The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Housing, Health & Hatching
Over 2 decades of experience
Don:
Great article Paul and Angela. There is a lot of information and I will come back to read it a couple more times to take it all in. It sounds like you've been through quite a learning curve on thermostats. Very Interesting. Thanks for taking time to put this down for all to read.
Lee G:
Like!!! :D
Paul:
Sorry this is so late! I started writing it several months ago. It was placed on the back burner while the crops were being harvested and the chickens reared. Had a clean up and found it in a pile of old e-mails!
I left out how we toe punch and how we vaccinate for Marek’s Disease. So I’ll back up, to catch up, before moving on!
The hole in the chicks web is made by an instrument called a toe punch. It is about 2 inches long similar to a set of tweezers with a spike on one side and a hole in the other. The toe punch is slid onto the chick’s web with the spike pointing up and the hole side on the top. The two metal sides of the hole punch are squeezed together with the thumb and fore finger on the old style toe punch. Make sure the spike pushes all the way through the hole side and that a very small round piece of the chicks web is completely removed. This sometimes requires a fingernail to flip it off while the hole punch is in the squeezed position. If this piece of web isn’t completely removed, it may grow back. The plus numbers are punched the same. Then the web is slit with a single sided razor blade.
We have shown our birds in many different states under numerous judges and never received any remarks about their webs being punched are slit. This system of marking the birds is compatible to the ear notching system in the swine industry. A toe punch maybe purchased at many of the poultry supply companies. Our local feed store even carries them. They cost about $3 to $4. We have worn out a few pair in the past 20 plus years punching out approximately 30,000 chicks.
Now for the Marek’s Disease vaccinations. Marek’s diluent now comes in a plastic pouch/bag containing 200 ml instead of a glass bottle. The vaccine wafer is still in a vile/bottle. The two are designed to be mixed together then vaccinate 1,000 head of chicks subcutaneously (under the skin) within one hour. Since that is more than half of what we raise in an entire hatching season, we only mix a portion of the two at one time in a sterilized open top small jar.
Two-tenths of a millimeter/cc of the vaccine is drawn from the jar into a diabetic syringe with a 20-22 gauge needle attached. The chick is held in the left hand with the thumb and forefinger slightly pinching the chick’s neck to raise the loose skin. The needle is pushed into the chick’s neck-almost parallel with it’s neck (not perpendicular-as that will push all the way through the skin and release the vaccine on the outside of the chicks neck). The needle is inserted between the thumb and forefinger, then the plunger pushed. When properly vaccinated a small bump can be felt in the chick’s neck. It may sound a little complicated, but once one gets the hang of it, it’s very simple. I now can vaccinate 50 to 60 head in about 10 minutes. The chicks are held in “Blue Bell” ½ gallon ice cream containers with a paper towel in the bottom to keep the chicks from slipping while waiting their turn for vaccination.
Now that the chicks are vaccinated for Mareks, they are taken to one of the brooder houses. The brooder houses were originally built for farrowing (birthing) the pigs. They are 6 X 8 feet totally enclosed building on cement slabs. A loop made of hail screen wire holds the chicks confined to approximately 8 square feet. A 250 watt heat lamp light is suspended over the loop about 16-20 inches above the floor. If the chicks huddle/pile up under the heat lamp, it is too high and they are cold. If they lay around the edge of the light, it is too low and they are too warm. If they lay scattered under the light it is just right! Day old chicks need to be 90ºF to 95ºF for the first week of life. The temp can be dropped 5ºF per week after the first week of age. We adjust the temp by raising the light and/or changing to a lower watt bulb. Bermuda grass hay being very soft and pliable with small thin blades/leaves is used to cover the cement floor. A feeder filled with feed and a quart chick water is placed inside the loop before the chicks are released inside it. We used the whole house (48 sq. ft.) in the past, but have learned to prevent a few newly hatched from getting lost out away from the light-heat source that it’s best to hold them inside a more confined area for at least a week before releasing them into the whole house. We also used gallon waters in the past. A few chicks would manage to drown themselves in the trough around the jug. It hasn’t happen since changing to the small chick quart waters. We use a local produced 18% chick starter which we add soybean meal, fish meal, a Vita-Ferm product call Cattleman’s Blend, corn oil and chick grit. We use to mix all our feed by hand in a wash tub, but now use a cement mixer. Thanks to Max Strawn for the suggestion. It doesn’t do as good a job mixing the feed but it is adequate.
