Quote:
Bigredfeather has great info in this thread.
Are they Cornish Cross? How many will you have?
I agree with everything he says there. I might also add the following to his points.
If you have had birds in the brooder house before these, thoroughly clean and disinfect it. That includes vacuuming the dusty cobwebs in the ceiling but especially all areas the chicks will come in contact with - lower walls, floors and brooder itself including wiring. I like to paint the lower walls with a good primer and gloss oil paint making cleanup and disinfecting for the next batch easier.
BROODER: My heat lamps are at opposite ends of the brooder so they won't crowd. 2 lamps is important if one burns out.
Chicks need good footing and will eat anything at their feet. On top of the 2" of pine shavings I lay burlap for the first week. On top of the burlap I put paper towels under the feeders and where I sprinkle egg yolk for about 3 days changing it out two or three times a day.
THEY'RE HERE: I make up the water just before I put them in. Make sure it's not hot/not cold and for the first couple of days I add something to slightly sweeten it. I use agave nectar. I pull them one by one and gently dip their beak in the water to make sure they drink and can find the water again. After the dip they usually stand there a while and drink. I find red bottomed waterers attract them.
Heat rule of thumb is 95°F week 1 dropping 5° per week thereafter so by the end of the third week they're down to 80. I use some of the same heat tactics as bigredfeather. But play it by ear depending on outside temp. Like he says, determine heat needs by whether they're crowding the heat or moving away, it's hard to get an exact temperature in a big brooder. The chicks usually destroy my thermometers
. I use one red IR and one white heat lamp and keep a light on them 24/7 for the first week. After that only white light during the day. That'll slow eating at night.
FEED: Besides the feed in feeders, the first two days I sprinkle the crumbles on the paper towels and also the first day I crumble hard boiled egg yolk and sprinkle it there too. Like he says, after about 3 weeks you may have to pull their feed at night to prevent overeating.
WATER: Our water is chlorinated with chloramine and sometimes it's strong so for the first 2 days I give bottled spring water and then use an aquarium dechlorinator for the tap water after that.
I've raised Cornish Cross, Freedom Rangers and Heritage Breeds. I've lost a couple heritage birds when I had too many to properly observe and they got pasty butt. I had only one FR go lame but I'm sure I pushed them too hard with protein.
Bigredfeather has great info in this thread.
Are they Cornish Cross? How many will you have?
I agree with everything he says there. I might also add the following to his points.
If you have had birds in the brooder house before these, thoroughly clean and disinfect it. That includes vacuuming the dusty cobwebs in the ceiling but especially all areas the chicks will come in contact with - lower walls, floors and brooder itself including wiring. I like to paint the lower walls with a good primer and gloss oil paint making cleanup and disinfecting for the next batch easier.
BROODER: My heat lamps are at opposite ends of the brooder so they won't crowd. 2 lamps is important if one burns out.
Chicks need good footing and will eat anything at their feet. On top of the 2" of pine shavings I lay burlap for the first week. On top of the burlap I put paper towels under the feeders and where I sprinkle egg yolk for about 3 days changing it out two or three times a day.
THEY'RE HERE: I make up the water just before I put them in. Make sure it's not hot/not cold and for the first couple of days I add something to slightly sweeten it. I use agave nectar. I pull them one by one and gently dip their beak in the water to make sure they drink and can find the water again. After the dip they usually stand there a while and drink. I find red bottomed waterers attract them.
Heat rule of thumb is 95°F week 1 dropping 5° per week thereafter so by the end of the third week they're down to 80. I use some of the same heat tactics as bigredfeather. But play it by ear depending on outside temp. Like he says, determine heat needs by whether they're crowding the heat or moving away, it's hard to get an exact temperature in a big brooder. The chicks usually destroy my thermometers
. I use one red IR and one white heat lamp and keep a light on them 24/7 for the first week. After that only white light during the day. That'll slow eating at night.FEED: Besides the feed in feeders, the first two days I sprinkle the crumbles on the paper towels and also the first day I crumble hard boiled egg yolk and sprinkle it there too. Like he says, after about 3 weeks you may have to pull their feed at night to prevent overeating.
WATER: Our water is chlorinated with chloramine and sometimes it's strong so for the first 2 days I give bottled spring water and then use an aquarium dechlorinator for the tap water after that.
I've raised Cornish Cross, Freedom Rangers and Heritage Breeds. I've lost a couple heritage birds when I had too many to properly observe and they got pasty butt. I had only one FR go lame but I'm sure I pushed them too hard with protein.
