Schmidt Homestead

Our new home in Woodburn, IL

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Move to Pasture Pen

We moved the Nuggets to their new pasture pen today. The little layers moved into the coop. We weighed 6 of the Nuggets. The average weight is 2 lb 8 oz.

We finished the second bag of meat bird feed today, and will start the third tomorrow.

We went out after dark to check on them. It was very windy, and they were huddled in a pile under the heat lamp. We decided to rotate the pen 90 degrees to give them more protection from the wind. We also added a tarp to the side and top. They still stuck close to the heat lamp, but they seemed more comfortable out of the wind.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

We started the second bag of meat bird feed today.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Nugget Feed

I dumped the rest of the bag of chick feed into the feeders today. They'll start on the first bag of meat bird feed now. They've been drinking over a gallon of water each day, so I guess it's time to move to the larger waterer. They're eating more than a feeder full of feed, so we have the tray feeder out there too. We weighed them today. The average weight is 1 lb 3 oz.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Nuggets Improving

We didn't notice any new pecking injuries on the Nuggets today. They don't seem to be making the sores from yesterday worse. It looks like it was probably the layers causing the problem, so we'll keep them separated.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

More Injured Nuggets

The injured Nugget escaped from the ICU during the night. Now there are other Nuggets that show signs of pecking. We are concerned that the older layers are picking on them. We went out after dark and moved the layers back inside.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Injured Nugget

We noticed today that one of the Nuggets has a bloody bottom. It looks like somebody plucked out it's tail feathers. Steve built an ICU divider in the corner, and we'll segregate it for a few days.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Layers Move Out

We moved the layers that we'll be selling out to the coop with the meaties today. The layers are about 1.5 weeks older, so they're more feathered out, but the meaties are about the same weight.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Nuggets Move Out

Steve finished repairing the burned coop, so we moved the Nuggets outside today. The heat lamp is keeping it close to the temp that they need. During the day it's warm enough for us to open the door and put up a screen to give them some fresh air. We started a new bag of chick starter grower feed.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Meat Birds

We picked up 28 meat birds at Farm & Home today. We combined them with the 28 layers in the brooder. It's crowded in there, so we'll have to move the meaties outside in a day or two. It's supposed to rain all weekend, but we'll try to get the burned coop repaired in the next couple of days. They'll live there for a couple of weeks while we either build them a tractor or we make them an area in the old garage.

We weighed them as soon as we got home. The average weight is 4.5 oz.