Incubation vs buying baby chicks

[esme13]

The guinea comment is killing me , I think that getting them will be with me expecting them to be eaten at some point. I have seen some videos of people that have manage to train them to always come back to the coop but I think that is probably very difficult to achieve, I don't have that amount of time at the moment. Not that I deliberately don't care but it's one of those difficult decisions that one has to make peace with.

guineas 4 adults tried to train those , I will say for nice terms “not so smart birds” . The fox took them in front of us, they didn’t even fly ! But they flew on the roof of a two story due to a dog . We had 3 generations. The last 2 of course were our favorite and they too were eaten. I did get emotional for the last two.


I prefer the single rooster than a herd of guinea waking me up in the mornings

 

[KM2H]

I do worry about the neighbors, we are new here. We are in five acres but the houses are in about the same location on the lots. I wonder if I should talk to them first to get a feel for it....

 

[esme13]

We have 30 acres of farmland and fields and they still would leave and head to the woods, that did not belong to the property. I increased the chicken number this year, since they eat the ticks and everything else that moves

if you decide on guineas at some point, the guinea chat board group can give you good advice

 

[Ridgerunner]

To me the ideal brooder is one that has a spot warm enough in the coldest conditions and a spot cool enough in the warmest conditions. If you are brooding inside with climate controlled conditions that's pretty easy to accomplish. If you are brooding outside where 40 degree Fahrenheit temperature swings are pretty common it gets more challenging. My 3' x 6' brooder is in the coop. In winter I keep one end toasty but the far end may have ice in it some mornings so they stay on the warmer end. If it gets too hot they go where it is cooler. My chicks are very good at sorting that out themselves as long as they have options.

I use heat lamps though heat plates, heating pads, or other things can be made to work. The chicks don't care how you warm that spot, just that it is warm enough. In winter I use a 250 watt bulb. In other weather I might use a 125 watt or 75 watt bulb. And I set it up so I can raise or lower the lamp if I need to.

If you use a heat lamp I suggest you remove that clamp so you are not even tempted to use it. Support it with wire or chain in a way it cannot fall. Do not use string or plastic that can burn or melt, use wire or chain. That greatly reduces any risk of fire.

Lots of people use plastic bins, especially in a climate controlled area. They are harder to use where the temperature swings much, they just aren't big enough for outside unless you use a heat plate or heating pad. There are lots of different ways to go about his.

Another issue with brooders is that the chicks grow in size rapidly. A brooder can quickly become too small. I've used my 3' x 6' brooder for about 25 chicks until they were 5 weeks old, then it started to get pretty crowded.

 

[KM2H]

We have 30 acres of farmland and fields and they still would leave and head to the woods, that did not belong to the property. I increased the chicken number this year, since they eat the ticks and everything else that moves

if you decide on guineas at some point, the guinea chat board group can give you good advice

Thank you for sharing.

 

[fluffy07]

Can the brooder be something like some sort of plastic tub with the heat lamp, etc. Can I use the lights that one would use for an infrared sauna for the chicks or do I need certain specialized lights? I really don't have much experience as yours can see given my questions.

Hi, To answer your questions, yes, I use a plastic plant tray as the base of the brooder, with newspaper as bedding (recommended because it CANNOT contain mites). Around this I have a wooden frame with plastic netting (as you would use for a fruit cage) stapled to the frame. This is about 20 cm high, as chicks learn to fly! Infrared light bulb is perfect to provide heat, but you will need quite a strong one to begin with, maybe 500 watts. Keep it low over the chicks in the first week or so, and then gradually raise it so that the heat lowers as they gain their feathers. You can easily tell if they are too cold, because they will all huddle together in the middle under the lamp. If they are too hot, they will go to the outside corners of the brooder. I put in a cardboard box on its side so they can go and hide if they want. After 2 weeks, I put in a clump of turf, with grass growing on it, so they learn to forage, and eat grass. I use quite a large plant tray, about a metre in length, and 20 cms from front to back. This gives them room to move around as they grow. If you look up heat lamps for chicks and puppies you will see lots of options. It's not expensive to build the brooder, I made my own. Have fun with them!

 

[NatJ]

newspaper as bedding (recommended because it CANNOT contain mites).

Many people recommend NOT newspaper, because it can be slippery, and the chicks are more likely to get spraddled legs.

A layer of paper towel over the newspaper can provide good footing, or some people use pee pads made for puppies. (And of course plenty of folks use shavings, or dry leaves in the fall, or straw or hay. But if you're concerned about mites, you would not want to use the shavings, leaves, straw, etc.)

Newspaper is only slippery when it's fresh and clean, not once it has a layer of chick droppings dried onto it. So the more diligently you clean, the more of a problem it is. Someone posted in a recent thread about just letting the droppings build up on the newspaper for the several weeks the chicks spend in the brooder. They apparently did not have a problem with smells or disease, because it all stayed dry.

 

[Cheery]

Hello everyone,
I recently adopted a small flock of Barred Plymouth Rock. 6 hens and a rooster. They are converting me into the crazy chicken lady and so I would like to add a couple more. I have read that the hens don't go broody very often so I thought it would be a good idea to get some female baby chicks of a breed that can be good moms to do the job, then my husband suggested I get an incubator since our eggs are most likely fertilized.
I have two little children 1 and 3 so my hands are sort of full, add to it the chickens, two potbelly pigs and five sheep. What is best in my situation? Incubate or buy baby chicks that can do the job as nature intended? Thanks for any advice

Buy a fully automatic incubator and keep it in your laundry. If you buy chicks you need a brooder anyway. So buy a new design Brinsea brooder ( the chick go under it) and a big cheap clear plastic storage bin with a lid.
mall perfect for raising chicks.
plymouth rocks are easy to sell.
so if you end up with too many roosters you can raise them to sell.

 

[Rosebud25]

The guinea comment is killing me , I think that getting them will be with me expecting them to be eaten at some point. I have seen some videos of people that have manage to train them to always come back to the coop but I think that is probably very difficult to achieve, I don't have that amount of time at the moment. Not that I deliberately don't care but it's one of those difficult decisions that one has to make peace with.

I have guineas and chickens. I bought both from a hatchery. The chickens so I could pick the sex. The guineas so I could raise them with the chickens as they got older. I only feed at night ( just what they will clean up). So all my birds come in about the same time every evening. They all free range during the day. Yes, guineas are very noisy. Both will eat bugs and ticks. I was over run with ticks when I moved here 2 years ago now I very rarely see any. Hatching your own is fun but will give you a lot of males you don't really want. Hope this helps. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Foxinthehenhouse]

Hello everyone,
I recently adopted a small flock of Barred Plymouth Rock. 6 hens and a rooster. They are converting me into the crazy chicken lady and so I would like to add a couple more. I have read that the hens don't go broody very often so I thought it would be a good idea to get some female baby chicks of a breed that can be good moms to do the job, then my husband suggested I get an incubator since our eggs are most likely fertilized.
I have two little children 1 and 3 so my hands are sort of full, add to it the chickens, two potbelly pigs and five sheep. What is best in my situation? Incubate or buy baby chicks that can do the job as nature intended? Thanks for any advice

I thought you wanted to get a different breed from what you a already have?
Ones that will go broody. If so, you don’t need an incubator.