meat chicks- lots of questions

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meat chicks- lots of questions

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Pel

Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 2366
Location: Sennybridge

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 08 8:51 pm Post subject: meat chicks- lots of questions

Right well, firstly i'd like to ask can you get battery powered heat lamps? As there is no mains up the garden.

I have yet to convince OH about meat chicks, his response to them was a big gasp and "your not thinking about getting them are you" so i have lots of time to ask questions.

Is it possible only to buy 4 chicks at any one time?
How much space do they need when they get big? Are they smaller than a black rock hen at 10weeks or bigger?

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 08 9:01 pm Post subject:

Batteries would not last long.
Assuming 24 hour usage & 250w bulbs you would get about 1 hour out of a 100amp/h bat with a 20% DOD (depth of discharge recommeneded for long bat life) before needing a recharge.
Using a higher DOD will increase run time but reduce battery life time. Its recommended to never go over 50% DOD as bat life seriously drops after that.

You can get LPG powered ones.

Oh & for 4 chicks you will be paying seriously over the top for running a heat lamp. Better off buying in POL's

A 250w heat lamp run 24 / 7 (which it needs to be to start) will cost about

250w x 21 = 5250w or 5.25kw/h
250w x 7 = 1750w or 1.75kw/h

5.25kw/h at 12p = 63p
1.75kw/h at 4p = 7p
= 70p per day
28 days = �19.6 or �4.90 each just for heat so far.

After 28 days you can start to just have heat on over night / cold days for the next week or two.

You might be able to get lower wattage bulbs but out stockist dont do smaller & most will do enough to fill the space under each lamp to be cost effective.

Juistme

Pel

Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 2366
Location: Sennybridge

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 08 9:08 pm Post subject:

Justme wrote:

hmmm so i would need 24 batteries and no sleep.
What about solar powered would that work? I have a slight fear of gas

..even though i'm fine when we go camping

But I would need a broody surely, if i am doing meat chicks, rather than POL's. I already have 3 black rock hens, not sure if they will turn broody

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 08 9:16 pm Post subject:

Saddly not.

In summer to make 24 x 250w you need to collect all that power during sunny hours (IE 8 ish) so would need a 750w array of solar pannels but as the energy will need to be stored to use when not sunny you will have to charge a batt which has an inificency of 1.5 (for each amp used you need to charge with 1.5 amps) so that would mean an array of 1125 watts in Winter you would have to quadruple that. The battery bank would also need to be in the order of 2000amp/h. Would be much cheaper to install mains power.

Justme

ps forgot it was meat not pol lol. Yeh get a broody but will be hard to convince her they are hers. Could put unfirt eggs under her timed to the delivery of the day olds.

Pel

Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 2366
Location: Sennybridge

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 08 9:25 pm Post subject:
Could you keep 4 meat chicks in the house until they no longer needed heat, what age is this? In a box under a heat lamp, since i'm not technically allowed pets other than fish in the house.. even though the dog comes round alot.

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 08 9:28 pm Post subject:

yes. You could also make a electric hen of suitable size using a normal bulb. Getting them off heat depends on the weather the placen you are going to put them. Also the breed as some dont realy feather up much as they are bread to be easy pluckers. I dont think you will get them off heat till 4 weeks. If you use a timer you can set it to provide heat all night & go on & of during the day.

Justme

Pel

Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 2366
Location: Sennybridge

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 08 9:40 pm Post subject:
Well i had heard they don't do very well outdoors, so i was going to put them in my woodshed, which is more like a small cottage, you could easily fit a single bed, toilet and sink in there. It has windows, and is reasonably draught proof. The chicks would be in a larger box, so they would be rat proof. Thank you for all the replies by the way very helpful.

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 08 7:24 am Post subject:

Pel wrote:

The chicks would be in a larger box, so they would be rat proof.

Thank you for all the replies by the way very helpful.

Steel lined box? No? not rat proof then lol.

Your welcome.

They do ok outside just not as quick or as good a feed conversion.

Justme

VSS

Joined: 14 Jan 2007
Posts: 2845
Location: Llyn Peninsula, North Wales

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 08 8:29 am Post subject:

we've got a batch of meat birds on the go at the moment, they were off heat quite early at about 3.5 weeks, but it was warm, and they were in a warm draught free place. if their accomodation is not so snug they will need heat for longer.

i think you might struggle to get only 4 chicks at a viable price - we stuggled to make up an order of 100, sharing with neighbours, 25 here, 25 there and so on. Although the price per chick does come down the more you order, the biggest headache is getting enough on order that the delivery cost per chick isn't too excessive. Given the price we paid for delivery, with 4 chicks you would be looking at �3.75/head just for delivery.

They eat and drink like mad, ours (20 of them) are going through a sack of feed a week and two 5 litre drinkers a day.
e have found that they don't much like being outside, they don't forage about and sit around looking miserable. They don't go to bed at night, they don't roost.

Ours are in a strawey pen, one that we use for calves in the winter, and should be ready for killing in about 3 - 4 weeks.

Bodger

Joined: 23 May 2006
Posts: 13524

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 08 8:34 am Post subject:
Pel. In the old days, brooders were powered by Parafin. You can still come by these brooders, but if you can't, you can get a very small greenhouse heater, guard it so that the chicks don't get too close and get the wick trimmed properly, this is the answer to your problem.

Pel

Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 2366
Location: Sennybridge

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 08 10:39 am Post subject:
Thanks VSS and bodger

Tradbritfowlco

Joined: 15 Feb 2007
Posts: 526

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 08 5:25 pm Post subject:

yeah i seem to remember my poultry guru Frank having greenhouse/paraffin heaters for his chicks - they were kind of on a wire rack above the heaters, and I don't know how that worked from a fumes/droppings POV but it must've done coz he always had plenty of chicks!

I just went against my landlords wishes and devoted my spare bedroom to nothing but chicks. then he did an unannounced inspection and I got a royal telling off

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 08 3:07 pm Post subject:

I've been mulling this over in the dark reaches of the night ... if you added a broody-type bantam to your flock - say a silkie or a pekin, which IME go broody the minute you take your eye off them - you could hatch and rear your own quite easily and not have all that faffing about with heat-lamps etc..

I reckon it does work out cheaper - but of course if you're hatching rather than buying in something like Ross Cobbs then you do have to wait longer to kill - five or six months. That's the downside.

If you hatched something like a RIR x LS, you would be able to sex the chicks at day old and sell the hens on as soon as they were old enough to be away from the broody, if you didn't want to keep them. ie, you wouldn't have to feed them until fifteen or sixteen weeks when some pure-breeds are sexable.

Pel

Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 2366
Location: Sennybridge

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 08 5:50 pm Post subject:

I don't think my 3 ladies would take to kindly to a new chick. The leader is quite bossy. How much would a broody cost?

I would probably have to get two though, as i'm sure she would be pecked too much with the big girls.

I can't see my OH agree with this one bit though, still working on him with meat chick idea, he wasnt really completely sound with black rocks coming.

He loves them now... well the eggs.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 08 8:57 pm Post subject:

You could probably pick one up for a fiver or so - they don't need to be pure-bred or anything, just a broody-like strain. Or maybe for nothing - someone was trying to get rid of pekins on our freecycle a few weeks ago. If it's a long-term project, I could stick a couple of eggs from mine in (or under) when I next do a hatch and you can have them when they're old enough to sex for a couple of quid or a trade.

And Pookie does a good line in RIS x LS eggs ...

Not that I'm a chicken pusher or anything

The advantage of using bantams is that they are tiny so they don't eat much. And for some reason they do seem to go broody at the drop of a hat.

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