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Arrowti's journal - backyard farm!
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My summer class started Friday... and I have an exam next week! Fortunately, it's only basic stuff. Anyway, on to the farm details.
The piglets are slowly weaning themselves. Three of our pigs decided they would rather get dehydrated than drink out of their new watering bowl (a large, heavy metal tub that they couldn't tip over and end up out of water with before the end of the morning). Fortunately they recovered fine and are back to normal. I really don't understand it. Our other pigs drink from it just fine.
Fred is lonely... but he'll get some company soon! Our mulefoots from Wilma's first litter are approaching their market date. We'll be getting the meat from those three boars soon, I hope.. I've been craving pork chops!
We bought another kiddie pool for the ducks since they refuse to stay in the enclosure and I'd rather them not be left without a large source of water throughout the day.
Now, on to some less hopeful/good news. Yesterday, it was in the 60s. Today, it was almost 90. And it went to 90 in almost 3 hours after being around 55 in the morning. We have 5 separate waterers in the meat chick's 'chicken trailer', and we added ice to it and added frozen bottles around to help keep them cool. It, and they, were in the shade. Unfortunately, the high humidity and lack of a breeze made all efforts useless. We lost one chick. Then, an hour and a half later, we checked back after picking up some feed and charcoal, and found 15 others dead - 1 died while we were removing the bodies. All the dead ones were in the back of the trailer, with the waterers dispersed through the front and middle (the top of the back end isn't openable, so we couldn't put waterers there).
It turns out that they did not know - or the heat chance was so sudden - that they couldn't get up and walk those 6-7 steps to the closest waterer to drink. Their bodies were so hot. We had to pick up the other chicks out back and put them in front of a waterer just so they would drink - they simply refused to get up and walk to it themselves. It was quite awful removing all those bodies of those poor birds.
And yet, I am completely baffled. We have raised our other 4-5 batches of meat chicks in the same trailer, in the summer, with no issues. In the shade, with waterers in the same locations... they would get up and drink. These ones would not. What would cause otherwise healthy chicks to not get up and get a drink when it's hot? Do you think the change was so sudden they were 'shocked', so to say? Or is this batch simply from a 'less intelligent' gene pool than our previous chicks? It'll be down in the 60s the next few days, then back into the 80s. I really hope these birds learn to get up and drink. There won't be anyone home during the week to pick them up and put them beside a waterer on the hotter days, and I really don't want more birds to suffer a heat stroke.
I am caught between the sheer confusion of why they wouldn't drink and and sadness that so many died what was likely a horrible death in such a short time. Anyone have any recommendations on keeping them cool? We can't really stick a fan outside, as a fan in that much heat would blow up.
Thankfully, we had no other losses around the farm... all the pigs are okay, the laying hens/roosters are good... and the ducks are great.
Well, a chipmunk died. My old arthritic cat brought it up to me while I was checking to make sure the rest of the birds were alive. He has trouble jumping on my bed but apparently no issue chasing down and catching a little chipmunk.
Last year, we raised 100 meat chicks, and lost 4 not long after they arrived, 1 other at a few weeks old from failure to thrive, and 2 from heart attacks. The previous years of smaller batches (20s and 50s) we've lost maybe 1-2. We've lost 18 total from this batch (80 chicks total, 20 were sold to another woman), and may lose more. It's just very discouraging. The weather seems to be set against us. The day we got the chicks it was in the teens - in April! The day after we remove them from the brooder to the outside world, it jumps up extremely high and the humidity was very high.
I know this is how things work... there are good batches and bad batches. But it still feels awful to lose so many 4 week old chicks to heat.
I'd appreciate any advice on keeping chicks cool, if there is any. We don't have enough waterers to cover every inch of space under the trailer for the chickens that don't want to move.
That's all for news between the last time I posted and now. Hope the next one has better events!
The ducks were fighting over a bucket of water earlier... I wish I had recorded it. They just didn't want to share one single droplet of water!
