Chicken update

This 11 day old Cornish Rock Giant is nearly 4 times his "birth" weight.  As soon as they feather out, or even sooner, they will be outside foraging.

Another view of the size of the birds.

I pulled out the "brooder box" that was in here, it was just too difficult to manage the birds.  I put a simple lid with a hinge that can be propped open to any height, including fully closed, and fully open.  This allows me to spread the food out better, and keep an eye on the birds.  The heater also has a better spread, pushing the heat throughout the entire brooder.  

REPORT:

Day 12/Day 6.

The CRG (Cornish Rock Giants) are 12 days old, and the Buffs are 6.  

Fatalities: 7/1

One of the Buffs was crushed last night, to my great dismay.  Since the chicks cost $5 each, and I only have 25, each one that dies is a larger loss than the CRG.  The heater apparently turned off, and I can't figure why.  I think there must not have been enough oxygen or circulation under the box, which is why I removed it.   Of the 7 deaths of the other birds, 5 were due to piling, or when the birds are literally standing on each other.  This is typically when they are cold or scared, so my thought is to keep the heat in better with a full sized lid.  Two of the birds simply died, so they may have had some kind of trauma, or they just weren't fit enough.

Fatalities at this age aren't too costly, since I'm really only out the cost of the chicks themselves.  Still, I don't want ANY of them to die!  Regrettably, it is going to happen whether we want it or not, but we can minimize it with good practices.