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DobieLover said:
The only reason why someone would debeak a bird is because they knew they would be kept in inadequate space and the resulting stress would cause them to peck each other.
Birds should be kept in a coop with 4 sq feet of space per bird and have access to a run that provides a minimum of 10 sq feet per bird.
It sounds like you are working off of commercial practices which really is not in the best interest of the bird but in the best interest of profit at the expense of the bird without actually killing it.
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Yes you are right, I tried making them free range because I really like them to be comfortable but they had trouble eating Grass and picking food from ground because they are debeaked...don't know what to do now..help
 
jdankx said:
Yes you are right, I tried making them free range because I really like them to be comfortable but they had trouble eating Grass and picking food from ground because they are debeaked...don't know what to do now..help
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Just because they can't eat grass while free ranging doesn't mean you should not let them out.
Let them out. They will still enjoy the fresh air, exercise, scratching around, dust and sun bathing.
You should have multiple containers of grit around for them to eat to help them digest whatever they manage to find.
Either reduce your flock size by selling about half your birds or double your coop size.
 
DobieLover said:
Yes, a very large run. If you have 117 birds, the run will be rather huge. A minimum of 1,170 square feet. Larger is far better as you are going to have sanitation issues with just 10 sq feet per bird.
You also have the problem of them already being overcrowded in the coop.
Chickens given the proper environment with enough space should NEVER be debeaked.
Why do you have so many birds? You either need to double your coop space or sell half of the birds.
And if you have a flock of PBRs to create BLSs it sounds like you are planning on even more birds. You need a lot more space if that is your intention.
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Thanks for replying...Yes am planning on hatching more birds for eggs, I have land but the ideas on how to make the houses comfortable..I want to go commercial some day.. so should I work on the run or just doubling the house will work??
 
DobieLover said:
Just because they can't eat grass while free ranging doesn't mean you should not let them out.
Let them out. They will still enjoy the fresh air, exercise, scratching around, dust and sun bathing.
You should have multiple containers of grit around for them to eat to help them digest whatever they manage to find.
Either reduce your flock size by selling about half your birds or double your coop size.
Click to expand...

Thanks 😊, I want to know if doubling the coop size without the run will work...if not then I will sell half like u said...but the ideas on how to build big house for more birds will be very very helpful to me because am looking forward to hatching more black sex link birds.
 
DobieLover said:
Just because they can't eat grass while free ranging doesn't mean you should not let them out.
Let them out. They will still enjoy the fresh air, exercise, scratching around, dust and sun bathing.
You should have multiple containers of grit around for them to eat to help them digest whatever they manage to find.
Either reduce your flock size by selling about half your birds or double your coop size.
Click to expand...
Many thanks.. for grits I add few in their feed but I will have them in separate bowls. Thanks, I think that will be best only if they will eat those small stones on purpose knowing they are not food.. have u tried?
 
jdankx said:
Thanks 😊, I want to know if doubling the coop size without the run will work...if not then I will sell half like u said...but the ideas on how to build big house for more birds will be very very helpful to me because am looking forward to hatching more black sex link birds.
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I can't help you. I'm not into commercial egg production. I don't think the vast majority of members here are.
I keep a relatively small flock (max number was 27, now down to 21 with a broody on 8 eggs) in an 8'x12' coop with attached 368' predator proof run all plunked down inside 1/3 acre pen surrounded by poultry netting powered with a 10,000 volt charger. Nothing about my set up is profitable to anyone but the birds. But that is what I want. Healthy, happy birds that produce more than enough eggs for my and enough left over for a few customers willing to pay $3.50/dozen for the eggs they produce. I make no profit and am lucky if what I sell pays for half of my keeping expenses.
 
DobieLover said:
I can't help you. I'm not into commercial egg production. I don't think the vast majority of members here are.
I keep a relatively small flock (max number was 27, now down to 21 with a broody on 8 eggs) in an 8'x12' coop with attached 368' predator proof run all plunked down inside 1/3 acre pen surrounded by poultry netting powered with a 10,000 volt charger. Nothing about my set up is profitable to anyone but the birds. But that is what I want. Healthy, happy birds that produce more than enough eggs for my and enough left over for a few customers willing to pay $3.50/dozen for the eggs they produce. I make no profit and am lucky if what I sell pays for half of my keeping expenses.
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Ok thanks I will buy few books to see if it helps or I will simply sell half of them. I want them to be comfortable because quality is better than quantity. Thanks
 

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