May 5, 2025

Best Practices In Brooding Baby Chicks-Part 1

Best Practices In Brooding Baby Chicks-Part 1

In this episode, Rip Stalvey and Jeff Mattocks dive deep into best practices for brooding baby chicks. Whether you’re raising a small backyard flock or managing a large brooding setup, starting chicks off right is the key to developing healthy, productive birds. Topics covered include: · Brooder setup and spacing for chicks · Ideal brooding temperatures and how to manage heat sources · Expert feeding techniques, including using liver...

In this episode, Rip Stalvey and Jeff Mattocks dive deep into best practices for brooding baby chicks . Whether you’re raising a small backyard flock or managing a large brooding setup, starting chicks off right is the key to developing healthy, productive birds.

Topics covered include:

·      Brooder setup and spacing for chicks

·      Ideal brooding temperatures and how to manage heat sources

·      Expert feeding techniques, including using liver and egg for early nutrition

·      Choosing the best bedding materials (peat moss, pine shavings, and more)

·      Early growth benchmarks and why they matter

·      Natural approaches to support chick gut health

·      Real-world tips and live Q&A insights

If you’ve ever wondered how to avoid common chick issues like pasty butt , prevent early mortality, or get your chicks off to a strong start, this is the episode for you. Plus, learn why observing chick behavior is one of the best tools you can use for brooding success!

Visit www.thepoultrykeeperspodcast.com for more expert poultry care tips, show notes, and bonus content. Don’t forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more poultry health, breeding, and nutrition episodes!

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WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Poultry Keepers Podcast.

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In this episode we'll be sharing Part one of a livestream that Rip Stallvee and Jeff Mattocks recorded last Thursday evening discussing the best practices of brooding baby chicks.

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This show is packed with helpful information you can use to get your chicks started right so they will have a long and productive life.

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Now here's Rip and Jeff.

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We're gonna be diving into the best practices for brooding baby chicks doesn't make any difference whether you're raising a small backyard flock or managing a larder brooding setup.

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Starting your chicks off right is the key to a healthy, productive birds in the future.

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We'll cover everything from selecting the proper brooder size and maintaining ideal temperatures to providing the best feed, clean water, and preventing common check illnesses.

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If you've ever wondered how to avoid pasty butt.

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We're gonna solve that problem for you.

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Don't forget to ask your questions, and we'll share expert tips and real world reading experiences.

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So let's give your chicks the best start possible.

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Here we go.

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I'm not even gonna play our intro music tonight.

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How about that, Jeff?

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I think the first thing we probably should cover is the eh, brooder setup, some people forget to have the brooder ready before they get the chicks and that's backward from what it ought to be.

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They ought to have the brooder set up and ready to go before the chicks get there, either in the mail or from the store or before you hatch'em.

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But what are your thoughts about how much space for baby chicks?

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What do we need?

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I did want to, I wanted to say the best brooder, the best people that I've ever met in my life, brooding.

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Their brooder was set up to temperature and running, fully running 24 hours before the chicks ever.

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I even thought about showing up because it gives you time to troubleshoot.

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Oh, do I got a bad heater?

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Do I got a bad bulb?

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Do I got right?

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And so 24 hours before that chick ever gets to the burger, but look, square space and square footage for chicks is and I learned this the hard way, right?

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This is coming from years of experience, okay?

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That first three days.

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At least the first three days.

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You want four chicks per square foot.

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Or let me say it the other way, just for clarity.

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One quarter of a square foot per chick.

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Okay?

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So if you have eight chicks, that's two square feet.

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If you got four chicks, that's one square feet.

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12 chicks is three square feet.

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Okay?

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And here's why you do this.

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Okay.

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And within that space I want a couple sources of feed and a couple sources of water.

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I really don't want a chick to move more than about six inches without bumping into food or water.

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Okay.

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Because those two are critical in the first 48 hours to get those in into a check in that first 48 hours, I can't even tell you how critical that is.

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And we just did a little experiment with one of our listeners, Kelly Gear up in Saskatchewan.

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So yesterday, Kelly, his chicks just moved from the incubator slash hatcher to the brewer.

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Robert Water was warmed up.

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We put a tablespoon of sugar in one quart of water.

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And it was already up the room temperature and warm and the whole bit.

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And, but for that first feed we chopped up a tablespoon of liver, beef, liver, and we chopped up a half of a hard boiled egg, right?

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And we mixed that with one handful, one large handful, about four ounces of feed.

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And that was their first feed.

