Surviving Minnesota!

[KlopKlop]

101 posts? Good job. I will be at the International Motorcycle Show all weekend. I am at the Ton-Up booth if anyone is planning on coming be sure to stop by and say hi!

Ooo that sounds fun! Been day dreaming of bike rides lately

 

[Bogtown Chick]

101 posts? Good job. I will be at the International Motorcycle Show all weekend. I am at the Ton-Up booth if anyone is planning on coming be sure to stop by and say hi!

Hey BR! Have fun at motor cycle convention!

Ivie. I'm going to tell you #1: thank God for your nudges from your grandson to your lamp in the pine needles. What tragedies they both could have been.
#2 I've seen fires happen to the best chicken keepers. It is ok to **** off that lamp. We haven't had temps below zero for quite a few weeks. The birds don't need it. Just shut the darn thing off. Feel confident in your structure and those birds' fine feathers. They will be okay without it. May I ask if the coop is right next to the house? Eek.

Today I am going to the ice bocce tournament in Longville. Google for fun pictures. It is a hoot. We plan to take first place.... Ahem!!! Lol.

 

[duluthralphie]

BC have fun...


IV WOW!! You are so lucky. I hate heat lamps. BUT I use one to keep the water in my main coop thawed. Next year I am going to a different system. The great design I came up with last year ***** to use BC's words..

I do have my heat lamp double nailed and tied in place, so I take some comfort in that. I also have it on a timer so it only works during a few hours a day to give the water nipples the extra heat they need to thaw. I am afraid I am going to have to go to one of those new fangled yuppie heating pad thingys. I sure do not want too.
There is no two ways about it, for me, water in the winter is a PITA chore.

I have decided I am moving myself to the head of the list for Creamettes. I am going to keep a half a dozen females. I am going to either show them, or con Holm into showing them for me. I have had a terrible thing happen, I have tamed this little rooster too much and become attached to him. BUT the good thing is my wife has become attached to the other one. (and this one some) It is so out of character for her, but I find her hold a chick or two all the time now!


Last night she had the 3 younger ones in her hands, just loving them. I told her they were too young to handle but, well you know how that went. anyways she brought them to me and pushed their arses in my face. And said look!


Two of them had little minuscule drops of poop stuck in their fuzz. She was near crying asking if it was pasty butt. I said no, it is wrong color and not in right place. My expertise made no difference to the chicken hating woman. I was forced to go to the bathroom with both chicks (her carrying them and handing them to me one at a time) and clean their rears then oil them up.

I tried to explain to her I do not normally have a pasty butt problem and I watch for it. It all was for naught. She was not happy until their butts were clean and well oiled. I feed probiotics and grit from the start.


I have tried something new this year. Some of you might like it. I bought granite chips at Runnings for 4 bucks a 50# bag. I raise my chicks in cut off barrel tops (cardboard ) with a plastic lock top on them. Instead of wood chips I lined the bottom (top) with granite chips. The barrel tops have a grove around the edge were all the spilled water collects. The chips stay dry. The chicks pick at and eat the smaller chips so they get grit right away.

The chick starter works its way to the bottom of the chips. Yesterday I changed chips. I took the barrel out to the layers, dumped the granite chips on the ground for them. They loved them as did the guineas and the turkeys. They eat the spilled chick starter and chips. I need to buy grit for my birds during the winter anyways, so I kill two bird with one stone. I took the top off the barrel and washed and disinfected it in minutes. It cleaned way easier than wood chips did.

Here are pictures of the setup. Sorry about the red light tint.

 

[memphis]

Morning ya'll! I saw where you were discussing how high humidity makes it feel colder. It's currently 36 degrees here with 94% humidity. We learn not to breathe too deeply for fear of drowning. ..

 

[Cebarmlds]

BC have fun...


IV WOW!! You are so lucky. I hate heat lamps. BUT I use one to keep the water in my main coop thawed. Next year I am going to a different system. The great design I came up with last year ***** to use BC's words..

I do have my heat lamp double nailed and tied in place, so I take some comfort in that. I also have it on a timer so it only works during a few hours a day to give the water nipples the extra heat they need to thaw. I am afraid I am going to have to go to one of those new fangled yuppie heating pad thingys. I sure do not want too.
There is no two ways about it, for me, water in the winter is a PITA chore.

I have decided I am moving myself to the head of the list for Creamettes. I am going to keep a half a dozen females. I am going to either show them, or con Holm into showing them for me. I have had a terrible thing happen, I have tamed this little rooster too much and become attached to him. BUT the good thing is my wife has become attached to the other one. (and this one some) It is so out of character for her, but I find her hold a chick or two all the time now!


