The Moonshiner's Chick Chat

[JacinLarkwell]

Yeah, I hatched off her last year. She was super broody too. I think she’s around 2.5 years old now. Ok, I looked it up. She will be 3 years old end of this summer.

Oh, that's not very old. My gal that was too old was ten or so

 

[Canadian Wind]

There's a fallacy that chickens are 'past their prime' at 2. This is from the chicken factories that suck the life out of their hens. In a proper homestead with good food and housing and care, they are good for many many more years. They may not lay as many eggs, but they can reproduce just fine.

3 is not old.

 

[WallyG74]

There's a fallacy that chickens are 'past their prime' at 2. This is from the chicken factories that suck the life out of their hens. In a proper homestead with good food and housing and care, they are good for many many more years. They may not lay as many eggs, but they can reproduce just fine.

3 is not old.

She’s laying eggs just fine. I don’t think she’s doing the chicken nasty though.

 

[Bonkerelli]

Got my 41 chicks from Murray McMurray this morning. Also there is my 4 Seramas that hatched the other day. All beautiful and healthy

 

[Bonkerelli]

Looks like 3 out of the 41 chicks I got yesterday are not doing so well. 2 are Polish and even after feeding them egg yolk and making the drink some water, still not perked up. Then the other is a Houdan which overall seems to be OK but can't walk properly. I examined the chick nothing seems to be wrong with the legs or the tendon.

There is a few others (Polish) that I am keeping an eye on. They just seem to sleep a little bit more than the others. Though they are eating and drinking.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Anyone use those brooder plate things?
Like them?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Anyone use those brooder plate things?
Like them?

They're great if you're not constantly paranoid, getting shipped chicks and can guarantee the room will stay above 55F

 

[JacinLarkwell]

They're great if you're not constantly paranoid, getting shipped chicks and can guarantee the room will stay above 55F

Seriously though, I liked mine, I just was always nervous relying solely on them. The chicks figured it out fast enough once they were settled and not recovering from shipping chills or hatched baby brain

 

[ShrekDawg]

Anyone use those brooder plate things?
Like them?

I loved mine

 

[The Moonshiner]

They're great if you're not constantly paranoid, getting shipped chicks and can guarantee the room will stay above 55F

I may have a slight paranoia of burning my house down but it's really not in play about this.
I've never really considered one because most would be too small to work for me and the bigger ones aren't worth the expense to me.
I saw one that was pretty cheap the other day but it sold before I thought about the option of using two. I keep my chicks in the house for the first week and thought maybe just for use in that brooder.
You know to give one a try to get out of the stone age of chicken keeping.