Around Da Barn

AROUND DA BARN

We get many questions about how we hatch and brood our chicks and how we house our adult birds. We hope this page will help answer some of these questions.

We'll start at the beginning..... hatching. We use a Georgia Quail Farm fully automatic incubator, number 1202. Art spent the extra money and got the clear door, I am so happy he did. We can now see what is going on inside without opening the door and losing precious heat and humidity!

Baby chicks about 6 hours old coming out of the incubator into the brooder. These happen to be American Dutch bantams, aren't they cute?

We brood baby chicks in a large 28W x 36L x 32H cardboard box Art gets at our local box store. You know, the place you would go to package and ship your items. We first line the bottom with two 13 gallon size trash bags, this keep the bottom of the box dry. We cover the trash bags with newspaper and then shavings. We use a 40 watt bulb because of our mild spring and they are brooded inside. We spray paint the bulb red ( this helps avoid pecking). We use a saucer size styrafoam plate for chick feed and a chick free-standing waterer is used. You can brood about 50 chicks for 3-4 weeks and still have plenty of room.

Just moved in and are afraid of the camera!

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We live in southern Mississippi and not only have very hot summers with high humidity but have to deal with tropical weather six months out of every year.

This is the back of our barn. No, it's not tipsy, the photographer was. The sides can be lowered in the winter, during a hurricane or tropical storm. They also keep even the hardest rain from coming in and soaking the birds.

This is the view when entering the front of the barn. It it very airy, we have 6 fans going in the summer for plenty of air circulation. We use four 4ft lights. We also have a sink which is not shown which makes cleaning of waterers and coop cups, etc. much easier on the back.

On the left are 4 floor pens, the center pens house our cock birds and there are 5 floor pens on the right. We let our hens and pullets run loose when they are finished breeding. They also have access for free range out the front door.

This is a floor pen of very young Porcelains.

A floor pen of very young Belgain Quail & 2 Blue Dutch.