The piglets are slowly weaning themselves. Three of our pigs decided they would rather get dehydrated than drink out of their new watering bowl (a large, heavy metal tub that they couldn't tip over and end up out of water with before the end of the morning). Fortunately they recovered fine and are back to normal. I really don't understand it. Our other pigs drink from it just fine.
Fred is lonely... but he'll get some company soon! Our mulefoots from Wilma's first litter are approaching their market date. We'll be getting the meat from those three boars soon, I hope.. I've been craving pork chops!
We bought another kiddie pool for the ducks since they refuse to stay in the enclosure and I'd rather them not be left without a large source of water throughout the day.
Now, on to some less hopeful/good news. Yesterday, it was in the 60s. Today, it was almost 90. And it went to 90 in almost 3 hours after being around 55 in the morning. We have 5 separate waterers in the meat chick's 'chicken trailer', and we added ice to it and added frozen bottles around to help keep them cool. It, and they, were in the shade. Unfortunately, the high humidity and lack of a breeze made all efforts useless. We lost one chick. Then, an hour and a half later, we checked back after picking up some feed and charcoal, and found 15 others dead - 1 died while we were removing the bodies. All the dead ones were in the back of the trailer, with the waterers dispersed through the front and middle (the top of the back end isn't openable, so we couldn't put waterers there).
It turns out that they did not know - or the heat chance was so sudden - that they couldn't get up and walk those 6-7 steps to the closest waterer to drink. Their bodies were so hot. We had to pick up the other chicks out back and put them in front of a waterer just so they would drink - they simply refused to get up and walk to it themselves. It was quite awful removing all those bodies of those poor birds.
And yet, I am completely baffled. We have raised our other 4-5 batches of meat chicks in the same trailer, in the summer, with no issues. In the shade, with waterers in the same locations... they would get up and drink. These ones would not. What would cause otherwise healthy chicks to not get up and get a drink when it's hot? Do you think the change was so sudden they were 'shocked', so to say? Or is this batch simply from a 'less intelligent' gene pool than our previous chicks? It'll be down in the 60s the next few days, then back into the 80s. I really hope these birds learn to get up and drink. There won't be anyone home during the week to pick them up and put them beside a waterer on the hotter days, and I really don't want more birds to suffer a heat stroke.
I am caught between the sheer confusion of why they wouldn't drink and and sadness that so many died what was likely a horrible death in such a short time. Anyone have any recommendations on keeping them cool? We can't really stick a fan outside, as a fan in that much heat would blow up.
Thankfully, we had no other losses around the farm... all the pigs are okay, the laying hens/roosters are good... and the ducks are great.
Well, a chipmunk died. My old arthritic cat brought it up to me while I was checking to make sure the rest of the birds were alive. He has trouble jumping on my bed but apparently no issue chasing down and catching a little chipmunk.
Last year, we raised 100 meat chicks, and lost 4 not long after they arrived, 1 other at a few weeks old from failure to thrive, and 2 from heart attacks. The previous years of smaller batches (20s and 50s) we've lost maybe 1-2. We've lost 18 total from this batch (80 chicks total, 20 were sold to another woman), and may lose more. It's just very discouraging. The weather seems to be set against us. The day we got the chicks it was in the teens - in April! The day after we remove them from the brooder to the outside world, it jumps up extremely high and the humidity was very high.
I know this is how things work... there are good batches and bad batches. But it still feels awful to lose so many 4 week old chicks to heat.
I'd appreciate any advice on keeping chicks cool, if there is any. We don't have enough waterers to cover every inch of space under the trailer for the chickens that don't want to move.
That's all for news between the last time I posted and now. Hope the next one has better events!
The ducks were fighting over a bucket of water earlier... I wish I had recorded it. They just didn't want to share one single droplet of water!
frustratedearthmother
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So sorry for your losses...
