We are 2-weeks, 2 days since the b-day of our initial 50-cornish. I have 44- now.. and have counted ten times in the past 4-days. One disappeared!! It could have easily been a miscount in the beginning, but I fear that we had a cat intrude our garage when the door was open, as I caught one near the door the other day.
THINGS WE HAVE RECENTLY LEARNED:
-Feeder space is worth its weight in gold. We have now resorted to about 54 inches of feeder space. I think we have reached a good place for the size of our chicks at this point.
-WEIGHTS ARE STILL LOW, HOWEVER we are gaining! I have tried the wet mash approach and could not get the chicks to even look at the feed when moisture added. Hmm... Three days ago we resorted to adding into the 20% starter a 25% brewers grain mix for extra protein. They have gained 20% weight in 2-days. I think we are on a better track than prior.
-FANS seem to help, but I feel that it puts them in a trance with the sound/feeling. They are 'chillingout' when the fan is on. I shut the fan off, and they kick up to eat.
Overall, we are just battling the heat and trying to grow our chickens.
Here is where we stand: MOST are 9oz (if my cheapie scale is accurate). I have a runt at 5oz....
The chicks have full crops at each inspection (except the runt), rear ends are pink and huge!!! and assume this is just their intestines full/processing the food??
More to come!