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And.

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Kelly was ecstatic, right?

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He could not believe his eyes at how ravenous those chicks were for that feed.

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Okay?

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Just they were piling on it, right?

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They'd eat a little bit, walk away, get a little drink, they took five minute nap, they come right back and just hammered it.

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So this was noon time-ish, middle of the day when they moved into the brewer and, it was about three, three or four hours later, he said they got that on right.

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They just cleaned it up, right?

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And he was gonna prepare some more, to take'em through the night.

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And that was 18.

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18 chicks, right?

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Wipe that out in a matter of hours.

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And that is encouraging.

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That is what I want to see because absolutely, the sooner I get solid nutrition in them, the better my chances are they're gonna be something when they grow up.

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No I gotta say, I've done the chopped up egg and mixed that in with feed, but it never occurred to me to use liver as well.

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That's just so logical that would be.

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Man, that would just really drive'em nuts to eat that.

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I can see that.

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Yeah.

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It's loaded with B vitamins.

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It's in, it's got

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Oh, yeah.

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A really

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nice fat level to it.

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It's easy to digest.

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It's not a, it's not a co stringy type of, meat, protein.

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Plus it holds all the fines.

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So if you're using a mash feed or you're adding some supplement to it or something like that, it help between the moisture of the egg and the moisture of the liver.

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It binds it all together.

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But he was just, I hope he tunes in tonight and can expound upon it, but, oh yeah.

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He was just, I, we were on a live, messenger, video call.

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And he was just like.

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Man, look at him.

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Go at it.

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Give me just constantly almost like he was watching some sort of, professional sport and something was happening every second's and they were just watching baby

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chicks do that kind of thing.

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That, that just really warms my heart.

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I'll be honest with you.

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I love to watch'em.

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Oh, that, that's just great.

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But you can better, you can rest assured I'm not giving it baby chicks, anything else but feed that's got some chopped liver in it.

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It, it was amazing, right?

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And I knew what was gonna happen.

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And they asked if that was chicken liver, no, it was beef liver.

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I am not a fan of feeding the same species back to each other.

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Okay.

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Yeah it was, we just used beef liver, calf liver.

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I don't know.

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I feel weird about feeding chicken back to chicken.

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And pigs back to pigs and cow, back to cow.

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I understand that.

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It just crosses a line.

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Yeah.

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It just crosses a line for me.

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I can't do it.

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But Carol asked if it was raw liver.

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Yes, absolutely raw liver.

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Don't cook it.

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Okay.

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There's so many more nutrients in, in raw liver.

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Laura.

00:07:01.785 --> 00:07:02.175
Yes.

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Lamb, liver is good also and.

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As long as it ain't chicken goose or, something of the foul family.

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I'm good

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now that, that was a half a boiled egg, white and yolk.

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Right?

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So what I did is I break it down.

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It used to be I just used the boiled egg, right?

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White and yolk, but it would, and I always figured.

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One egg for every 25 chicks.

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But I wanted to enter in with the liver this time, so I split the egg.

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So it was a half a hard boiled egg, large hard boiled egg, and basically a heaping tablespoon raw liver that was diced up fine.

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And so he put the handful of feed in the center.

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Now look I did, we didn't put it in a container.

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We put it on a piece of newspaper.

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Thick enough to hold it right about 12 by 12.

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Put it, put the handful of feed in there and then put the egg and the liver, just plopped it on top.

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We didn't mix it in.

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We just, and then set her down in there.

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They did all the mixing by themselves.

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Within 30 minutes they had it pancaked down and we're working it really hard.

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And so I, I didn't want any obstructions.

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The reason we didn't put it in a bowl or a pan or anything like that.

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I wanted it level surface.

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So they weren't tripping on anything.

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They could get right up to it.

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Makes sense.

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Yeah.

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And second,

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second, feeding.

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He put it in about a six, six inch bowl that only had half, three quarter of an inch lip around the edge, but once they knew what was in the middle of that bowl.

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I, they were doing high jumps to get in there and night.

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They were just, okay.

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That's

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what you call getting'em off

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the strong start.

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Sitting there washing your chickens at all ages is hilarious, right?

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It is.

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I, if you don't have'em for the entertainment value you got'em for the wrong reason.

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You're missing out on so much because they can so much.

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Wow.

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They're crazy.

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I love watching them.

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Rob says you should see baby chicks, even hours old, fight over and chase each other over live mealworms.

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I believe it.

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Yeah, I believe it.