Last night she had the 3 younger ones in her hands, just loving them. I told her they were too young to handle but, well you know how that went. anyways she brought them to me and pushed their arses in my face. And said look!


Two of them had little minuscule drops of poop stuck in their fuzz. She was near crying asking if it was pasty butt. I said no, it is wrong color and not in right place. My expertise made no difference to the chicken hating woman. I was forced to go to the bathroom with both chicks (her carrying them and handing them to me one at a time) and clean their rears then oil them up.

I tried to explain to her I do not normally have a pasty butt problem and I watch for it. It all was for naught. She was not happy until their butts were clean and well oiled. I feed probiotics and grit from the start.


I have tried something new this year. Some of you might like it. I bought granite chips at Runnings for 4 bucks a 50# bag. I raise my chicks in cut off barrel tops (cardboard ) with a plastic lock top on them. Instead of wood chips I lined the bottom (top) with granite chips. The barrel tops have a grove around the edge were all the spilled water collects. The chips stay dry. The chicks pick at and eat the smaller chips so they get grit right away.

The chick starter works its way to the bottom of the chips. Yesterday I changed chips. I took the barrel out to the layers, dumped the granite chips on the ground for them. They loved them as did the guineas and the turkeys. They eat the spilled chick starter and chips. I need to buy grit for my birds during the winter anyways, so I kill two bird with one stone. I took the top off the barrel and washed and disinfected it in minutes. It cleaned way easier than wood chips did.

Here are pictures of the setup. Sorry about the red light tint.

That sounds like a great idea, the granite instead of wood chips.
Thankfully your wife keeps an eye on the chick butts for you.

 

[memphis]

Great set up Ralph. They need their own tv!

 

[duluthralphie]

Great set up Ralph. They need their own tv!

If I could find them a 2x3 inch TV my DW would probably buy it for them. She is spoiling them too much!





I have had one person lose 2 chicks, that is all out of my Creamettes I have sold ( about 20 so far). They have been kind of nasty about it blaming me for their losses. I have offered to replace the chicks, that does not seem to satisfy them as they have not taken me up on the offer, Anyways I have made up an instruction sheet I am sending home with the chicks from now on. As a side note it appears the people that have lost chicks are either new to chicks and are not people with a farm history.
I am hoping this will help. they all claim to know everything about raising chicks, but maybe this will help.


Any thoughts on additions or things I should remove would be appreciated.


Thank you for purchasing my chicks.

These are some helpful hints for raising healthy chicks.

Do not expose them to your other chickens or anything used by your other chicks for at least a month. If you have a pathogen that is dormant or harmless to your current birds it could kill the chicks until they are a tad older.

Please start them on chick grit as soon as you can, it will help them to digest feed and lower cases of pasty butt. Pasty butt is not an inherited condition.

I suggest you give them a probiotic. I give mine a little powder probiotic over their feed. Yogurt will work too, be sure it does not “sour' before they eat it.

Chickens are not vegans, they are omnivorous, please give the proper feed.

Do not put them on wood chips for a week, keep paper under them (on top of the chips”) ingesting wood chips can kill them. I find having grit available cuts down on chip eating. I do not raise mine on wood chips at all.

Dead chick is normal. 10% is not excessive. Losing one or two happens. Some simply fail to thrive, they only spend 21 days as a “fetus”. If something went wrong inside the egg they will die. It happens.

If you have excessive losses, review your procedures, did you disinfect properly? Follow safe handling of feed and implements?

Keep them warm! 95-99 degrees for the first week, then drop it about 5 degrees per week.

And I cannot emphasize this enough. DO NOT HANDLE the chicks for the first 2 weeks! Normal socialization with humans in the first two weeks is just reaching in to feed them, letting them examine you hand and that is it. Handling them more than that will kill them. They are fragile. After 2 weeks you can take them out and hold them for short periods as they get older the time can be longer.

 

[destiny_56085]

Holm I love my muscovies too! Only breed for the show ring and mainly black/blues from Jim & Patti Zimmerman's (Kansas) and 1 old chocolate drake out of Hauger/Schulte stock.

 

[jerryse]

Longer days have the roosters getting more aggressive . I had to separate one that was getting beat up .

 

[destiny_56085]

Thanks! SQ is show quality. I want some more but I havent decided to get some yet. I do have some wonderful Pekins and the ducklings from the pair are alot bigger than the parents and they r both hens. I culled two VERY NICE chocolate drakes. They were AMAZING quality. I should have sold them instead of butchering them. But they didnt fit into my breeding plans... They had some pied action on their head but other than that thye were nice. The top pics were the oldest they got and the rest r younger pics.

Holm... You did just fine by culling those. For the show ring they don't have near enough caruncles on the face. Even a young drake should have more than that. That white on the head isn't good for show ring either and will keep on popping up in future babies.