Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: MontyTom on December 19, 2006, 20:43
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Karl, I am posting this as you suggested instead of a PM so that other people may benefit from your excellent advice. Sorry everyone if this topic does not appeal to you.
I have acquired some large (1 x 1.5m) polcarbonate boxes today, which are approxiately 80cm tall. If I drill some holes in the sides, do you think it would be suitable to hang a heatlamp over and keep chicks in? Was thknking of putting some mesh over the top to keep prying hands out.
Many thanks
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great idea ,can u put that in feet and inches mate ,,, .the lamp should hang from a nail prefererably in the ceiling so that you can raise and lower it to suit .i actully used an old top opening chest freeser withalamp in one time so i think your idea is great.. the holes in the sides are for what purpose? regs karl :D
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Am I being too nice? I thought the holes could be for a bit more light or something to look at. Stupid idea?
Cheers Karl.
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That's approximately 4.5 x 3'
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no if you have circulation of air and the heat is controllable they will be fine mate . remeber the thing with heat is this . if they are all huddled together they are cold. if they all trying to get away from the heat ... its to hot. happy chicks will just run around pecking etc at the bedding ,hope that helps mate
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That's great Karl, thanks.
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Hi Monty,
I Have just hatched, my first chicks (they are now 6 weeks old) it was great fun! I put 6 eggs in the incubator, 2 were clear and one didnt work (which i found out when I candled them). but 3 hatched healthy and happy....... and are growing fast. I worried about the brood box and the correct temperature etc. but in the end all was fine, the most amazing thing is how much they eat (enormous amounts for tiny chicks)!!!
Good luck with the hatching, let us know how you get on :D
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sorrel's a chucky momma :wink: all say .. awwwww aint they cute ..... or would be if we had pics?
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Would put pics on (if i knew how) ... Sorrel is a techno-useless-phobe. My daughter put me an avatar on (i didnt even know what one was)... also i tried to put a photo on and it was poster sized!!!!
Need help with anything more technical than a chicken, horse, spade etc..
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can you email them sorrel? if so you can send them to me and i can put them on for you :wink:
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Sounds great, Sorrel. What incubator do you use? I have an Octagon 10. Candled eggs at 8 days today and discarded 6 out of 12. Also, did you check humidity with a hygrometer or just filled reservior in incubator and hoped? I am guessing because I don't have one. air spaces look ok.
Just in the middle of constructing a brooder with Karl's advice. Is yours home made?
Karl, have you ever had to kill disabled chicks after hatching? If so, how did you do it?
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head bewteen thumb and fingers near palm and just press hard this crushes the head and they are gone in a nano second, dont try to break necks or anything heroic .. quick and painless please :(
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Thanks for advice. What sort of problems would warrant this?
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none other than total deformity twin heads etc they can look to have severe deformed legs at birth after giving them a couple days to set the joints they may walk properly .other things can be wings at right angles to the body . chickens can cope with these problems its only in the wild that they would be preyed upon .
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Have you ever splinted their legs to stabilise them whilst setting?
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no ,, there is no point it just makes them a target for nosey chicks .you hear tales about not putting chicks on hay and all that rubbish but they have been running around on grass etc for centuries so that another bit of misinformation that i am trying to get stopped , just let them be you will know whether to cull it or not . i have had people argue that they should be gased drowned etc these people are blooming idiots .gassing involves a chick panting and gasping to breath as its dying ,it has to realise that its been tortured as does drowning, the chick has a skull like tissue paper until about 6 weeks of age then it sets hard.when you crush it as i do then its dead in a nano second ,no discernable pain ,i know we have to kill animals for our food etc but to inflict unneccasry pain in the proces is pathetic
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I use a Chicktec smart automatic incubator. For the humidity (i am cautious) as the egg must lose 13% of its weight during incubation and most of this weight is water loss, giving room for the chick to move around in the shell prior to hatching.
I instead I dont add water until day 18 , but I do put the incubator in a room that is a constant temperature. I am by no means an expert though, just read loads and often use gut instinct
http://www.poultryclub.org/ACHatch.htm - this site has good info.
Oh and I'm working on the pics of my chicks (will have to ask John) as even Muntjac has struggled to convert my pics to PC language thingy
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We did make a homemade brooder (or at least my better half did), which was great for the first 4 weeks, but then was a bit small (and also not very practical as it was in the utility room and the chicks were NOISY and kept escaping) and one of the chicks kept flying to the rim and roosting (was so cute).
At 4 weeks we moved them into and old coop (in the shed) and they now have much more space and are growing well.
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Sorrel, have you ever had to cull any chicks?
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Karl, what type of IR bulb do you use in your heat lamp, white or red? Does it make any difference?
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60 watt house bulb , no reason for fancy stuff mate feel the heat of a one :wink:
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3 leghorn and 3 silkie eggs are looking good. Can see peeps in leghorn eggs. Just thought I'd let you know fellow hatchers. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Got brooder set up, Karl - as advised. Thanks.
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what due date are they mate ?
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Leghorns due 3rd Jan, and silkies 11th.
Can't see anything in leghorns today, just black sadly. I think they are finished! Can see 2 definites in silkie eggs though - veins and peeps. Fingers crossed.
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3 leghorns (crosses I think?) hatched yesterday. Cute little things. Going to try and add a picture soon. Can anyone advise me how to upload please? Ta.
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here ya go monty mate ...scroll down and its all there
http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=1522&highlight=photobucket
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Not had to cull any yet Monty, however I am thinking two of my chicks are male (still not sure), so I'm afraid they will have to go.
Putting another 10 in incubator tonight (I know its wrong time of year really ... but fingers crossed).
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dont cull them yet wait till they stat to crow .then cull save ur self a meal then sorrel x :wink: pouson?
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not going to cull yet, Karl. Got to get the nerves up (as these are my first chick babies and gonna have a good weep).
however the reason i think 2 are male, they appear to be growing tiny spurs? I am also concerned that if 2 are male, it will leave one chick alone for a number of weeks until she is big enough to join the flock! they are all eight weeks old today.
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dont worry about it hon till they get to 16 weeks or so then you can have em for dinner if needed , oh and not all cocks have spurs and some hens do lol
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Do they start to grow about 12 weeks?? and is 16 weeks the time they become dinner :cry:
Got the kids to watch the Hugh Fernley thingy about chickens (expecting having to tell them little white lies about the males going to the chicken sanctuary in the sky etc). However, the have now decided they will only ever ever eat chicken if they know where its come from and how it was kept!! Its only me who just doesnt want to do the actual act
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you may find someone else to do it for you .allotment folks may know someone or your nieghbours