I love my Olive Eggers. They add such pretty shades of green to my egg basket. I enjoy looking in there and seeing all the different shades of blue, green and brown. I even have some Leghorns that lay white eggs. So I have all the colors going on. I love it!
First time raising chicks! We got 14 egg layers and 14 meat birds ...my favorite one has to be the light Brahmas. They are so sweet and calm, the least favorite are the barred rock. They are bossy... thanks for your video!
My favorite hen is the buff Orpington. Sweet natured and broodiness hasn’t been bred out of them. My favorite way to raise chicks is to let a broody hen raise them for me! Easy peasy!
That's what I'm hoping for this spring. My Orpington went broody last year so I'm hoping for that this year. Last year I didn't need or want more chickens.
I've raised chicks off and on for years. I have a 50A service so I started with the heat lamp but but found the seed starting heat mat works better, easier to clean and much much safer. I keep them in the house in a tote next to my heater. I usually transition to using the heat mat only at night after about a week. Works well for me. I currently have 10 mutts from a neighbor since my McMurry order was affected. I was really looking forward to some cochin but...😥
When we were living off the grid we would wrap a hot water bottle-one of those old fashioned rubber ones-in a soft scrap of flannel. We changed it out with hot water twice a day, and it worked beautifully.
Yes, hot water bottles! I've used half gallon plastic milk jugs filled with hot water stuffed into an old sock for ducklings and bunnies. They love it!
I use a pop-up mesh playpen for dogs, they are cheap and work great for chicks in the house. LOVE the corncob material too. Raising chickens for many years, I like the Orpingtons, Australorps, Cochins, Barred Rocks.
Great information Stacy. After buying a dozen eggs paying $4.49 from Aldi’s and listening to Doug’s recent video about $8 to $10 / dozen eggs coming, makes me want want to get serious and build a coop. We live in town but our neighbors next door have 7 big chickens running around in there fenced in yard. Seeing more and more chickens in town these days.
Thanks again, Miss Stacy. Not a fan of the lamps. Although it can be a blessing and a curse for mature birds when they roost under spotlights and such. Had a neighbor brood Guinee Fowl under a lamp, and another neighbor keep his spots on all night so he could pick them off at leisure. You guys ROCK. Wishing you every success and abundance.
I have my first 6 australorp chicks (1 week old today) in a crate in the house right now. I will be getting 15 chanteclers in another 2 weeks. I picked these breeds because they are cold hardy. Its been a blast watching them. Curious little girls with quite the personalities….. One thing I learned today is they intentionally put their pine flakes into their water. I watched them this morning selectively choosing pine flakes and walking across the brooder crate to their water tray and dropping the pine flakes in. Oddest thing!
I've had Australorps for years, yoh will love them; they are sweet, quiet, and good mommas. We had them in 40 below weather and they did fine without heat and lay eggs through the winter. We have a premaid coup with a run and stacked hay bales around the outside with about 6 inches at the top for air flow and pine chips in the run and coop. We use the deep litter method, so just put more shavings over the top which further insulates and clean out in the Spring. For water, we change it every two to three hours depending on how cold it is.
I got a 9 egg incubator off Amazon, and decided to try and hatch some out from my little flock😊🐣. I've only got 2 laying of the 5 right now so Silver Laced Wyandotte and Americauna eggs it will be! Also want to get more Black Australaurp (2-3) and Buff Orpington (2-3). Great eggs!
Stacy, a couple of hours before you get ready to go to bed, put 3 or 4 solid/ paver type bricks or some clean kitchen pot sized rocks on top of your wood stove, wrap them in old towels or blankets and place them at various locations in your brooder. Then cover your brooder with your blanket on top to keep them warm throughout the night. Be sure that you have wrapped your stones or bricks in enough towels and blankets so that they are comfortable to hold. The little babies will love this. The water bottle idea would also work with plastic milk jugs as long as the liquid was not too hot. I am glad to see you showing your animals inside the house on these videos. People who are not from the farm don't understand that sometimes we have to bring them inside the house when they are vulnerable. They just think we are eccentric and don't always understand that these animals are valuable and are part of our livelihoods.
