Week 1 The Cornish Cross Project

The baby chicks have been in the brooder for a week now in the garage under heat lamps on pine shavings.  They are eating 22% protein chick starter and have a waterer that we mix 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into.  They were all pretty healthy when they arrived in the mail from Ideal Hatchery in Cameron, Texas.  We ordered 50 of them and once we counted, they shipped 51.  They normally do this in the event that a few die in transit.  We did have one chick that appeared to have "pasty butt."  It was smaller than the others and eventually died.  Nothing we could have really done about that, though.

We learn from our mistakes, right?  It was the middle of the work week when they arrived and I figured, "Instead of setting up the brooder, I could just put them in the 150 gallon cattle trough."  It would be easier for now.  "Easier for now" isn't a good philosophy for raising chickens or pretty much anything else, for that matter.

They look happy enough, right?

The chicks were happy enough for the first several days.  The water trough brooder was getting a little small, however.  The chicks didn't have a lot of room to move around.  And then a cold snap hit pushing temperatures down into the low 30's.  Whenever it gets cold, chicks bunch together to warm up.  Despite having the heat lamps, the chicks were still cold.  They proceeded to pile up on one another.  This is not good for the chicks on the bottom of the pile.  Two more chicks bit the dust!

Tricia told me about the smothered chicks and I resolved to move them out of the trough and into their bigger brooder.  In the bigger brooder, I could set up two heat lamps and spread them out a little more.  When I got home from work, I trudged out to the barn, got the materials to set up the brooder, and did what I should have done last Thursday night.  We learn from our mistakes and move on.

The cramped water trough brooder

I set up the new brooder and moved the chicks into their new home.  It was amazing how much it made a difference.  The chicks spread out and seemed genuinely happy with their new place.  Plenty of elbow room.  They'll stay in this brooder for a couple more weeks and this brooder allows you to expand the diameter to grow along with them.  Around the beginning of Week 4, we usually move them out on grass in our chicken tractor.

I turned off the lights in the garage and the red glow of the heat lamp was the only light.  It showed them comfortably sitting - not piled up on one another.

We started with 51 birds and now have 48.  We'll try to keep our mortality rate low.  Next week we'll begin weighing the chicks to chart their growth against previous years.

We'll begin with the end in mind.  These chicks aren't pets.  They're food.  Our goal: In approximately 8 weeks, we want an 8 pound bird.  An 8 pound bird yields a 6 pound carcass.  See ya next week!