Were is the best place to get chicks.
It is best to buy chicks from hatcheries that employ technicians who sex the chicks. That is to say separate male and female thereby enabling them to sell all hens and or roosters.
What does straight run mean?
This is a term used by hatcheries to define chicks that have not been sexed,
Why do hens stop laying?
There are many reasons that hens stop laying. Usually the factors are related to the following: Stress, extreme temperatures, disease or light availability.
Can you eat laying hens?
You can but there are better options for your consumption such as broilers or fryers and they would have a different diet that would make them more suited for food.
| What are the best egg layers? We can suggest a few different breeds for egg laying. Our best brown egg layers would include the Red Sexlink, Rhode Island Red, and Barred Rock. If you prefer a white egg, then we would suggest the California White, or the White Leghorn. |
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| What is the proper male/female ratio to insure fertile eggs? The proper ratio to insure fertility of eggs is 1 rooster to approximately 8-12 hens. Like breeds should be kept isolated for 4-7 days to insure fertility. |
How much room must you have to raise a chicken? You should figure one-half square foot per bird for the first two weeks. Then, a rule of thumb in is to increase to one square foot after that. But we would like to see chickens in less crowded conditions so we would suggest that 3 square feet per bird be the bare minimum. |
Q. How soon can Ducks be allowed to swim? A. There are thos who say that ducks can swim at about 2 months of age. We see them swim within a day or two on the farm. However we have seen a number of ducklings from each hatch drown because they cannot stay afloat well enough. A safe bet when raising them is to make sure that they have completely feathered out, and have lost all of their down. |
Q. Can you raise chickens with turkeys? A. We would suggest that you do not raise turkeys with chickens. Diseases such as Blackhead can be passed between poultry. Also, turkeys should not be kept in an area that has been occupied by chickens in the last three years. |
What can I do if my chickens are pecking each other? Chickens peck for many reasons. They can be hot, crowded, or sometimes pick on different breeds or chicks of different age. A number of remedies have been suggested to help fix this problem. Some people put large shiny objects in the pen such as a bucket, to entertain the chicks. Many people choose to put pine tar on the pecked area as a detterant for would be "peckers". |
What is the best bedding to use for chicks? Is newspaper OK? For bedding, we suggest you use Peat Moss or Wood Chips. Never, ever cover the chick bedding with newspaper or any kind of paper. If paper is used it can be disastrous when starting broiler chicks. They will often "spraddle" and a spraddled chick is a dead chick. They will not recover. |
How long should you keep chickens for laying? Most hens will begin to lay at about 20 weeks. Egg type layers will continue to lay efficiently for 1-3 seasons. After this period egg production will slowly decrease. The number of eggs you can expect differs by breed. See Question 1 for the best egg layers. |
