I have a. Barometer hanging in the middle of the heat lamps. This morning temperature was right above 70.
I woke up to a pile of dead chicks yesterday morning. They were in the middle of the tub I had them in. Not crowded under the heat lamp, not crowded at the other end away from the heat lamp. So why the suicidal pile in the middle?
That just cooked my grits. I moved them outside. I hovered like a helicopter mom all day, turning off all but one heat lamps, then turning them all back on before 5PM and checking during the night and first thing this morning. I walked them around often, swishing a plastic bag at them, to get them up and moving. They are fine this morning.
I always plan on losing some, and had already lost some. But yesterday’s suicidal pile totaled 12. So now I’m down to 62 chicks.
I have 24 four week olds in the small coop, so I’m still good on my numbers. The small coop was a chicken tractor, which worked fine until it rained. Then it was in standing water. I moved it to the highest point in the yard, but it was still a failure. Then a hail storm blew the top open and beat a dozen to death. That was 2 years ago. Last year I built up a dirt pad, way above the water puddle line and moved the former chicken tractor to it and now it’s the small coop. LOL
Clearly I need to rethink my chicken raising before next year. Raising meat chickens is the best way to raise a lot of meat in a short time that I know of. I just have to do a better job of it.