We always raise the chicks indoors; if they are to be production, they go outside in a pen, but since we are in the city, we keep ONE as a pet. (We have homes for the other three) We've used instant hand warmers, and more recently, the rechargeable variety.
I’ve been raising chickens for years. My favorites are the backyard dual-purpose breeds. I have Barred Rocks, Ameraucanas, Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, Jersey Giants, Marans, Welsummers, Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshire Reds, Silver-laced Wyandottes, Salmon Faverolles, Cinnamon Queens. This year, I got some Lavender Orpingtons to add to my flock. I love all of the different colors and different personalities!
I use sand in the hen house and sift out their droppings with a cat litter scooper. Some ppl claim the sand freezes, which is of course impossible-unless you’re silly enough to put wet sand in your coop Sometimes a chicken’s droppings may be a little watery and freeze and stick to the floor, but that just means the sand layer is too thin. It’s so easy and stays so clean, sifting chicken poop and adding it to the compost has become my favorite chore. No joke.
Might not be too bad if you had a long handle attached to the scoop. This just reminded me of a setup that was at the Mid-Iowa Kenworth shop. They used a cart of sorts that looked like a gravity feeder with a mesh screen on top. We would use floor-dri to soak up oil and other liquids, after scrubbing it into the oil patches, we would scoop it up and drop it in the top mesh tray to screen out the debri and the dry floor-dri would sprinkle thru the mesh to be used again. The mesh tray holding the chunks could be dropped in a trash can. I imagine a 2x2 foot screen could go over the top of a trash can and you could fill the screen with a scoop shovel.
Off the subject.. Stacy your hair is beautiful and I love the 'glitter' (as I call it ;) it's so pretty with your dark hair. Thank you for the info, I learned something new today.
I Love listening to you Stacy. I have a years worth of food for 5 people. I have it. I am so surprised. It is true My Lord has helped me I asked him and it happened. I would love to learn how to raise chicken from checks.
We aren’t off grid any more but we got baby chicks for our first time. We ended up with two small batches and the first batch I got two olive eggers too! They are all doing well thankfully. These are great tips Stacy. I really love your channel and all the wisdom and knowledge you and Doug share 💕
Spring chicks are in the air!🐣 D&S, we got a couple little Turks (currently in the bathtub) after watching your turkeys 🦃. They are starting to jump out of the tub teeheee! We noticed they’re much more affectionate than chickens. Fun!
Did you make the dry corn yourself Stacy or have you bought it? CONGRATS on 700,000 SUBSCRIBERS!! YAY!! you have much to be proud of and it is a testament to all the work you are putting in educating and inspiring folks like us xxx We have not raised chicken yet, but can't wait to get started :) Now I'll gonna rewatch Doug's 5 TOP CHICKENS TO GET AND WHY! and try to figure out which bread we can get in our area! Thanks for being so awesome guys!
Everyone is on their walk with the Lord. They don’t realize how much of the world has been brought in to real science of the Lord. The more we are in the lab of God these false ideas shall be burnt away. Plus listen to that she did not bring in but a few thousand years. Not the other nonsense.
I was wondering how you could raise chicks with out having electricity for a heat lamp. So this is an answer to my wondering. Thanks Stacey. I thought we would be limited to the hen's raising them. My favorite chickens are Rhode island reds but I always get a mixture to go along with them because I love to have the variety of colors. Right now my favorite hen is a golden laced wyandotte. She is a beauty and she cooks. When we hold her and talk to her.
