Our babies made it

[AgroUrica]

Yup, I moved the temp gauge and found it to be pretty high. I moved the lamp at more of an angle for them so it isn't giving off as much heat directly on them. You would think silly bird would move!

I put about 300 chicks in a 9 ft X 9 ft enclosure and originally had about 6 - 60 watt light bulbs illuminated because I was concerned about keeping them warm. Nighttime lows were about 70 F. In short order I cut back to only two lights and moved them higher (away from the chicks). I'd turn them on at night but off during the day. I'd monitored temps inside this enclosure several days before the chicks arrived and in no time I could see that they combination of their body temp and the lights kept the area plenty warm. It wasn't long before I had to move them to new, bigger quarters.

Don't know what your room or outside temps are there but those heat lamps generate some really high temps in short order. From what I've read, with meat birds, low temps slow them down, high temps kill them.

 

[daviechik]

Slow them down how? I have no problem turning it down even more. Right now they are being kept inside our home, pretty soon however they will be getti g the boot to the outdoor brooder. We live in south Florida and our lows right now are in the 68-70s, highs in the mid to high 80s most days.

 

[AgroUrica]

Slow them down how? I have no problem turning it down even more. Right now they are being kept inside our home, pretty soon however they will be getti g the boot to the outdoor brooder. We live in south Florida and our lows right now are in the 68-70s, highs in the mid to high 80s most days.

Slow them down in the sense that they spend more time huddled to keep warm as opposed to eating, drinking, and gaining weight. I'm no expert with these birds as I've raised just one group of 300. Having said that I learned a lot. One bit of advice I can give is that when time allows, watch the birds carefully and they'll give you clues as to whether they're too hot, too cold, sick, etc.

Since they feather rapidly I think in short order they can do a pretty good job of keeping warm, especially if your low temps are on the order of the high 60's. When I first took delivery on the 300, I was probably overly concerned with keeping them warm. Once I moved them to a larger pen, the concern became keeping them dry. We're in our dry season right now but wind-swept rain can really cause problems when they're very young. Good luck with your group. I'm waiting delivery on another group of 300.

 

[daviechik]

Thank you! I wonder if they are ready to go outside soonish with a light then or maybe even without a light? They are doing famously for our first set, we only lost one the day they came in (it was barely breathing when we took it out of the box and lost it quickly) but up until now weve only raised laying hens, we have a flock of 13 currently. We are working on building the meat chickens enclosure and got most of it done over the weekend. (it just needs a roof and door)

Best of luck with your newest batch of 300, holy babies! I thought I was a bit over whelmed with 25! Our rain season is fast approaching! It rained all night last night, first time since last summer its rained like that.

 

[AgroUrica]

Thank you! I wonder if they are ready to go outside soonish with a light then or maybe even without a light? They are doing famously for our first set, we only lost one the day they came in (it was barely breathing when we took it out of the box and lost it quickly) but up until now weve only raised laying hens, we have a flock of 13 currently. We are working on building the meat chickens enclosure and got most of it done over the weekend. (it just needs a roof and door)

Best of luck with your newest batch of 300, holy babies! I thought I was a bit over whelmed with 25! Our rain season is fast approaching! It rained all night last night, first time since last summer its rained like that.

Thanks for the well wishes. They arrive tomorrow morning.....300 in total. My preference would have been to wait another week to ten days because we're still refurbishing the pen that will house them for about 25 days or so but chick delivery here (Venezuela) is so unreliable that I'm going to take what I can get. Also, next week is "Semana Santa".....Easter week.....and no one will want to work.

My first group arrived on the 2nd of February and on the 38th day I weighed one bird (surely not the largest) and he was 3 kilos or 6.6 pounds. The growth rates on these guys is nothing short of phenomenal. We should start getting rainfall again in May about the time I get my third group. It'll be interesting to see what challenges we face when the rains come.

Best of luck and do keep us posted on your flock.

 

[daviechik]

Babies got moved outside today!!! They are covered up to protect them from draft but I know they are appreciating the added space.

Sounds like you will have lots of babies to keep you busy!! Can't wait to see pictures of your new babies!

 

[daviechik]

The kids with their babies

 

[daviechik]

Pile o' babies on their way to the outdoor brooder

 

[daviechik]

 

[daviechik]

All the babies made it through the night. Our lows were in 60s