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That wiggle factor gets their attention.

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Yeah.

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What about.

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Bedding in a brooder.

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I know you like peat moss.

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I do, I have switched myself to a mixture of peat moss and pine shavings, fine pine shavings just to hold down some of the dust because of the situation where I've got my brooder.

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But

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yeah, if you got it indoors, which a lot of people do it.

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It's gonna get you in trouble with the housekeeper,

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It's in the garage, but still it wass its way into the house.

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It does.

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And

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so key factor is, the important part is seven, about close, five to seven days on.

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I like Pete Moss only in that first five to seven days.

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Here's why Pete Moss looks like dirt or soil.

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It doesn't look like feed.

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I don't have chicks eating little pieces of wood chips because feed and wood pine shavings, and I don't really want that dense fiber in their digestive tract that early.

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Okay?

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So that's the only reason and.

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Here's my defense for Pete Moss.

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And I know people hate it because of the dust.

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There's, all kinds of stuff, but it's naturally sterile.

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Okay?

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Comes right out of the bog sterile, and it's a low pH so it slows down, or retards, potential pathogen, building from the manure, co acidosis, things like that.

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It's really distinguishable for them as far as what's feed, what's not.

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And actually if I have it in there for over a week by itself, they start dusting in it, and they start displaying, their natural chicken ness and pretty neat.

00:11:05.745 --> 00:11:06.065
I like it.

00:11:06.115 --> 00:11:11.799
I think anything we can do to bring out that chicken, as you say in those.

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As early as possible.

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I think they, it just makes for a better chicken.

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Just personal thoughts.

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Yeah.

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I think, I think we're triggering instinct.

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I think the sooner we can trigger instinctual activity, right?

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I think it gives us a stronger, more instinctual bird when older, right?

00:11:29.602 --> 00:11:34.832
If we can play into their natural instinct I really think that's a win-win.

00:11:35.192 --> 00:11:35.793
Absolutely.

00:11:36.182 --> 00:11:38.403
Laura wants to know, going back to the.

00:11:39.107 --> 00:11:39.648
Beef liver.

00:11:39.768 --> 00:11:39.977
Yeah.

00:11:39.977 --> 00:11:42.768
How long do you feed that initial egg, liver feed mix.

00:11:43.668 --> 00:11:46.798
So we're gonna do this for the first, four or five days.

00:11:46.918 --> 00:11:49.258
And then we're gonna switch to every other day.

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And then, later on in the second week, early third week, we're gonna go to every third day.

00:11:55.687 --> 00:11:55.957
Okay.

00:11:56.077 --> 00:11:59.018
So we're gonna gradually reduce it.

00:11:59.768 --> 00:12:03.337
The other thought process behind doing that mixture is.

00:12:04.177 --> 00:12:06.427
It gets'em on feed faster.

00:12:06.477 --> 00:12:14.717
And kelly's using a really coarse mash, like you can see the whole oats and bigger pieces there even for day old chicks.

00:12:14.748 --> 00:12:15.168
Okay.

00:12:15.168 --> 00:12:19.177
So I know people are sitting there cringing thinking they can eat that no, they sure can.

00:12:19.177 --> 00:12:19.298
Yeah.

00:12:19.298 --> 00:12:20.288
Actually they can.

00:12:20.988 --> 00:12:25.577
Just like Rob said, them fighting over a mealworm well is a whole lot bigger than a,

00:12:25.883 --> 00:12:26.413
than a,

00:12:26.972 --> 00:12:27.768
a kernel of oat,

00:12:27.868 --> 00:12:28.587
absolutely.

00:12:28.888 --> 00:12:29.187
Yeah.

00:12:29.368 --> 00:12:39.427
I want to, now I'm teaching them, to eat the feed right and just slowly wean'em off over the course of about three weeks, and by then gonna be, you're,

00:12:40.327 --> 00:12:40.717
go ahead.

00:12:41.138 --> 00:12:44.048
No, I was just gonna say, it's gonna be really interesting to see.

00:12:44.947 --> 00:12:48.158
What Kelly thinks is those chicks at the end of that period,

00:12:49.057 --> 00:12:50.467
they're gonna be huge Rip.

00:12:50.467 --> 00:12:50.947
They're gonna be huge.

00:12:50.947 --> 00:12:51.398
Oh, they are.

00:12:51.398 --> 00:12:51.727
I know,

00:12:52.628 --> 00:12:54.722
but I'm just happy for him that he's doing this.