You already know my favorite, Stacy.....GUINEAS! I hatched out my first last fall....she is awesome! Lots of eggs from the guineas and they are great "watchdogs"! :) Shalom Dawn @ Rich & Dawn in MN :)
I just truly love your videos thank you! My first year with 10 pullets and we are 9 days in they all seem healthy and trying to fly out of their brooder in my homeschool classroom. I used a pop-up zip playpen I had from caring for foster kittens. It is working well. I am sadly not to my off-grid goals yet so my girls are spoiled with a heat plate although I would much rather have your Pioneer Princess and be off-grid. I was scared to get a rooster due to horror stories, yeah I'm dumb. I am looking for one now if none of my girls end up being one. Will it be bad if it takes me a little bit to get a rooster to raise with them? All our local hatcheries have a min order even to pick up even the hatchery I got our girls from will not let me just order one rooster. Also, I am sorry you lost your Olive Eggers I got one of those among my 10. She definitely stays under the heat plate more than the other. I made sure to get 1 easter egger, olive egger, cream legbar, and the others are all brown layers that will be good for dual purpose like Buff Orpington, Barred Plymouth Rock, Speckled Sussex, Bielfelder along with some heavier layers like ISA brown and Amber link. I am over these insane prices just to have eggs for my family. I have stopped buying so much from stores and have started just stopping at random farms by me to make due and buy from them until I reach my goals for a garden, chickens, and fruit trees all this year. Next year I will get into bees, and more. I am so thankful for all your videos.
We just got our baby chicks 10 days ago and so far so good. We got American Leghorns and only allowed 4 in our suburban neighborhood. Having a cockiteal for many many years, we just applied the same like care as we did for our fella. We have a quality chick feed we give them morning and evening, water, and a heat source for warmth. Their coop is appropriate for a small flock and the dogs have done wonderfully with getting introduced to their new backyard friends. So far, so good!!!!
I live in an apartment right now in the city but when I get a piece of property, I will so keep information like this coming because I need all that I can get. Thanks.
Thank you again! We were literally just talking last night about how to heat and keep chick's soon because we are offgrid as well and don't love the idea of a heat lamp. We do have a woodstove and a small cabin, and tons of blankets so we will give it a go soon! The outdoor coop area is almost finished so we're getting egg-cited! 😆
Fav tips: use ibc tote cut in half for keeping chicks in house, tape wool sweaters to corners so they can snuggle it and keep warm, put wool feather dusters inside their pen so they can cuddle it and keep warm
Necessity is the mother of invention! When I brooded my first batch of chickens, I planned it when my Husband was out of town for a month. (This probably isn't necessary for most of you.) We have a spare/guest bath in the walkout basement so I raised them there with a controlled environment (space heater and brinsea warmer), plenty of water for clean up, all tile, and easy access to outdoors for disposal of litter. But 4 weeks isn't old enough to turn them loose and it was still very cold and wet. 🤔🤔🤔 **** I bought a 4 man dome tent for $20 off craigslist and set it up in the corner of the barn. It worked AWSUM! **** It kept them corralled when as they started to jump and flap. It kept the bedding contained, had a waterproof-ish bottom, and was enough room to put food and water on puppy pads and keep it relatively clean. Cats couldn't get to them. And it was not drafty but a transitional temp to the cooler outdoor temps. The best part is: it's cheap enough to throw away if you don't want to reuse it. I also used pack-n-play play pens, craigslist, when they were super tiny and that worked well too, but just for a bit and not very many. The older larger play pens would work better.
Yes to craigslist and unwanted small kid tents!!!!! We're attempting to do an open bottomed tent structure so it may be used as a temporary chicken tractor outdoors. We use it for foraging, not free outdoor hens. They are tiny right now and it's perfect. So cheap it is practical to use and discard (CRAIGSLIST) The one who stays will have diapers, shoes, and a carseat. (YES we have done it many times before) We use a "play yard" to flying stage then a "tent" once they can fly.
This is my first year ever with chicks. I ordered 15 from Cackle Hatchery and I got a mix of rainbow layers. I will be keeping in the house, but will likely use a heat lamp since this is my first time.
So timely! We just got our first set of chicks yesterday. 5 golden comets & 5 isa browns. I’ve been watching videos and learning so much. When we bought our house, the former owners left their chickens, so we inherited a few hens that we love. My favorite is definitely the Ameraucana. She’s the only one who lets us hold her - and she lays the cutest little blue eggs ❤️🐓
Hi, this is our second year of raising Cornish Giants. Last year my daughter and I did 50, this year we are doing 110 so that we hope to have 55 each. Just takes 2 months to fill our freezer with free range chickens that taste much better than store bought.
Hey Stacy, thanks for the bedding tips, I'm always thinking about the dust myself, also the cleanup. I'm adding 6 more to my coop. Right now my beautiful house only holds 10, I'm going for after Easter Eggers and RI red I think!! Thanks as always!
