Bigger birds = bigger pad

More square footage required for bigger birds

The chicks new crib. So spacious.

On day 12 Cam modified the barn so that the chicks could have more space to roam and still be warm. This also enabled the birds to access more of the nipples of the watering system. I have completely given up on the small portable watering containers. They were useless because the birds filled the tray with sawdust and poop with an hour of me cleaning it out. The birds also preferred temperatures that are lower than the research we have done. 80 / 85 degrees seems to be plenty warm enough for them.

We found the mystery mobile chicken slayer. He lives a couple blocks away. Cam touched base with him and if we require his services, we'll call him a couple weeks before slaughter day.

We ended up switching the feed we were giving the chicks. We realized that the medicated crumble was the best choice for our flock. They are so vulnerable for the first 21 days that the small amount of medication was best and would prevent death and disease. The medication was 3.5 dinitro-0-toluamide (zoalene) and prevents coccidiosis. This is approved by the Veterinary Drugs Dictorate of Health Canada. Once the chicks mature and move the "grower" stage of feed we will move back to the non-medicated feed.