Sorry for the carnage... Not familiar with meat chickens really... all mine are dual purpose. They don't develop the huge breasts, but seem "healthier". Are you a member over on BYC? There are LOTS of chicken experts over there. Maybe someone over there could enlighten on what happened and/or present options to keep it from happening again...
mysunwolf
Herd Master
So sorry for your losses 
I agree, I think it sounds like 90 degrees was just a huge shock to their systems and they overheated before they could figure out what to do about it. Not sure if this is useful but this article helped me: Common Mortality Causes in Broilers. You can spray them down with a mister attachment on your hose, they don't like it but it certainly helps--we did this for a few batches when it was above 80 degrees. We definitely have an average of 7% losses on our batches of 100+, and some batches are worse than others for unknown reasons. I put large waterers every 4ft scattered around their favorite hangout spots, but we have had better luck with pasture pens and electric netting than letting the Cornish X free range (forces them to be closer to the water sources). It also helps to have some "normal" chickens in with them to show them how to move around, forage, and drink water. Our pasture pens are also about 50% ventilated, and that is necessary for the Cornish X which just overheat too easily. Here's what we use:
We've switched to the Freedom Rangers (not the knock-offs, the real deal) starting this year and, aside from increased aggression in the males, have noticed how healthy, active, and intelligent they are in comparison. They take more time and feed, but honestly it's been worth it to not have so much sickness and death in the meat birds. Plus they have just as much breast meat, better flavor, and are almost as tender as the Cornish X.
We have also had the same problems with the red sex links as you describe. Most of mine died or had to be culled before 3yrs. But I have one red sex link left that is 5yrs old and still lays an egg almost every day! I have saved a few daughters from her since she is such a rare bird.
I have really enjoyed reading about your pigs and ducks and the rest of the farm too. I hope things go better with your chickens the rest of the season. Keep sharing and can't wait to read more!
I agree, I think it sounds like 90 degrees was just a huge shock to their systems and they overheated before they could figure out what to do about it. Not sure if this is useful but this article helped me: Common Mortality Causes in Broilers. You can spray them down with a mister attachment on your hose, they don't like it but it certainly helps--we did this for a few batches when it was above 80 degrees. We definitely have an average of 7% losses on our batches of 100+, and some batches are worse than others for unknown reasons. I put large waterers every 4ft scattered around their favorite hangout spots, but we have had better luck with pasture pens and electric netting than letting the Cornish X free range (forces them to be closer to the water sources). It also helps to have some "normal" chickens in with them to show them how to move around, forage, and drink water. Our pasture pens are also about 50% ventilated, and that is necessary for the Cornish X which just overheat too easily. Here's what we use:We've switched to the Freedom Rangers (not the knock-offs, the real deal) starting this year and, aside from increased aggression in the males, have noticed how healthy, active, and intelligent they are in comparison. They take more time and feed, but honestly it's been worth it to not have so much sickness and death in the meat birds. Plus they have just as much breast meat, better flavor, and are almost as tender as the Cornish X.
We have also had the same problems with the red sex links as you describe. Most of mine died or had to be culled before 3yrs. But I have one red sex link left that is 5yrs old and still lays an egg almost every day! I have saved a few daughters from her since she is such a rare bird.
I have really enjoyed reading about your pigs and ducks and the rest of the farm too. I hope things go better with your chickens the rest of the season. Keep sharing and can't wait to read more!
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Sorry for the high loss rate. I have a 1/2 doz red six links & will never buy more. I jut don't like them! My best birds are the larger ones.....Buff Orp, Jersey Giant, Barred Rock. I do not raise for meat but, they are good for that, also. Heat & cold they are just more intelligent and go to shade, water, hen house, etc.
Maybe that's why I don't mess with broilers, hate finding loss.
Maybe that's why I don't mess with broilers, hate finding loss.
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Our chicken trailer looks almost exactly like the ones in your picture! Even down to the metal sheets. We've fortunately had no more losses but are continuing to watch them. They really really like being in the back of the trailer over the front! We were told misting them could cause problems, unless you mean a special mist attachment as opposed to a mister setting on a normal nozzle - people say they could cool down too quickly or something. If not maybe we'll try that next time it gets hot.