00:12:55.023 --> 00:12:55.263
Man.

00:12:55.263 --> 00:12:55.802
That's great.

00:12:56.013 --> 00:13:01.123
I don't know if he can get it done'cause he's got his hands full, but, I'd really like for'em to weigh them weekly.

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And start, cataloging them.

00:13:04.018 --> 00:13:05.513
Because no one yeah.

00:13:05.883 --> 00:13:15.533
We already went through this way back in the Karen days, we tried to get, nobody knows what any of the heritage breeds way on a weekly basis, right?

00:13:15.832 --> 00:13:17.753
There is no data out there.

00:13:18.562 --> 00:13:26.062
There's nothing to go with the standard that says you're Rhode Island red at Hatch will weigh this many grams.

00:13:26.212 --> 00:13:26.423
Okay.

00:13:27.322 --> 00:13:29.873
At one week old, you're Rhode Island red.

00:13:30.442 --> 00:13:34.972
We'll weigh this right at two weeks old, your Rhode Island Red Chick will weigh this.

00:13:35.393 --> 00:13:39.903
Nobody has set a standard, all the commercial breeds, right?

00:13:39.903 --> 00:13:43.692
All the Cornish cross people, all the, all the laying in people.

00:13:43.692 --> 00:13:44.503
It's all out there.

00:13:44.562 --> 00:13:45.763
They'll tell you exactly.

00:13:45.763 --> 00:13:46.062
Convenient.

00:13:46.437 --> 00:13:46.727
Yeah.

00:13:47.082 --> 00:13:47.383
Yeah.

00:13:47.533 --> 00:13:50.893
They'll tell you exactly what you know, a pullet should weigh what a.

00:13:51.793 --> 00:13:53.648
They at every day.

00:13:53.707 --> 00:13:54.937
Actually not week.

00:13:55.268 --> 00:13:59.827
They will tell you every day of its life what that performance objective is.

00:14:00.398 --> 00:14:01.148
It's amazing.

00:14:01.148 --> 00:14:03.488
And, people are like why do I need to know that?

00:14:03.538 --> 00:14:10.102
Okay, so if rips Rhode Island, reds weigh a pound at five weeks old, right?

00:14:10.852 --> 00:14:14.663
And Karen's or someone else's Rhode Island Reds only weigh.

00:14:15.067 --> 00:14:16.238
12 ounces.

00:14:16.668 --> 00:14:18.018
That's a huge difference.

00:14:18.528 --> 00:14:22.398
How do you know if you're hitting the benchmarks?

00:14:22.398 --> 00:14:26.898
How do you know if you're as good as you think you are?

00:14:27.168 --> 00:14:29.457
Or, there's just no way.

00:14:29.738 --> 00:14:38.227
Now working with breeders now for, I think it's coming up on maybe 10 or a little bit more years since I started, even back in the Jim Atkins days.

00:14:38.278 --> 00:14:40.798
There's just no data out there, and there's no benchmarks.

00:14:40.857 --> 00:15:04.023
No, but with, we have found that with better feed, with better management, with better environment, with, we are seeing like First Egg we're seeing puberty in males almost like four, four to six weeks earlier than people had experienced in the past.

00:15:04.863 --> 00:15:04.893
Okay.

00:15:05.793 --> 00:15:09.493
So we're seeing what the breed possibility or potential is.

00:15:10.393 --> 00:15:10.692
Yeah.

00:15:10.783 --> 00:15:11.702
And that's good.

00:15:12.602 --> 00:15:19.273
That's absolutely, we want I think we want to see, what did your cock rolls weigh at 24 weeks or Rip.

00:15:19.677 --> 00:15:20.763
I don't know.

00:15:21.663 --> 00:15:22.363
See, you're asking the question.

00:15:22.363 --> 00:15:23.577
It would agreed to know that, for me

00:15:23.577 --> 00:15:26.982
to think I, I honestly, I'd have to go back and look it up, but I've got it.

00:15:27.763 --> 00:15:31.243
But were they, do we have anything else we can compare

00:15:31.243 --> 00:15:31.572
it to?

00:15:32.293 --> 00:15:34.722
Were they bigger than they normally would've been?

00:15:35.623 --> 00:15:37.182
And the feed outta that Triple N feed?

00:15:37.513 --> 00:15:37.842
Yeah.

00:15:37.903 --> 00:15:40.123
They were bigger than what they had been in the past.

00:15:41.023 --> 00:15:44.202
Not humongously bigger, but noticeably bigger.

