The crew is right at 4 weeks old.

The Crew hit 4 weeks old and we are now (as of a few days ago) filling the gallon sized waterer 3 times a day.  Once in the early morning, once about 2pm and again after dinner.  Same with the food.  We are on our 3rd bag of the chick starter (NON medicated) because the ducks cannot have the meds in the food.  So that makes it just over 100 lbs of food they have eaten so far.  Our third bag will last a few more days yet.  We get the 50 lbs bags of feed.  They are getting more friendly, especially when they are out of food or water.  They have been flying up out of the box if we don't watch them close.  We use a screen on top of the brooder to prevent that but sometimes they sneak out while cleaning it.  So far I have taken 1/2 of the shaving outs twice (that was around the waterer) and cleaned the whole thing once (took all shavings out and put new in) The ducks LOVE the clean shavings and will spend a lot of time playing in/eating it for a while after cleaning.  So far one is quacking like a girl.  I sure hope I have more then ONE girl!  Time will tell...no curl of the tails yet so still not sure.  We have also added new roosts to the brooder and a few of the chickens use it.  I'm sure more will later on as they get used to it.  The ones that do use it usually end up getting pulled off by the other chicks.  We added them about 12 inches off the floor.  The ducks are no longer laying under the heat lamp and in fact last week when it got up to 65 outdoors and the heat lamps were OFF one of the ducks were panting.  They seem to like it cooler.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

The crew is getting big!

At this time our gallon sized waterer needs to be filled twice a day instead of daily.  And the food is also being refilled twice.  They are not eating every bit of it YET but still refilling when I refill the water.  The ducks sure know how to dirty up a waterer that's for sure!  I do love them though!  I took them outside in the fenced in garden area for a few hours today.  It was in the 60's and the sun was out.  They didn't seem to enjoy it much.  They pretty much crowded together and laid there. Pecked in the grass where they lay but not much walking unless we made them. 

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4

A Chick Brooder (how to, does it work?)

Today we are starting out with making our makeshift brooder.  Something we can take apart and put away after hatch season, oh wait, does hatch season ever end???  Well, for me, it HAS to end but for some, it really doesn't :D  

Anyway, were making this about 4X6 or 3X8 (haven't fully decided yet) and my hope is that this will hold the chicks for almost up to six weeks of age (these are standard LF chicks).  I want to keep them as separate from the big ladies as I can until they are strong enough to overcome anything the older ladies are carrying around with them.  You know...those, sometimes hidden, diseases like Mereks...they say it's VERY common in chickens and if you have chickens you have to assume you have Mereks.   I'm just not taking that chance so separate they will remain until they are older and the vaccine has a chance to take effect. 

So what we have are two large sheets of plywood (4X8), six 1X2 (for the screened cover (directions to come later))  and some hardware (will post more about that later) and of course pine shavings, a heat lamp with bulb, feeder, waterer, some vitamins for the first week, chicken starter, water, paper towel for two days (laid on top of the pine shavings for first two days) and some baby grit (for later).  Will try to get pictures as we go just in case this turns out to be an awesome thing :D 

This is my first time actually making a brooder.  Usually I just use the watermelon boxes (3.5X 4.5 feet) but the stores have been making it so impossible to get them, I got tired of the chase! Yes it was free, and YES it worked WONDERFULLY (keep in mind this does NOT hold 25 chicks for a full six weeks...too small, but it does hold them for about 4 weeks just fine) but...I'm just not into chasing around anymore so were finally gonna break down and make one!!  Will add some pictures by the end of the day on our adventure.