We're Going Into The Egg Business Now.

[meandwi]

Must be in the air with all the foul being bought lately? Just built a dandy cage with a lamp, feeder. water tray, and sawdust bedding for our new 2 week old chicks. I just want to know about lighting? My wife tells me we must turn the light off at night to help produce eggs in the future. I'm affraid it will lower the temp too much for them. Whats the correct procedure for raising them over the next few weeks?

I don't think we'll have them too long. Alligators are sneeky, the snakes are everywhere, and we have a few owls the lurk up in the palms from time to time. Sure I'll mend the fences, and make a larger coop one day. But the wife said theres some kind of snake repellant? Other than the owls? I've never heard of one. Have you?

Thank you,

meand wi

[ozzydom]

Sounds like your in the US, I dont know what the weather is there at present but chicks dont like cold and getting wet is deadly without a hens warmth to dry them, so here is how I have raised chicks of all species for over 50 years.

Buy a 6 x 4 or 8 x 4 (feet) sheet of light gauge galvanised tin, cut it down the middle and rivet the ends together so that when you put it on edge you have a circular draft and rodent proof fence.

just lay your sawdust and feeders etc ,hang a light above the center (incadescant in warm weather ,infra red globe during winter).Make it so you can raise or lower the globe to adjust heat on the chicks , Their behavior will let you know if they are comfortable, grouping together indicates they are cold, if they spread out and start panting the are heat stressed.

A temperature that is comfortable for you should suit chicks also.

At night a cover of a piece of mesh (shade cloth or similar ) will stop owls etc.

As soon as feathers have replaced their down they should be ok on their own.

Commercial hatcheries have 24 hour lighting/heating on their chicks and 16 -18 hour light per day on their layers for maximum egg production.( this fools the birds sense of season)

Yep ,there is a snake repellant ,called a 12g shotgun.

Dont forget to add a bit of finely cut grass to their diet, just grab a bit of fine grass and cut it down to 1/8th inch pieces.with a pair of scissors.

cheers

ozzydom

[RedBullHorn]

Sounds like your in the US, I dont know what the weather is there at present but chicks dont like cold and getting wet is deadly without a hens warmth to dry them, so here is how I have raised chicks of all species for over 50 years.

Buy a 6 x 4 or 8 x 4 (feet) sheet of light gauge galvanised tin, cut it down the middle and rivet the ends together so that when you put it on edge you have a circular draft and rodent proof fence.

just lay your sawdust and feeders etc ,hang a light above the center (incadescant in warm weather ,infra red globe during winter).Make it so you can raise or lower the globe to adjust heat on the chicks , Their behavior will let you know if they are comfortable, grouping together indicates they are cold, if they spread out and start panting the are heat stressed.

A temperature that is comfortable for you should suit chicks also.

At night a cover of a piece of mesh (shade cloth or similar ) will stop owls etc.

As soon as feathers have replaced their down they should be ok on their own.

Commercial hatcheries have 24 hour lighting/heating on their chicks and 16 -18 hour light per day on their layers for maximum egg production.( this fools the birds sense of season)

Yep ,there is a snake repellant ,called a 12g shotgun.

Dont forget to add a bit of finely cut grass to their diet, just grab a bit of fine grass and cut it down to 1/8th inch pieces.with a pair of scissors.

cheers

ozzydom

I use to raise 3000 layers 8 years back, now and then when a few are kind of sick, i was told try feeding them some soft green grasses by the pond, oh man! they finish two hands full of grasses in minutes! repeated doing this for a few days, all are well and off they go...back to their cages. My dog do the same, when even i release it in the morning to do its business, it goes straight to the pond edge and feed on the soft grasses like a cow...

But i still don't understand, Ozzy, what's are the benefit of this grasses? I'm still seaching for answer all this years...

Regards,

RBH

[meandwi]

Thanks ozzydom, for your insightful info. We live in South Florida, very close to the everglades. We have a very hot climate here year round. So I'm going to keep the light off during the day.

thank you,

meandwi

[ozzydom]

Sounds like your in the US, I dont know what the weather is there at present but chicks dont like cold and getting wet is deadly without a hens warmth to dry them, so here is how I have raised chicks of all species for over 50 years.

Buy a 6 x 4 or 8 x 4 (feet) sheet of light gauge galvanised tin, cut it down the middle and rivet the ends together so that when you put it on edge you have a circular draft and rodent proof fence.

just lay your sawdust and feeders etc ,hang a light above the center (incadescant in warm weather ,infra red globe during winter).Make it so you can raise or lower the globe to adjust heat on the chicks , Their behavior will let you know if they are comfortable, grouping together indicates they are cold, if they spread out and start panting the are heat stressed.

A temperature that is comfortable for you should suit chicks also.

At night a cover of a piece of mesh (shade cloth or similar ) will stop owls etc.

As soon as feathers have replaced their down they should be ok on their own.

Commercial hatcheries have 24 hour lighting/heating on their chicks and 16 -18 hour light per day on their layers for maximum egg production.( this fools the birds sense of season)

Yep ,there is a snake repellant ,called a 12g shotgun.

Dont forget to add a bit of finely cut grass to their diet, just grab a bit of fine grass and cut it down to 1/8th inch pieces.with a pair of scissors.

cheers

ozzydom

I use to raise 3000 layers 8 years back, now and then when a few are kind of sick, i was told try feeding them some soft green grasses by the pond, oh man! they finish two hands full of grasses in minutes! repeated doing this for a few days, all are well and off they go...back to their cages. My dog do the same, when even i release it in the morning to do its business, it goes straight to the pond edge and feed on the soft grasses like a cow...

But i still don't understand, Ozzy, what's are the benefit of this grasses? I'm still seaching for answer all this years...

Regards,

RBH

I dont know the answer mate,but it must have some medicinal value, an old farmer friend of mine back home used to chew on rye grass stems all day, I heard he died a couple of years ago aged 96, evidentally they were putting a big bull calf in a crush to nut him and the lot toppled over on poor old Tom.

Now that I think about it ,maybe grass is part of the reason that free range chooks have a lower mortality rate than caged layers.