Great info Stacy! We becamefirst time raising cluckers last year. Love our golden and silver Wyandottes, Sex-links and Isa Browns. All great egg producers.
We have chicks for the first time! We have 10 Rhode Islands and 10 Easter Eggers. They are a hoot! It is over 100 degrees every day right now, so we are taking advantage of the heat to skip electricity. We put them in ventilated storage boxes at night. At sun upI let them out into a large 10' x 10' outdoor dog kennel that we've modified with industrial cloth, chicken wire and a wind break (There's untreated hardwood mulch on the kennel floor.) Each evening I put them back into 2 storage boxes for the night (we were using one box but they're getting bigger so we split them into 2 now.). They are doing great! Haven't lost one yet (PTL!). The storage boxes sit in the center of the kennel at night because I have NO indoor space for a brooder. The hot summer is really making this work. We are going on 3 weeks now and they are doing great! We plan to get a coop built in the next month and keep the dog kennel for run space until they're old enough to free range. So much fun! I call them "the rioters." 😂
Hey Stacy ..be sure to put your brooder up on bricks... the chicks make so much heat growing so quickly they made condensation between my brooder and wood floor and left marks.....
Even though we are off grid, we can use a heat lamp. If I didn't have inside cats your way would be great! And I love your brooder box. Will keep in mind the wool corners as well. I hope to be adding to the flock later this spring. We have australorps mainly.
I love the lace Wyondottes!! They are so lovely and hardy! This year will be my first year raising chickens in my adulthood. I had chickens when I was growing up, and it was such an impactful part of my life. I want to make sure we have chickens when we have kids of our own. I believe it is so important to teach kids where food comes from and how to be self sustainable. I am so thankful that we have this opportunity. 💚 bless you and your family and thanks for uploading this video!
I just got 30 Cornish Cross Hens chicks and 5 layer chicks as I already have 21 layers and all through the winter they’ve laid 21 eggs a day. Oh so good here in Utah. I sell the eggs for $5 a dozen too. Enjoy your content so much
We have raised Buff Orpingtons for years. They are wonderful mommas. We let our hens set and raise the chicks for us. Orpingtons are good meat birds and lay nice sized brown eggs. They forage a lot of their own food.
Hi I notice that many people grow different types of Chickens on their homestead. This may be a ridiculous question, but I was wondering, do you need a roaster for each different species you are growing? For example we just started growing Breasy Chickens last summer and we have a Breasy roaster, but I want to get an Orpington this year, do I need to get a Orpington roasters? And if I get a Silky do I need a Silky roaster?
@@sherrylegary7418 The answer depends on if you want to have pure chicks of the breed to sell or will the chicks be for meat. If you want to keep the chicks pure, yes you would need a rooster of each breed. And, you will need separate pens for each breed. We have several breeds of hens all together. We even have a couple of Bantam hens. The Bantams get bred by our Orpington roosters. The resulting offspring are half Orpington and don’t grow to be as large as the pure Orpington chicks. We do not sell any of the chicks so keeping only Orpington roosters works for us. If we wanted to sell chicks or hatching eggs, we would separate the breeds and have a rooster for each.
We have raised chicks for the past few years. We use a chicken heater pad and also a 60 watt light bulb seems to do the trick. We heat our home by wood burning fireplace insert so it doesnt get real warm in the house (65-70) but the chicks are not too far from the heat source. We usually just let mom raise them but we needed a new blood line this year so bought a few chicks. So fun to have them in the house. 😊 We also try to handle them daily to get them used to us. We had two bantam roosters hatch this past Dec and now they follow us around the yard like a dog. Lol. So cute.
Thank you for the info on pine shavings & dust! I always thought dust was just part of it. Never realized pine shavings were the problem. My favorite right now are Speckled Sussex. I love their deep mahogany color with the black & white speckles and the roosters have beautiful jade or emerald colored feathers added to the mix too. Hoping to get some good momma hens out of our flock. Letting hens raise the chicks is my favorite way to start new chicks, but I am really glad to learn some of your tricks for raising them without out heat lamps. Trying to learn and practice more ways of doing things without the grid.
