Raising chicks old school

[Perris]

As a first time seller would you say those prices are steep?

given that hatching eggs are typically £2 each, when the buyer doesn't even know how many will hatch, and has to supply a broody or incubator for 3 weeks before they have a single chick (if any), I would say not.

 

[kattabelly]

and I think what @kattabelly has to put up with is, above all, strong wind so at least whatever gets thrown at him passes quickly

Actual objects thrown at me would pass quickly The weather not so much!

Tbh I do aim to take incubator-hatched chicks off heat by about ten days old - I think the earliest I've done was five or six days - but that's in bigger groups of say a dozen to twenty chicks, and I do have the option to put them back under the heat plate if needed. They get a thick cardboard box "house" that's big enough to be comfy but not huge, with ventilation slits cut in the sides and plenty of hay or straw inside.

Three chicks of a large, fast feathering breed might well do ok off heat in a warm house at two weeks old or less, but if I was selling chicks to someone planning to do that I'd want to be very sure they really knew what they were doing.

 

[K0k0shka]

This buyer doesn't strike me as particularly experienced, if they want chicks but don't have a proper setup and no heat source, and think a chick can manage without any kind of proper heat at 1 week old. Note that they are buying random chicks from a stranger, not special ultra-fast-feathering varieties that they know will be mostly feathered by 1 week old. The bathroom as a heat source is an instant red flag. Good thing you didn't go through with this.

 

[Helenhowes0]

The chicks are pekin bantams btw. Not sure if that makes a massive difference?

 

[K0k0shka]

The chicks are pekin bantams btw. Not sure if that makes a massive difference?

The smaller the chicken, the harder it is for them to regulate body temperature, so them being bantams actually makes it worse, and emphasizes the inexperience of the buyer, who'd leave tiny bantam chicks with no heat in the UK...

 

[K0k0shka]

P.S. Before heat lamps were "a thing", people used broody hens to incubate and raise their chicks, so it's not like the babies ran around people's bathrooms...

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

This buyer doesn't strike me as particularly experienced

This was my instinct too. Someone experienced with chickens would not be looking for brooder babies to keep in a bathroom-they would be looking for fully-feathered pullets to stick outside in their coop, not in a bathroom.

 

[Helenhowes0]

given that hatching eggs are typically £2 each, when the buyer doesn't even know how many will hatch, and has to supply a broody or incubator for 3 weeks before they have a single chick (if any), I would say not.

Yes, this was my thought process. Im just nervous that the price might be slightly less appealing giving my experience and being a private seller

 

[kattabelly]

This buyer doesn't strike me as particularly experienced, if they want chicks but don't have a proper setup and no heat source, and think a chick can manage without any kind of proper heat at 1 week old. Note that they are buying random chicks from a stranger, not special ultra-fast-feathering varieties that they know will be mostly feathered by 1 week old. The bathroom as a heat source is an instant red flag. Good thing you didn't go through with this.

Agreed! I was just talking about hypothetical buyers in general.

 

[Ridgerunner]

maybe some people who hatched chicks before heat lamps were even a thing

So please fire away

First I'll have some fun. I'll apologize in advance.

Heat lamps have been a thing for over 100 years, have had many different uses. Probably not many people active on this forum from before heat lamps were used. Even I'm not that old though Dad used an incandescent light.

The ancient Egyptians and ancient Chinese hatched chicks in incubators and raised them without broody hens. There is speculation the Egyptians probably used that method to help feed the people building the Pyramids. Yeah, a long time ago. People like to think all of this stuff is new, but it's not really.

Now, more seriously. About 45 to 50 years ago when I was spending a lot of time in UK hotels and even living in an apartment there I noticed the bathrooms were often cold. Some did not even have hot running water. The term "cold water flat" was pretty common. We had those in the US also so I ask my UK friends to not get too mad at me. Some bathrooms were fairly nice though with heat.

I have no idea how suitable that potential buyer's bathroom would be to raise chicks in. If I exercised more by jumping to conclusions I'd probably be in better physical shape, but I try to avoid that. You can ask any questions you want. If they get mad, you will soon get over it and they probably will too. But the bottom line, if you are uncomfortable selling to them, don't.