Saturday, April 11

A few more days to give the last few chance to fully feather out, and to let the rain pass, and they'll be able to free range. They are ready!

They are eating well and growing fast. It's a bit of a shock to me how fast they develop, but if they were Cornish Cross (the most popular breed in factory farming), they would be ready for slaughter now. That's a frightening thought! Some of our Mistral Gris birds struggle to move around as they have a growth spurt, but then their strength catches up with their weight. A Cornish Cross that is developed to be fully grown at 5 weeks, can barely stand at this point.

There are lots of differences between the meat birds and the layers that we are raising together, apart from size, behaviours are different. The layers are starting to roost but the meat birds are too heavy to fly up there. While they are quite active, they are just as happy to lie in a feeder and stuff as much food in as possible. 

A few photos to show you what I mean (the black and grey birds are the meat birds):

March 30, 2015

The chicks are thriving. They have their wings and I've opened up the rest of the coop to them. They still have heat lamps on if they need them but they have far more space to roam.  They are starting to practice natural behaviours like roosting, dust bathing and flying (well, running really fast while flapping their wings and jumping in the air).

It's been strange recently. They seem to all go through a couple of days when their feathers came through, where they just wanted to lie around and do nothing. Every morning I'd walk in the coop and think 20 of them were dead. Thankfully, this phase passes within around 48 hours.

I'm starting to introduce new things into their diet, in particular greens from around the farm and worms to prepare them for free ranging. They were terrified by the salad at first (much like my kids) but they are embracing it now.

Exploring their new territory

Check me out! I flew up here all by myself.

Now, how do we get down?

Here are 2 chicks in their 'down phase', trying to convince me they're dead!

There are a lot of scruffy looking chicks as their feathers come in.

Tuesday, March 10

Well they are a week old now and thriving. We only lost 6 in total during the first few delicate days. You can see the chicks wings starting to develop and can make an guess at the birds gender by the size and spunkiness! The little roosters will try and peck you to protect their flock.

They are eating and drinking so much and you can almost physically see them growing. The Mistral Gris variety do not grow as fast as the commercial breeds, who fully mature in 5 weeks, but they do grow faster than the heritage breeds. Below I have posted some photos of the Mistral Gris' (the black chicks) compared to the Rhode Island Reds and the New Hampshires that we are raising for our laying flock.

One of the Mistral Gris chicks under the heat lamp

The New Hampshire chicks, a lot smaller in comparison

A reluctant model

The new feather on the wings beginning to develop on a little rooster

Hungry chicks

At the feeder

Yes, they did just poop on my foot!!!!

Thursday, March 05

The foster hens have revived 4 of the 6 weak chicks. Go Mother Nature. They're all out and about for the first time today with their foster siblings in the nursery.

The main coop is toasty warm and the chicks are very active. No more casualties.

Wednesday, March 04

Welcome to your updates on your chicks.

They arrived at the farm a day early, much to our surprise. However they have settled into their new coop well and are moving around a lot more today, eating and drinking well. There are 200 Mistral Gris, which are your meat birds. We also ordered 100 Barred Rocks and 10 New Hampshires to add to our own flock.

You will see from the photos that they are still very small and relying on heat lamps and artificial heaters for warmth. These heat lamps will stay on constantly until the develop feathers. At this point, the temperature of the coop needs to be a constant 90 degrees F.

The coop is insulated and designed to grow with the chicks. While they are so young it is beneficial to have them in a small space and close together. They can huddle for warmth if needed and to sleep at night.  As they grow, we can move the internal walls to increase the space. There are also removable perches which we will put back in as they show desire to roost. They will stay in the coop full time until they are old enough to free range.

We have purchased GMO free chick starter feed from the Otter Co-op to get them going. To give them the best start possible, we use some natural ways to promote good health.  For example, adding garlic to their water supports their immune system. They also get Apple Cider Vinegar to improve digestive health. As they get bigger and stronger, we will switch on the automatic waterers but for now, the manual waters are allowing us to monitor how much these tiny chicks are drinking.

As with any new chicks, there are always a few casualties. We did lose a few last night. We've been watching them closely. Luckily, we have some broody hens who are acting as foster Mom's for any chicks that aren't looking strong.  We've put 2 Mistral Gris, 2 Barred Rocks and 1 New Hampshire in with the foster hens to help them along and they appear to be doing well.