Love it, Hate it...My Two Cent

DirtPatchFarmer

In the Brooder
Mar 8, 2018
3
21
26
Eastern North Carolina
I know i'm new to BYC but I HAVE to share this. I've done A LOT of research. I mean A LOT. Every accessible website I can get on, and from what I can tell, the general consensus is that chickens (baby chicks, chicks, pullets, cockerels, hens, rooster, you name it) ARE DUMB. NO! That is by far the most ignorant thing I've read. "Don't have a square brooder they'll get stuck." "Don't have flaps they'll freeze." NO! They are wild a$$ animals. They've survived since the good Lord put them on this Earth for us. They will figure it out. My heat lamp bulb blew in the middle of the night last night and when I woke up this morning at 04 for work the temp in the brooder was 53°, all my chickies were huddled together to stay warm. Not a single one was lost off in where-ever-the-heck corner as messed up as a soup sandwich. I put the only bulb I had on hand, a 120 watt twirly bulb, in the warmer, got home at a little after 1800 and it was 68°, my chickies were FINE. We're not beating nature by raising chicks ladies and gents; we're merely curbing the mortality rate. If you've got chicks, help them stay warm, feed them and water them, nature will do it's own thing.


And a side note on that little episode; I got home and noticed a SIGNIFICANT change in the amount of feathers my chickies had after they had to be "cold" for a day. Nature took over and said nope, eff death, have some help *feather growth*!


If you don't agree or have had a different experience I'm sorry, but that's my two cent!
 
We do ‘flap’ over our broods! But when we interfere with Mother Nature we take on a huge responsibility to do our best..that’s creates the flapping :) ❤️
Keeping calm is good advice...headless chickens do not make good chick moms..or dads!
You’re right about the feathers...I raised chicks in a brooder along side one of my mom hens...m chicks grew faster with less feathers..real moms chicks were smaller but feathered up quicker..cause they were outside and had to!!
Good to hear your two cents!
 
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I agree with your rant..
I don't coddle Chicks. Mine hatch out with Momma in my Garage. I provide a heat lamp to cut the Chill. My Chicks and Momma go out to my Coop at a very young age and feather out quickly..I have a Hen with one Chick that was put out to the Coop at under two weeks in Alberta Winter weather..Coop has a Heat lamp but not warm by no means.
This picture is the Chick going outside with Momma and the temp outside was -5C.
Now it's almost 7 weeks.
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I know i'm new to BYC but I HAVE to share this. I've done A LOT of research. I mean A LOT. Every accessible website I can get on, and from what I can tell, the general consensus is that chickens (baby chicks, chicks, pullets, cockerels, hens, rooster, you name it) ARE DUMB. NO! That is by far the most ignorant thing I've read. "Don't have a square brooder they'll get stuck." "Don't have flaps they'll freeze." NO! They are wild a$$ animals. They've survived since the good Lord put them on this Earth for us. They will figure it out. My heat lamp bulb blew in the middle of the night last night and when I woke up this morning at 04 for work the temp in the brooder was 53°, all my chickies were huddled together to stay warm. Not a single one was lost off in where-ever-the-heck corner as messed up as a soup sandwich. I put the only bulb I had on hand, a 120 watt twirly bulb, in the warmer, got home at a little after 1800 and it was 68°, my chickies were FINE. We're not beating nature by raising chicks ladies and gents; we're merely curbing the mortality rate. If you've got chicks, help them stay warm, feed them and water them, nature will do it's own thing.


And a side note on that little episode; I got home and noticed a SIGNIFICANT change in the amount of feathers my chickies had after they had to be "cold" for a day. Nature took over and said nope, eff death, have some help *feather growth*!


If you don't agree or have had a different experience I'm sorry, but that's my two cent!
Absolutely. You'll find that by far people with chicken experience beyond 1--5 years has come to the same conclusion... it's best (in my opinion) to learn about chickens from local experienced people. Health problems, stuff that goes wrong, that all can be 'fixed' using the Internet, but actual chicken behaviour, tolerance, and management? No substitute for having someone right there to show you—again, in my opinion—and they're more right than whatever you may find on-line 90% of the time. The flap you see has been written by those more suited to a keyboard than to a shovel. :oops:

I have owned chickens for a mere four years, but I have neighbours with decades of chicken experience. One is 93 years old and has chickens since he was 12. They are invaluable in terms of experience-based knowledge.

I have never hear the thing about square brooders. That is funny.
 
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I haven't personally read anything about chickens being dumb. Maybe maturing cockerels... But that's "dumb" in a different sense.
I think it is totally unfair to call chickens dumb... are you expecting for them to be as smart as people????? i don't think ANY of Gods creation is dumb, they somehow have servived till now!?!!! they are as smart as they need to be. as for coddling..... i am going to, i love taking the best care i possibly can. i am not saying you have to, but they are my pets...:love
 
in the brooder was 53°, ......a little after 1800 and it was 68°, my chickies were FINE.
Yep, I imagine 12 four week old chicks would be fine at those temps.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/holy-wow-i-did-it.1226093/

You'll find that by far people with chicken experience beyond 1--5 years has come to the same conclusion... it's best (in my opinion) to learn about chickens from local experienced people.
Ditto Dat^^^
 

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