00:15:45.102 --> 00:15:46.783
Noticeably bigger, yep.

00:15:47.682 --> 00:15:47.863
Yeah.

00:15:47.923 --> 00:15:49.182
Ariel's got a question here.

00:15:49.932 --> 00:15:56.048
She wants to know, how do you feel about horsepower specifically for Bandon Hook, since they are a watery mess?

00:15:56.947 --> 00:15:59.852
I don't have any experience with the pine pellets and I,

00:15:59.932 --> 00:16:00.788
I, I don't either.

00:16:00.788 --> 00:16:01.058
I know.

00:16:01.793 --> 00:16:11.854
I know Carrie and Jennifer at Bryan Roost and some other people are really liking the hemp pellets, which to me would be a lot the same.

00:16:12.754 --> 00:16:18.138
I don't wanna blow people's minds but this is, we did this field trial right at for trial.

00:16:18.663 --> 00:16:19.923
With a, with an intern.

00:16:20.072 --> 00:16:23.482
And if anybody wants to see the published field trial, that's fine.

00:16:23.533 --> 00:16:27.523
I'll happily send it to whoever the field trial comparison was.

00:16:27.523 --> 00:16:30.432
Peat moss compared to pine shavings.

00:16:30.643 --> 00:16:30.913
Okay.

00:16:31.812 --> 00:16:41.562
Now, it wasn't just about moisture and manure control, but it was also at the detection or the management of odors and ammonia.

00:16:41.773 --> 00:16:42.072
Okay.

00:16:42.972 --> 00:16:43.738
This was our trial.

00:16:43.873 --> 00:16:47.763
We had 2 8, 8 square foot brooders, eight by eights.

00:16:48.342 --> 00:16:51.523
Each one had 50 chicks in it Okay.

00:16:51.523 --> 00:16:53.832
That we were raising up and we'd finish'em later.

00:16:54.403 --> 00:16:58.263
But we did peat moss and one brooder, and we did shavings in the other brewer.

00:16:58.482 --> 00:16:59.592
Tractor supply.

00:16:59.623 --> 00:17:01.942
Nothing fancy, just, the medium.

00:17:02.842 --> 00:17:03.442
Are we back?

00:17:03.893 --> 00:17:04.702
Yeah, there you go.

00:17:04.762 --> 00:17:05.782
You dropped off for a minute.

00:17:06.022 --> 00:17:06.202
Okay.

00:17:06.202 --> 00:17:07.282
You said the medium, then I lost it.

00:17:07.942 --> 00:17:08.363
Yeah.

00:17:08.452 --> 00:17:11.722
We used the medium pine shavings like everybody else does.

00:17:12.083 --> 00:17:12.893
Here's what we found.

00:17:13.103 --> 00:17:16.192
We'd used five and a half bales of pine shavings.

00:17:17.093 --> 00:17:20.002
We only used one bale of peat moss.

00:17:20.163 --> 00:17:23.042
One of the 3.4 cubic feet or whatever.

00:17:23.292 --> 00:17:24.282
The bales are it.

00:17:24.883 --> 00:17:25.363
Okay.

00:17:26.143 --> 00:17:30.643
Five and a half to one ratio for managing the brooder.

00:17:31.542 --> 00:17:31.813
Okay.

00:17:32.623 --> 00:17:42.073
And observation wise, when we went in and we put new shavings in, the chicks all ran to the other side of the brooder to get away from it.

00:17:42.123 --> 00:17:43.383
They were scared to death of it.

00:17:43.982 --> 00:17:52.262
When we beded, when we added more bedding with the peat moss, the chicks all ran up to be the first ones to jump in.

00:17:53.087 --> 00:17:53.298
Okay.

00:17:54.048 --> 00:17:56.958
It was like New Sand in the sandbox for a bunch of toddlers.

00:17:57.377 --> 00:17:57.678
Okay.

00:17:57.798 --> 00:17:59.617
And that's the best way I can describe it.

00:17:59.768 --> 00:18:06.518
So five and a half to one ratio as far as moisture holding capacity, odor control.

00:18:07.238 --> 00:18:07.597
Okay.

00:18:08.498 --> 00:18:10.567
So it, it is pretty amazing stuff.

00:18:11.137 --> 00:18:15.567
There's no doubt in my mind that pea moss holds more moisture than pine shavings.

00:18:15.567 --> 00:18:15.688
Yeah.

00:18:15.748 --> 00:18:17.998
Or I think even the pine pellets would just.

