Naked Neck/Turken Thread

[DesertChic]

With these spring hatches, are you having to supplement lighting too for the winter eggs?

I turn a shop light on for a very short period of time in one of the housing structures just because it's a large cabin where I store things and I put their feed dishes away at night once they've all gone to roost. It rarely stays on longer than 20 minutes after dark, and I don't use any supplemental lighting at all in the other three structures. Keep in mind that I've had between 50 and 80 birds at a time, so there are always plenty of layers.

 

[DesertChic]

OK guys, I needs some advice about moving the Aloha NN chicks outside. The Cream Legbar chicks are 5-1/2 weeks old and fully feathered, and, importantly, their brooder (a 5ft kiddie pool) was seriously too small and yucky. So I finished their growout tractor today, and moved them outside. I don't think I will be able to get a separate growout tractor for the seven Aloha NNs done before my next hatch date/arrival of chicks - even if I stayed home from work (which I cannot). Their brooder is the same (5ft kiddie pool), but less crowded, of course.

It's been in the 80s-90s, with lows in the 60s, for almost a month. Murphy's Law being what it is, it's going down to 40F tonight, in the 40s tomorrow night, then back to the lows of 60s most of the next week (forecast). I believe the Cream Legbars will be fine.

Here's the question: I have the little Aloha NNs out there in the same tractor with the Cream Legbars right now (moved out there about 30 minutes ago) - I will plan to house them together a week or two (while they are still small), until I build a second tractor. They are 4 weeks old today. Feathering out is varied among them, but there is a small amount of fuzz left on their heads, and one pullet has a little fuzz on the shoulders. And of course, they ARE Naked Necks. From everyone's NN experience, is it too early/chilly to let them sleep out there tonight? (Very soon, they will need to be out there anyway.) I could rig up a Mama Heating Pad (which has been their warmth source in the brooder), but not sure they will all fit under it anymore. They have body heat, of course. Tractor is pretty well ventilated, but parts are sheltered.

I would love to have them out there for good TONIGHT, but also don't want to risk letting them get too cold. Just rolling everything around in my head and wanted input...

- Ant Farm

Well, I've moved all of my chicks to their pens by 4-5 weeks, so I think it's possible. If your cooler nights have been anything like ours, it doesn't reach the coldest temperatures until shortly before dawn, which means minimum exposure to cold. If you can supply the heating pad and especially if they're housed with the CLs I think it could work out fine. The main thing I would be concerned with is draft. Can you make sure that the sheltered parts block any wind?

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
They do have several spots in the structure where the wind is blocked, and I have a heating pad out there now warming up - it's a big double-wide, cocked high, though they ALL won't fit under it, of course. There's a lot of body heat to be had, as there are twenty chicks total. They are so much happier out there right now than they have been in the brooder... I may play it by ear and check on them frequently, and bring them in at night if it isn't working out. Forecast for low of 40F is 6-7am.

- Ant Farm

 

[generaldsherman]

With these spring hatches, are you having to supplement lighting too for the winter eggs?

I have been using light all winter. My father is a computer programmer and wrote a program to run x10 controls to automate my iguana's terrarium. Since he already had the program written, I had him add a control for my chicken coop. The program makes it so a light turns on for however long it needs to have at least 13 hours of daylight. It is still running in the morning, so I guess we don't have 13 hours yet in Arizona. (So nice to be connected

)

By the way, I thought of a way I may be able to supplement my losses from the last hatch. I had, maybe 1 1/2 weeks ago, picked up four naked neck pullets from a guy in Phoenix. I took a chance on them; he was selling for egg-eating behavior. After a day in a lock-down pen, I let them out at my house to wander the yard. Was afraid that they were still eating eggs until I found 2 days worth under the rosemary bush in my yard. Sold 3 of them, but I still have 6 eggs from the group. I had tested out the last pullet yesterday (haven't seen any eggs from her, but she went "broody" and adopted the 2 month old leghorn chick in the coop-SO CUTE). The egg I had left in the nest to test out my NN pullet was fertile. I did have the 6 remaining eggs in the fridge for a week, but people have successfully hatched out eggs from trader joes that are much older than these. Doesn't hurt anything to try. Also glad I chose the egg I did for the test-double yolker: wouldn't have hatched anyhow.

No hard feelings for your earlier comment. I am a moron, I'll admit it. (poor little chickies

)


Anyone successfully treated a young chick with an injured leg? Think it's broken-the poor baby can't put any weight on it and ends up rolling over. This is what I found here on BYC-chicken sling.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Well, after waiting for it to get dark enough for me to relocate the babies (and feeling bad because they were crying so much and piling up in corners), I finally could go in and get them without them running all over the place and put them under the double-wide MHP. I draped towels over the front and back so that there's an extended "snuggle zone" at each opening. Everyone is tucked up in there happy and quiet - they are spread out a bit, depending on the heat they want - the NNs are more to the center. In fact, I think it was a wee bit too hot, so I turned the MHP down to medium (these particular pads run on the warm side). I will continue to check on them in the night, as these are unfamiliar digs. I just popped out there and one of the NNs had managed to get out from under, down the ramp, and was crying on its own on the coop floor - relocated him and he happily snuggled back in. Wish I had a baby monitor...

Here's a photo - there are twenty 4-5.5 week old chicks under here, snuggling quietly. It's 57F right now. Put my hand in - very warm (between the pad and body warmth). The sharper one was before I rearranged the hand towels - the blurry one (sorry) is the final snuggle-hut.





Thanks for the input, everyone!

