friend).

Thermostats are just $6 at our home improvement store right now- therefore, I cannot avoid that! I will probably be purchasing 2 thermostats, and use 2-lights to span the distance of the brooder.

The plan for the brooder:
-4' long x 18" deep x 12" tall (I have a transition box to move them to that will work well when they are a bit bigger).
-Lights NOT attached to brooder; I have swing lamps that I will use to be able to swing out of way for cleaning. NO CORDS!!
-Plastic floor construction over mesh, for easy cleaning. I may have a separation room in this unit so I can move em over when cleaning one side at a time.
-TRANSPORTABLE. I would like the ability to be able to take the entire secure box, and put on ground for 'ground-time' in the next week or so. I think it does some good to have the chicks spend a few minutes in their early stage on grass.
-A handle would be nice for this brooder box.

This places my square footage to about 6 square feet or so for the brooder. Will this be enough space for 46- cornish X in their first week (or two at most?).

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
They [ all chickens ] are plumb stupid about water for the first few days and will drown themselves if allowed . Since my waterer is home built I put granite rocks in it allowing them to drink through the rocks untill they were too big to drown .
ETA : Now that they're bigger they're bad about hopping to the top of it and crapping in the water ; something I don't remember having problems with on those old galvanized waters from my past .

 

[chicks4kids]

I ordered 50 from them as well and they sent 51. I now have 47-my losses were in the first few days as well. They will be processed around June 8 and all of them are looking really good and healthy

They LOVE to forage...my meaties last year just hung out by the food, these guys love to wander and forage. I will definintely order from them again too! $59 to my door.....can't beat it!

 

[bnentrup]

Quote:
Thanks - this eases me a bit.. I would imagine that we may have similar losses. Good luck to you guys! I ordered 50 hoping for 40 to process.. hope that does not jinks me!

 

[SteveH]

Quote:
I've lost none out of 26 inspite of a 4 to 5 hour power outage due to a storm , and would think you're loosing too many but these things can very . I've got mine in the same size brooder as yours with half as many chicks and only 10 are CX . But if they're going to be stepped up in two weeks I think it will be OK if you get your lamps set up to prevent piling to get under or away from them . I do have a runt CX that's developed leg problems but is up walking again . I'm behind my 3 week deadline on getting them outside ; the seller backed out on the property I was buying so have to build a pen here . At three weeks my 26 are too tight in there for my tastes but OK . If all were CX they would hardly be able to move around . I better get to work and finish the pen today .

 

[bnentrup]

Day 5 with the chicks.. they have been outside the eggshell for axprox 1-week now (8 days). Late yesterday, I had a runt that died-- it was not overcrowded, and had sufficient temp.. just weak! That put me to 45-at the start of today remaining.

I have another guy getting ready to pass... he is smaller than all the other as well. It seems to me that I could have picked out the guys who would have made it vs the ones who died. The runts have been eliminated. I am now at about 12% mortality rate at 1-week of life for these guys. I suppose looking at the others in the forum I should get use to Cornish with a 15-25% mortality rate.

Again, I am hoping for 40-to butcher, which will result in a 20% mortality average if I am there. I am not trying to be mr. Negative, and hopefully will have happy and good reports from here forward!

I did finish the brooder last night. I still have a few things I am wanting to add, but it is MUCH better for them in that they have plenty of space.

THEY SEEM TOO WARM TODAY. Although the thermometer is reading 85-90 degrees, they are all sacked out (not huddled) sprawled out completely with face in the bedding. When I open the brooder - they jump for joy for food/water/attention. Should I put a fan to circulate some air? I have mesh wire at the top and top sides of the brooder for some airflow, but they are in my garage with no A/C. Maybe again this is just me getting used to Cornish X in that they are appearing to be too lazy!

 

[NotAFarm]

bnentrup, I raised two batches of 25 from Schlecht last summer and lost only one small one in the second batch on the night of arrival. How many inches of feeder space do you have for the 45 chicks? You said the smaller ones are the ones dying, are they having an opportunity to eat? Many times the bigger ones will crowd out the smaller. They don't need as much heat as layers or dual purpose, make sure they are not overheating and that they have cool water, the waterer will heat up under the brooder light and once warm doesn't cool easily. I did use the broiler booster in my waterers for the first week or ten days, then used raw ACV until butcher.

 

[bnentrup]

Quote:
Well, space may be an issue; keep in mind that I only had them in the smaller brooders for about 48-hours.

here is their journey thus far:

first two days: in a 1x1 space with no food (shipped tues am, arrived thurs am)

I placed them in 2-rubbermaid tubs for first 2-days: giving them 3 sqft per 50 chicks. I had more feeder space than walking space when in the tubs (I was thinking this could be the issue as well with not having enough feeder room).

Now, we have a 8-square feet contained brooder for the 50-chicks, and space for 50-birds at once for feeding. I have 2-large waterer's as well now. I think the mortality was due to:

1.) shipping stress
2.) DRASTIC temp changes; from 51 in IOWA on ship date... to about 55 on receiving day, to now 90 degrees in a matter of just one night.
3.) temperature and space in the brooder the first night (too cold for them)
4.) now, we should be stabilized! I have plenty of space in the brooder, temperature under control, and overall these guys are acting MUCH better! They are not crowding the feeders any longer or water since they have ample space.

This is a learning curve for me.. and I am fine with it (as long as God does not strike me dead for losing a few chicks in the process). I honestly have not lost any of my chicks in the past due to natural causes (unless you consider one chick getting eaten by neighborhood cat). However, the one main difference is that I have never tried to raise 50-at once either.

Lesson; build a large/secure brooder before your chicks arrive... I had other options for larger space, but did not feel they were protected from dogs/cats etc. Will keep this log alive in hopes others can learn from my experience.

 

[NotAFarm]

The Cornish X are quite the different bird!! Hopefully, you have made it through the toughest part of rearing them and will have success from here out. I tried to follow Joel Salatin's advice and start small. One batch of 50 instead to two of 25 would have been cheaper but I'm glad I did the 25s. It was definitely a learning experience for me and I'm glad you're leaving this up so others can learn from your lessons. My first batch was butchered at 6 weeks 2 days (scheduled to fit in with my work) were 3.25 lb to 4.75 lb. Hatched May 25. The second batch was hatched August 27 and butchered at 7 weeks 3 days, they were 4.25 to 6.12 lbs. I hated messing with the ones in the fall because it was very rainy and I worried about them chilling but they didn't seem to mind the cold, damp as much as the group hated heat (and we had a very mild July last year). They are great eating!!!