The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[Leahs Mom]

Mine aren't coming until May 21, so you will be ahead of me. What did you decide on?

So far I only have 6 Dominiques ordered for sure from the breeder. Waiting to hear from another local source before considering adding the Bantams.

Do you brood your chicks in a barn pen or indoors? I have the brooding pen in the barn, but I usually like to have them inside a few days to keep my eye on them more closely and be sure they are all doing okay finding the heat source and water. (I use a heat plate rather than light.) But...I really don't like putting them in their new digs twice!

Last time I brooded I had sfh that were about 3.5 weeks old already in the brooding pen so I put the Buckeyes right in the day they arrived. I think they were already at least 3 days old. I had to divide the brooding pen as the sfh were pretty large and they had some that were older than 3.5 weeks. I was out there several times/day already so I was able to observe the new kids - especially since I got them on a Friday and had them for the weekend before I had to go back to work. But this batch will be coming on a Tuesday or Wednesday so I don't have the couple days to be available all day.

ETA - the brooding pen is 6'x6' so plenty of room even when divided in 2 for chicks!

Odd shot of the brooding pen.

 

[kitkat5505]

I’m so jealous of all of you who can get more chicks. We are only allowed 10 hens in our city, plus I don’t have a big enough coop for more.

What day are Maretta’s eggs on?

 

[1muttsfan]

I keep chicks I incubator hatch here, and shipped chicks, inside the house under a brooder plate for 4-5 days until I know everyone is eating, drinking and pooping without any pasty butt. Then they go out into my small coop, 4x8, with the brooder plate. After they start feathering in good they get access to the outside run, supervised until I'm sure everyone is going in and out.
So much easier to have a broody, but my hens seldom go broody. I prefer to have egg layers that are not big broodies, as egg production is really my primary reason for keeping birds. I did not realize how entertaining they would be

 

[speckledhen]

I have to say Kylo Ren improved immensely in appearance once he took off his shirt

And Daniel Day-Lewis in Mohicans!! (Swoon)

And I'm not a huge DDL fan of his other work, though I recognize his genius as an actor. In that role, he is PERFECTION. Oh, my. A real man. Too bad they are going the way of the dodo bird.

I’m so jealous of all of you who can get more chicks. We are only allowed 10 hens in our city, plus I don’t have a big enough coop for more.

What day are Maretta’s eggs on?

I was just coming to post that! She is on Day 18 today.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So far I only have 6 Dominiques ordered for sure from the breeder. Waiting to hear from another local source before considering adding the Bantams.

Do you brood your chicks in a barn pen or indoors? I have the brooding pen in the barn, but I usually like to have them inside a few days to keep my eye on them more closely and be sure they are all doing okay finding the heat source and water. (I use a heat plate rather than light.) But...I really don't like putting them in their new digs twice!

Last time I brooded I had sfh that were about 3.5 weeks old already in the brooding pen so I put the Buckeyes right in the day they arrived. I think they were already at least 3 days old. I had to divide the brooding pen as the sfh were pretty large and they had some that were older than 3.5 weeks. I was out there several times/day already so I was able to observe the new kids - especially since I got them on a Friday and had them for the weekend before I had to go back to work. But this batch will be coming on a Tuesday or Wednesday so I don't have the couple days to be available all day.

ETA - the brooding pen is 6'x6' so plenty of room even when divided in 2 for chicks!

Odd shot of the brooding pen.


I brood out in my garden shed, that used to be a milk house on our barn. I like waiting until it's warm enough that I can get chicks outside on the grass during the day and I can generally stop using my heat lamp pretty quickly.

She'd where I brood. I can look out my kitchen window day or night and see my heat lamp glow and than I know they are okay.


My shed is to the right on the red barn. The barn used to have a big red barn top that was falling down when we moved here so we took it down and replaced it with the smaller roof. We also rebuilt the milk house, so it's not quite the same but sits on the same concrete pad.


My brooder is a box we built for brooding 25 years ago. I don't have an external picture. It's a box that is approximately 2 1/2 by 5 feet and has a removable divider in it.


When I put my chicks out on the yard I use a wire circle that I move daily and I put buckets on their sides because they heat up in the sun and act like a brooder. I use folding lawn chairs for shade.

 

[Leahs Mom]

At what point do you move them into the big chicken house?

 

[1muttsfan]

Not until they are fully feathered and old (and big) enough to evade the adults.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

At what point do you move them into the big chicken house?

I integrate between 4-8 weeks depending on weather and how they are growing. They must also be off extra heat.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Some integration pictures from 2016. My oldest buff Orpington rooster is so good with new chicks. He let the little buff peck his wattles while holding completely still.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Love seeing that photo of the roo with the kiddo. It would likely freak me out to have a baby that close to a roo!!!!

@oldhenlikesdogs and @1muttsfan
It used to be easier to integrate for me when the chickens were using the little house (shed coop). I had 2 pop doors and could divide off the run part so the littles could go in and out in their own outdoor area. After moving everyone to the barn pens, I don't have an outdoor run anymore. They just open out into a fenced area that's about .25 acre with a little wooded area - size depending on where I set the back electric net. I really need to figure out a way to have an outdoor protected run that only the little ones can access.

I would have to do some heavy-duty clean-up in the barn and move their pen all the way back and install a couple of pop doors in the sides to accomplish that. I keep thinking about it but hate to make permanent alterations to the exterior of the barn.