Every wonder how things happen on the farm?
Enjoy this short video on how we prepare the brooder for our meat bird chicks.
Tomorrow, we are expecting chicks and we are working to get our brooder all set-up. So, we will show you the steps it takes to do that.
We brood our chicks in a 4×8 ft wooden box which our new pivot came in. I took the lid and cut it into three sections. The one in the middle stays in place. The two on the ends allow me to crack it open to allow the chicks fresh air.
Next, we will add the shavings to the box. We put down a thin layer of shavings in the box to help keep them up off the ground and warm as well as make it easier to clean out when we move them out to the pasture. They are usually in the box for about 4 weeks or until they are regulating their own body temperature.
Now, we will put the lids on and set-up our thermostat which will keep the box at the right temperature. About three or four years ago, I bought a really neat thermostat on Amazon. It’s called an Inkbird thermostat. I believe it is actually for reptiles, but it has worked great for brooding chicks. It has two temperature probs I string down through the box and put under the heat lamps. These probs monitor the temperature and keep the chicks at whatever temperature I need them to be. When you first get chicks from the hatchery, they need to be at 95* F. Every week, you slowly drop the temperature down 5*’s until they are at either the same temperature as outdoors or they are fully feathered and can regulate their own temperature. This thermostat has really saved me time and stress over monitoring the temperature. It can be sunny or snowing outside and I know these little guys are right where they are suppose to be heat wise.
We also start raising the box off the ground a couple inches at a time each week. This allows the chicks to move away from the heat if they want and have found this seems to speed up the process of removing them from the heat lamps.
When your chicks first arrive, provide them with only water with electrolytes and grit for the first two hours. They need to get hydrated and grit in their craws before they get food. This prevents them from getting what’s called pasty butt and increases their survival rate.
After the two hours, you can then start sprinkling the chick starter over the grit and into full feed.
Raising chicks is a lot of fun! I could sit all day and watch them running around.
Enjoy!
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