Me too! I LOVE my speckled Sussex! They are so beautiful and friendly. I used sawdust for litter last year and kept the chicks in my basement. Dust EVERYWHERE! I won’t be doing that again. We can only have six chickens, so I’ll get a couple of young hens this year instead of chicks.
First time with chicks, I have 11 in a dog kennel in my living room, my favorite is the 1 Orpington (supposed to be a rooster but much smaller than the hens, it’s snowing outside so we’re keeping them inside for now and our dogs react the same way, I do cover them at night, my wire dog kennel works perfectly with a little chicken wire plastic around the outside, they’re so fun
I live in a park so no chickens. But I love learning about all of the information that you share. And I do talk to people about what I have learned. Thanks for all your advice.
As someone who has raised thousands of chicks and now off grid I wanted to do it all different. I chose some Silkie hens to raise chicks from the other hens. Very excited to go this way and take a load off me.
I have been around baby chicks all my life and yes we always started them out in our house. But then we we usually would use heat lamps once out if still a bit chilly.
Cute! Top of an IBC tote! Gary got it from the Hollar Homestead or did he get the idea from the Hollar Homestead? Thanks for this Stacy! I've had chickens about 12 years like you. I first did the swimming pool method with the pine shavings and a hardcloth cover. Then the last 4 years we have a separate brooder that was a portable rabbit hutch that was home built and they had it at a garage sale for $5! It works perfect because it only has hardcloth on the front side and I can wedge a board in front at first to provide draft protection. It's 2 1/2 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet deep by 6 feet. I don't raise much more than 16 chicks at a time so it works perfect. I do use a heat lamp at one end at first. It has a cover and I think that helps keep the heat in and protects the chicks too from rats or our cat. After 2 to 3 weeks they more out of there to a stall in the barn. I raise them separate until they are large enough to fit in with the older hens and then I mix them together at roosting time. I raise ducklings in it too but not at the same time because ducks are much more messy!
love love chickens !! I still haven't started raising them yet I enjoyed this video Plans are I will get some this year Thank you for the great video Stacy I learn so much watching them. Good information :-) Sending love God Bless you !!
I've always liked the silkies - just for looks! But I mentioned bringing chicks in the house to hubby . . . and he said, "Not interested!" To be fair, we aren't off grid - and we have a long list of other projects, before I could get a chicken coop and fenced area put together. We're also in an area with numerous small "farmsteads" - I know of at least four folks that sell eggs. But if the food supply really collapses, I'll miss getting chicken breasts to make dehydrated "chips" for dog treats . . .
What great advice! I have a brand new flock under a heat lamp. I like the feather duster idea! I currently have silver laced Wyandottes (favorite) buff orpingtons, black sex links, olive Eggers, and amaeraucanas
Awww the baby chick's are so cute! I have used the Rubbermaid containers before. When they got a little older I rigged a top made from chicken wire so they could not get out. Then we made brooders to keep them in. We put them in the basement. I need to get some chick's this year. Our girls are older.
Excellent info.. This is my 3rd year of owning chickens and i am going to get a new batch of chicks in the morning. Love how you explain things plainly and simply. New subscriber here!
Great video Stacy! I have been raising chickens a long time. I switched from barred rock and rhode island red to americaunas years ago. Then last year I bought buffs for the first time. Love them.
They should be about 95’ their first week and 5 degrees lower each consecutive week. Stacey still must have it quite warm in there for them so keep that in mind, and have fun!!
False Stacy, chickens are not descendants of dinosaurs. Evilution is a lie. Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. Genesis 2:19
Love the barred rock and the sapphire gems.. they are sweet, and lay very well. Thanks for all the tips.. starting to let some broody hens help us out this year and see what colorful things we come up with!
This is great! I've been wondering how to do this off grid but what about heat loving Turkey's that are also sensitive? And what about incubating eggs; if you don't have a hen go broody how would you hatch your own??
I've used wood chips and 2 Himalayan salt lamps in a large clear tote. They have done great, Easter Eggers, Americaunas, Sapphire gem. They stay warm from the wood chips warmed by the salt lamps. All 12 doing great.