The chicks get checked for feed, water and cleanness of floor liter twice a day. The waters are filled twice a day, and fresh feed kept in the feeders but aren’t kept full to the brim as the chicks will soon waste more than they eat. The floors are cleaned when they get a fecal buildup. The older the chicks-the more often the floor gets cleaned. If the chicks are kept in filthy living conditions they will develop a disease called Coccidiosis. Coccidiosis is extremely deadly to them. Sixteen years ago was the first and last time that we had experience with Coccidiosis. We had a large group of 8 week old Easter Eggers and Ameraucanas (our first) that we had moved out of a brooder house into a portable shed-pen combination in the pasture. Unfortunately it was a rainy season and their building wasn’t moved when it should have been. They came down with Coccidiousis. They were treated with Sulmet-a sulfur drug. Best I remember about 75% survived. The sulfur can effect the pullets laying ability causing some of the survivors to never lay, which happened to a few. Since then, a medication called Corrid an Amprolium drug has been developed. I’ve heard that it works great, but don’t have any first-hand experience using it. I purchased some this year, just to have on hand since we have had such a wet growing season (29.5”in May). Over crowding, too much fecal buildup and wet floors will cause a Coccidiosis breakout. Coccidiosis is a management disease as far as I’m concerned. It can be prevented or created by how the birds are kept. Learn from the mistakes of may others--keep the floor clean, dry, well bedded and don’t over crowd the chicks. One would be amazed as to how much of the Bermuda grass hay the chicks will eat once they get several weeks of age. The Bermuda grass hay must be fee of any mold as it can cause a problem with the chick’s lungs. If it is baled correctly and properly stored it will be good to use. Some fanciers use wood shavings.
The chicks are kept inside these brooder houses for about 8 weeks before getting to free range. It depends on the time of year and weather conditions as to when they are turned out for the first time. The first few nights-late evening just before sundown a few chicks usually need help finding their way back to their living quarters. Once they get trained, they will put themselves up most of the time! We just have to go close the doors or gates depending on time of year-weather conditions, to keep the night predators out of them.
Some groups are moved to portable pens out in the fields or pasture. This gives the growing birds more territory to gather insects like grasshoppers, crickets, beetles and other favorites. Its amazing just how many they can consume.
We use pig creep feeders filled with the chick’s feed. They are changed from the chick feeders to these creep feeders at about 3 to4 4 weeks of age. The feeders have an adjustment flap to regulate the feed coming down into the trough. About three weeks of age white millet, whole wheat, chopped corn, flax seed and grower grit are added along with the soybean meal, fish meal, Vita Ferm, and corn oil to the started feed. The white millet, flax seed and fish meal are new to us, and still on a trial basis. About two weeks later whole oats are added to the grower ration. Gradually the grains are increased and the starter is decreased. About 8 weeks of age the starter is replaced with layer crumbles which doesn’t contain Amprolium. Sunflower seeds are added-also on a trial basis for us. We have grown several thousand birds to adulthood without the use of fishmeal, flax seed, white millet or sunflower seed, and they have performed very well, well enough that there has been 5 national champions. These ingredients are being tried to see if the bird’s can perform even better.
The next writing will continue with growing the birds-management of them, vaccinations, selection of breeders/layers, etc…
Don:
Great detailed narrative Paul and Angela! This information gives me some new ideas especially for feed supplements. Also I ran across your article in an old edition of "Exhibition Poultry" about growing your own Non-GMO feed grains. It was good to read some of this info too with specific grain varieties etc.
Thanks again for putting all of this together.
Paul:
Hi Don,
Thanks!
The plant that I didn't know the name of when you came, is the white millet that we are feeding the chickens. I had planned on planting some of the white millet earlier this summer, but didn't because it never rained in time to do so. When I was in my teens (many years ago!), dad raised fox-tail millet, at least twice, for hay. The seed heads are totally different!
I was able to identify the plant (white millet), by it's seed after it was rubbed out of it's panicle (seed head).
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version