sexing chicks & more ...eye opener?

[Mamma D]

check out this youtube link on sexing chicks - which actually only gets a very breif mention ...wow, do they handle these little buggers rough! ...gotta wonder how they even survive

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zbkkkn_PxE

[Admin]

Mamma, They toss those little chicks around don't they? Holy Crap.

On the subject of heat lamps, what do the Amish or off grid homesteaders do to raise baby chicks? Amish don't have heat lamps and I bet a heat lamp would drain the heck out of a battery bank.

What do folks do in situations like this? Do they leave the hens to raise the chicks in a sense?

[patricimo54]

Apr 6, 2012 6:49:18 GMT -5 Admin said:

Mamma, They toss those little chicks around don't they? Holy Crap.

On the subject of heat lamps, what do the Amish or off grid homesteaders do to raise baby chicks? Amish don't have heat lamps and I bet a heat lamp would drain the heck out of a battery bank.

What do folks do in situations like this? Do they leave the hens to raise the chicks in a sense?

I've often wonder that one myself?

[coalbank]

JC wrote:
What do folks do in situations like this? Do they leave the hens to raise the chicks in a sense?

Yes. Many hens' will not get broody, but the ones that do are good mothers and these are kept for future hatchings.
Nature does it best. These hen chicks will have more of a chance of being broody than incubated ones.

[Admin]

Apr 6, 2012 12:54:53 GMT -5 downhome said:

yes either broody hens or bring them in to a heated place.

So are you saying that if the chicks are kept in a heated building like my house (temporarily of course) that a heat lamp would not be neccessary?

[woodsman416]

Oh drat!!! I thought this was about high school girls sexting!!!! Carry on!

[trapperbud]

Apr 6, 2012 14:35:41 GMT -5 woodsman416 said:

Oh drat!!! I thought this was about high school girls sexting!!!! Carry on!

A friend of of mine show me how he sexes chicks . I'll do a video this weekend and post it . Don't know if it works or not but he swears by it '

[patricimo54]

Apr 6, 2012 14:19:37 GMT -5 Admin said:

Apr 6, 2012 12:54:53 GMT -5 downhome said:

yes either broody hens or bring them in to a heated place.

So are you saying that if the chicks are kept in a heated building like my house (temporarily of course) that a heat lamp would not be neccessary?

I have wondered if old milk jugs filled with hot water and rotated as needed would work for a heat source for chicks?

[paddyg441]

;D ;D ;D

Good one Ken quick to the draw

[firefox243uk]

i use gas heaters an a small shed

[Mamma D]

Apr 6, 2012 14:35:41 GMT -5 woodsman416 said:

Oh drat!!! I thought this was about high school girls sexting!!!! Carry on!

hehehehaha ...of course I didn't see that comment coming,

[mike692]

I can remember my pap and grandma keeping them in a box behind the wood stove. And I've heard of Pat's idea of using hot water bottles as well. Just change them out when they get cool. People have kept chickens for hundreds, probably thousands of years before electricity.

If you want to use broody hens to raise chicks, get some silkies. They're the best mothers I've seen. Just try and stop 'em from going broody!

[adksasquatch]

Chicks should be kept a 95 F for the first week, then you can lower the heat by 5 F every week. If they huddle under the light, they're too cold, and if they gather away from the light, they're too hot. Often the Amish around here keep them in a brooder heated with hot bricks or rocks from the woodstove.