Marans Thread - breed discussion & pictures are welcome!

[KsKingBee]

DW, (OkieQueenBee) has two 250 watt bulbs in there and they still pile up on each other. We had to raise them a bit when we saw a couple of them smoking

I have added more roosting space and sealed up some of the drafts but at twelve weeks I thought that they would be feathered up well enough to take some cold. I guess not. I will look into the Brinsea brooder, thanks.

 

[Ripster]

KsKingBee,

I'm not sure how your brooders are built but here's something to check. Are your chicks piling up under the heat source or away from it? If they are piling up away from the heat source there's a good chance they are not cold but are too warm and are trying to get away from the heat. If that's the case try reducing the amount of heat to see if that eliminates the piling problem.

 

[Runawaylobster]

Quote:
I have been told that many things are opposite when raising bees in South Florida, For example, the lady who sold me the nuc said absolutely NO shade on the location. I went out and did my first bee operation last night to get the strapping off and do the final setup on the blocks. The bees were crawling on my hands and nobody stung me. I did learn my first valuable lesson... take off your bee suit before you go back indoors... I had a little follower who joined me for dinner. I use the red outdoor floodlights in my brooder, which is a large empty horse trough, but its not really a good comparison given the different climate. I tried a 250watt bulb and they were just plain too hot. I have found that chicks in general seem to be tougher than we give them credit for and mine seem to do just fine without heat after about a week in an ambient temperature of 75deg. Definitely they are good after 2 weeks.

 

[Ihilani Coffee]

Quote:

I use the red outdoor floodlights in my brooder, which is a large empty horse trough, but its not really a good comparison given the different climate. I tried a 250watt bulb and they were just plain too hot. I have found that chicks in general seem to be tougher than we give them credit for and mine seem to do just fine without heat after about a week in an ambient temperature of 75deg. Definitely they are good after 2 weeks.

Good to know...filing that info away for when I get to Hawai`i where pretty much the range will be 60-80. Last week here it was (uncharacteristically) 8 degrees a couple of nights.

 

[chrissyr]

DW, (OkieQueenBee) has two 250 watt bulbs in there and they still pile up on each other. We had to raise them a bit when we saw a couple of them smoking

I have added more roosting space and sealed up some of the drafts but at twelve weeks I thought that they would be feathered up well enough to take some cold. I guess not. I will look into the Brinsea brooder, thanks.

I would think at 12 weeks they should be able to handle the cold better too. 2 bulbs should put out a lot of heat. Yes, smoking is not good, lol! Do you have a thermometer in there? Are you sure they're piling up? I had some birds and one by one the cockerels starting getting hurt. Then I noticed they were all ganging up on each other one at a time. At 12 weeks the boys may start getting to that age. I liked Ripster's theory as well.

KsKingBee,

I'm not sure how your brooders are built but here's something to check. Are your chicks piling up under the heat source or away from it? If they are piling up away from the heat source there's a good chance they are not cold but are too warm and are trying to get away from the heat. If that's the case try reducing the amount of heat to see if that eliminates the piling problem.

Good point

 

[KsKingBee]

KsKingBee,

I'm not sure how your brooders are built but here's something to check. Are your chicks piling up under the heat source or away from it? If they are piling up away from the heat source there's a good chance they are not cold but are too warm and are trying to get away from the heat. If that's the case try reducing the amount of heat to see if that eliminates the piling problem.

Thanks Ripster, our brooder is a room that measures six by eight feet. It is the second stage after the swimming pool brooder in the garage. The heat lamps are on one end of the room with short roosts on either side of the lights. The piling is in the corners near the lamps, we have been thinking about the why of it and are beginning to think that moving the light from the end of the room might help.

 

[KsKingBee]

I would think at 12 weeks they should be able to handle the cold better too. 2 bulbs should put out a lot of heat. Yes, smoking is not good, lol! Do you have a thermometer in there? Are you sure they're piling up? I had some birds and one by one the cockerels starting getting hurt. Then I noticed they were all ganging up on each other one at a time. At 12 weeks the boys may start getting to that age. I liked Ripster's theory as well.

Good point

Thanks Chrissyr, you both make good points. We haven't seen any pecking problems yet, no feather loss or signs of blood.

Noodeling this out it seems to me that since the losses have been on cold nights, zero degree or close to it, that the chicks that are in the comfort zone are sat upon by others. The ones on bottom can't get away and suffocate. We are going to try moving the lights away from the wall and spreading them out a bit more. We are also going to move some of the larger ones to the unheated 'tweener' room. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Ripster]

KsKingBee,

Sounds like you are on the right track in your thinking. Moving the heat source to be more in the center of the room will allow a larger comfort area which will let the chicks spread out and not tend to pile up.

 

[TammyTX]

What is the average EGG weight of a newly laying black copper? They have been laying since thanksgiving day. I have four and one is consistently laying a 59g egg, while the other three lay a 45-47g egg. The larger egg layer only started about two weeks ago. Are the larger eggs normal, or the smaller?

The one that lays the larger egg has light eyes, a larger body and a wonky comb. While she is not a show bird, she is cute with the silly comb and I really like getting large eggs from the get-go.

 

[DeannaA]

Will he be good for breeding? He is 14 weeks. Is this too much red at this age? I couldn't get a better picture of him standing. He is a mover.