To the point: I have accidently discovered a simple action that is of great assistance in raising little chicks – moisten the chick food sometimes. Although I did this in an attempt to save some little distressed chicks who were not eating, this probably is simply called “mash”. Mash is mentioned in this older pamphlet, downloadable free as a pdf from google books. There is a wealth of other information found here in this 1917 book.
Another successful action: have a “hospital” area always ready in the kitchen. And finally, I’d like to relay a story of how simply warming an apparently dead chick can bring him back to life.
Chickens are my favorite meat animal. They go to bed on their own, they stay around their home, they will feed themselves and they are more than willing to provide mowing and pest elimination services free of charge without even being asked. To top it off, they are lovely and make great pets.
There is the drawback that they have less than consistent toilet habits. This can be considered free delivery of fertilizer with free bonus spreading. Most of the other drawbacks can be dealt with by proper husbandry and proper location for raising them. Although a rural area tends to be the best location for chickens, I have heard of perfectly satisfactory apartment hens as pets and egg suppliers.
I have been raising chickens for over 30 years but only recently advanced to incubators and broody hens. Getting chickens to produce more chickens on their own and getting them to consistently feed themselves is quite a task. Trial and error have resulted in some success in things like moving a broody hen, getting a broody back on the nest, adding eggs to a broody, incorporating different age chickens into the general flock and predator prevention.
Getting the chickens to feed themselves requires getting their feed to grow and growing it. They love being on pasture and will gladly consume an entire garden; potatoes, radishes and onions included. Balancing what is grown and how much with how many chickens is a chore in progress.
For many years I worked with New Hampshire chickens. The roosters can be sweet, the hens are good layers. Both are excellent for meat with good meat-to-feed ratio. Over the last couple years, I have moved on to raising various breeds and running some of their eggs through the incubators. The breeds are all cold-hardy and survive well in the Pacific Northwest. Some of the breeds are: Lavender Orpington, Easter Eggers, Australorp, Wyandotte, Welsummer, Barnevelder, Marens, Legbar, Russians and Silkies along with some more well-known breeds like Plymouth Rocks.Continue reading“Raising Chickens From Scratch, by ZChick Lover”