- Ant Farm

 

[CliffB]

I have been using light all winter. My father is a computer programmer and wrote a program to run x10 controls to automate my iguana's terrarium. Since he already had the program written, I had him add a control for my chicken coop. The program makes it so a light turns on for however long it needs to have at least 13 hours of daylight. It is still running in the morning, so I guess we don't have 13 hours yet in Arizona. (So nice to be connected

)

By the way, I thought of a way I may be able to supplement my losses from the last hatch. I had, maybe 1 1/2 weeks ago, picked up four naked neck pullets from a guy in Phoenix. I took a chance on them; he was selling for egg-eating behavior. After a day in a lock-down pen, I let them out at my house to wander the yard. Was afraid that they were still eating eggs until I found 2 days worth under the rosemary bush in my yard. Sold 3 of them, but I still have 6 eggs from the group. I had tested out the last pullet yesterday (haven't seen any eggs from her, but she went "broody" and adopted the 2 month old leghorn chick in the coop-SO CUTE). The egg I had left in the nest to test out my NN pullet was fertile. I did have the 6 remaining eggs in the fridge for a week, but people have successfully hatched out eggs from trader joes that are much older than these. Doesn't hurt anything to try. Also glad I chose the egg I did for the test-double yolker: wouldn't have hatched anyhow.

No hard feelings for your earlier comment. I am a moron, I'll admit it. (poor little chickies

)


Anyone successfully treated a young chick with an injured leg? Think it's broken-the poor baby can't put any weight on it and ends up rolling over. This is what I found here on BYC-chicken sling.

We are dealing with a duck with a broken leg now. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't a pekin that will weight 8-10 pounds trying to move on one leg.

 

[DesertChic]

I have been using light all winter. My father is a computer programmer and wrote a program to run x10 controls to automate my iguana's terrarium. Since he already had the program written, I had him add a control for my chicken coop. The program makes it so a light turns on for however long it needs to have at least 13 hours of daylight. It is still running in the morning, so I guess we don't have 13 hours yet in Arizona. (So nice to be connected

)

By the way, I thought of a way I may be able to supplement my losses from the last hatch. I had, maybe 1 1/2 weeks ago, picked up four naked neck pullets from a guy in Phoenix. I took a chance on them; he was selling for egg-eating behavior. After a day in a lock-down pen, I let them out at my house to wander the yard. Was afraid that they were still eating eggs until I found 2 days worth under the rosemary bush in my yard. Sold 3 of them, but I still have 6 eggs from the group. I had tested out the last pullet yesterday (haven't seen any eggs from her, but she went "broody" and adopted the 2 month old leghorn chick in the coop-SO CUTE). The egg I had left in the nest to test out my NN pullet was fertile. I did have the 6 remaining eggs in the fridge for a week, but people have successfully hatched out eggs from trader joes that are much older than these. Doesn't hurt anything to try. Also glad I chose the egg I did for the test-double yolker: wouldn't have hatched anyhow.

No hard feelings for your earlier comment. I am a moron, I'll admit it. (poor little chickies

)


Anyone successfully treated a young chick with an injured leg? Think it's broken-the poor baby can't put any weight on it and ends up rolling over. This is what I found here on BYC-chicken sling.

I had one chick with a broken leg and sadly had to cull it. It may have been the hardest thing I've ever had to bring myself to do. I wish you better luck than I had.

 

[nchvac]

I have been using light all winter. My father is a computer programmer and wrote a program to run x10 controls to automate my iguana's terrarium. Since he already had the program written, I had him add a control for my chicken coop. The program makes it so a light turns on for however long it needs to have at least 13 hours of daylight. It is still running in the morning, so I guess we don't have 13 hours yet in Arizona. (So nice to be connected

)

By the way, I thought of a way I may be able to supplement my losses from the last hatch. I had, maybe 1 1/2 weeks ago, picked up four naked neck pullets from a guy in Phoenix. I took a chance on them; he was selling for egg-eating behavior. After a day in a lock-down pen, I let them out at my house to wander the yard. Was afraid that they were still eating eggs until I found 2 days worth under the rosemary bush in my yard. Sold 3 of them, but I still have 6 eggs from the group. I had tested out the last pullet yesterday (haven't seen any eggs from her, but she went "broody" and adopted the 2 month old leghorn chick in the coop-SO CUTE). The egg I had left in the nest to test out my NN pullet was fertile. I did have the 6 remaining eggs in the fridge for a week, but people have successfully hatched out eggs from trader joes that are much older than these. Doesn't hurt anything to try. Also glad I chose the egg I did for the test-double yolker: wouldn't have hatched anyhow.

No hard feelings for your earlier comment. I am a moron, I'll admit it. (poor little chickies

)


Anyone successfully treated a young chick with an injured leg? Think it's broken-the poor baby can't put any weight on it and ends up rolling over. This is what I found here on BYC-chicken sling.

Has nothing to do with being a moron, it just seems to me that 10% humidity is way low- with that said I just realized that you live in Arizona so that may be normal out there. My house humidity never gets below 40 so my incubator humidity stays fairly high though house humidity and incubator humidity are going to be different due to different temps. Really wetbulb temp is what should be used. Personally I would look for some deeper containers for reservoirs so you have plenty of reserve- never hurts to have extra depth as the opening is what determines the humidity. That is all I was saying, just went about it wrong and I apologize.

 

[generaldsherman]

I had one chick with a broken leg and sadly had to cull it. It may have been the hardest thing I've ever had to bring myself to do. I wish you better luck than I had.

All I know is that I am done molly-coddling it. I'll leave it in the chair for a few days, getting it out to stretch (or roll around) a couple times a day and make sure it has food and water. If it makes it, cool. If not...

 

[KJaguar]

Two more pics of these guys.