I've wanted to try another meat breed ever since we started raising these, but haven't managed to convince anyone else here to agree! Personally, I'd rather pay a little extra in feeding a healthier chicken than don't have all the health issues. I don't like to see the cornish cross living such a poor quality life, sitting all day in their own waste because they don't want to get up.
At least, that's how I've seen them.
Wilma is doing a lot better, and she managed to jump the fence somehow... it isn't busted down or fallen, but she's somehow managed to get to the other side!
On the note of red sex links: we have one rescued red sex link from a family who had their coop burn down one winter and she was the only survivor. She is very intelligent, very feisty, an escape artist, broody often, and lays very well. No health problems from her, even though her feathers are still blackened from the fire almost two winters ago. We'll keep her when we get rid of the rest of the hybrids.
I've wanted to try another meat breed ever since we started raising these, but haven't managed to convince anyone else here to agree! Personally, I'd rather pay a little extra in feeding a healthier chicken than don't have all the health issues. I don't like to see the cornish cross living such a poor quality life, sitting all day in their own waste because they don't want to get up.
At least, that's how I've seen them.
Wilma is doing a lot better, and she managed to jump the fence somehow... it isn't busted down or fallen, but she's somehow managed to get to the other side!
On the note of red sex links: we have one rescued red sex link from a family who had their coop burn down one winter and she was the only survivor. She is very intelligent, very feisty, an escape artist, broody often, and lays very well. No health problems from her, even though her feathers are still blackened from the fire almost two winters ago. We'll keep her when we get rid of the rest of the hybrids.
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We just lost Fatty... I looked outside a little bit ago, and two ducks were somehow outside the fence, and the other three were in... all the females were quacking loudly (alarm call). Fatty was nowhere to be soon. I kept looking around, and out in the woods I saw a white shape. I went over and she was covered in blood, laying on the ground, propped up by her bill. Something had bit her around her neck and back. She was still alive when I carried her to the house, and put her in the warm bath, but she was bleeding too much, too quickly. She died after only a few minutes.
I don't know what it was. It ran off when I was walking out in the woods, leaving her alive, so maybe a fox? Fatty was molting, so there were white feathers all over the place to begin with, so I have no idea where/how it got in.
I know it's horrible to say - all things have to eat - but I just want to kill whatever it was. I'm so upset and angry. Fatty was my favourite duck - favourite livestock animal, really. She was so sweet, even-tempered, beautiful... just the nicest duck around. Poor duck. This is the first animal we've ever lost to a predator. I wish we had a guard dog that we could keep with them as protection while we aren't home or even outside.
As far as anything else that's happened, I'm having trouble remembering. We sold one of Bell's piglets. My brother moved out. And I really don't like my summer class, especially when I'm going to be away tomorrow which means something might get the other ducks - or the chickens - while I'm gone...
I don't know what it was. It ran off when I was walking out in the woods, leaving her alive, so maybe a fox? Fatty was molting, so there were white feathers all over the place to begin with, so I have no idea where/how it got in.
I know it's horrible to say - all things have to eat - but I just want to kill whatever it was. I'm so upset and angry. Fatty was my favourite duck - favourite livestock animal, really. She was so sweet, even-tempered, beautiful... just the nicest duck around. Poor duck. This is the first animal we've ever lost to a predator. I wish we had a guard dog that we could keep with them as protection while we aren't home or even outside.
As far as anything else that's happened, I'm having trouble remembering. We sold one of Bell's piglets. My brother moved out. And I really don't like my summer class, especially when I'm going to be away tomorrow which means something might get the other ducks - or the chickens - while I'm gone...
norseofcourse
Herd Master
I'm sorry about Fatty I've never had a duck but I know what it's like to have a special animal.
I've never had a duck but I know what it's like to have a special animal.
Sorry to hear about fatty. Hate it when we lose an animal to predators... Hope the rest stay safe tomorrow while you're away. Sorry you don't like your class... is it the material, the teacher or combo of both? Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and push through it.
