Today we picked up a package from USPS. After a long wait for our hatch date from Meyer Hatchery our Jumbo Cornish Cross Broiler chicks have arrived. They are only two days old and completely unscaved even though it’s January and we just had a couple of freezing days. I was hoping that our nice weather would stick around a bit longer but thankfully the temperature did not dip too low. We completed our brooding boxes a little over a week ago. We put the heating lamps on the night before and the temperature was just right to get them all set up. We got a 100 chicks and divided them into two boxes. We put the chicks in the brooder one chick at a time. We showed each chick where the water was and ensured they drank some water before moving on to the next chick.
We got the design for our boxes from a You Tube video. I believe we made it a little longer to give the chicks more space, they have a heating lamp with a thermostat and 2 shop lights. The initial temperature is set to 95 degrees fahrenheit, each week we will lower it by 5 degrees. We are hoping the chicks can spend 3-4 weeks there at which point we will move them to the shed. It is the middle of winter so we are hoping the chicks can withstand the cold temperatures. Of course we will provide a heating lamp but the space is pretty big.