00:18:18.897 --> 00:18:19.137
Yeah,

00:18:19.258 --> 00:18:19.798
what I've experienced

00:18:20.397 --> 00:18:23.367
somebody needs to do, there's a trial that somebody needs to do, right?

00:18:23.458 --> 00:18:32.678
You need to get like a quart jar of, peat moss and a quart jar of pine shavings and a quart jar of hemp pellets and a pine pellets, whatever, right?

00:18:32.887 --> 00:18:36.428
And, add a known amount of water to it.

00:18:36.548 --> 00:18:45.347
Give it however much time you think is fair and see, see which one holds the moisture better.

00:18:45.692 --> 00:18:51.242
Who, what absorbs it quicker Anyway, man we get, we went way down rabbit holes here.

00:18:51.272 --> 00:18:51.542
Sorry.

00:18:51.573 --> 00:18:51.722
No,

00:18:51.722 --> 00:18:52.292
that's okay.

00:18:52.292 --> 00:18:52.863
That's okay.

00:18:53.012 --> 00:18:53.553
That's okay.

00:18:54.032 --> 00:18:59.553
Katie Alexander says, my daughter is working on a dual purpose project for Rhode Island Reds for their fair.

00:19:00.212 --> 00:19:02.313
I'd love to see a chart like that for her.

00:19:03.212 --> 00:19:03.603
I agree.

00:19:04.113 --> 00:19:06.242
Maybe that's a good thing that she could start doing, Laura.

00:19:07.143 --> 00:19:07.923
Or Katie, I'm sorry,

00:19:08.042 --> 00:19:10.202
it's not, yeah, it's not published.

00:19:10.303 --> 00:19:13.272
And nothing within recent years.

00:19:13.272 --> 00:19:14.833
Nobody really has that number,

00:19:15.313 --> 00:19:15.942
not at all.

00:19:16.843 --> 00:19:18.252
We getting a lot of questions tonight.

00:19:19.063 --> 00:19:21.762
I'm trying to get my wyandots larger with the feed.

00:19:21.823 --> 00:19:23.682
Will it feed regimens such as this?

00:19:23.682 --> 00:19:26.442
Help Certainly get'em off to a good start.

00:19:26.442 --> 00:19:27.222
No doubt about it.

00:19:28.123 --> 00:19:34.163
It will, if the genetics are not there to make a larger bird right?

00:19:34.167 --> 00:19:36.488
You can only take'em to their genetic potential.

00:19:37.057 --> 00:19:38.827
Now we can get'em there faster.

00:19:39.188 --> 00:19:41.917
Okay, but can I make it any bigger?

00:19:42.468 --> 00:19:43.847
Than the parent stock was.

00:19:43.938 --> 00:19:51.708
And that's where, selective breeding, that's working through your genetics and keeping the bigger ones and working yourself up.

00:19:51.857 --> 00:19:54.528
'cause it's not, you can only go so far.

00:19:54.627 --> 00:19:54.867
Right.

00:19:54.928 --> 00:19:59.637
And don't forget that heavier is not necessarily bigger.

00:19:59.667 --> 00:20:00.988
That's not what you really want.

00:20:00.988 --> 00:20:02.548
You don't necessarily want a heavier bird.

00:20:02.607 --> 00:20:04.637
I think she's wanting a larger body frame.

00:20:04.877 --> 00:20:05.147
Right.

00:20:05.178 --> 00:20:05.357
So

00:20:05.432 --> 00:20:07.053
that's, and that's really all.

00:20:07.863 --> 00:20:08.913
That's all coming.

00:20:08.942 --> 00:20:16.393
You can impact it a little bit nutritionally, but at the end of the day, it's gonna be, you know what the genetics are.

00:20:16.393 --> 00:20:19.613
Parent stock, genealogy of that family or that line.

00:20:20.512 --> 00:20:20.663
Huh?

00:20:21.563 --> 00:20:22.972
Ariel says she's on it.

00:20:23.873 --> 00:20:24.442
Good girl.

00:20:24.472 --> 00:20:24.833
Okay.

00:20:25.673 --> 00:20:26.363
All right.

00:20:26.752 --> 00:20:27.053
Yep.

00:20:27.952 --> 00:20:28.913
I'd love to see it.

00:20:29.423 --> 00:20:29.843
Something.

00:20:29.843 --> 00:20:30.357
Oh man.

00:20:30.357 --> 00:20:30.637
Yeah.

00:20:31.538 --> 00:20:35.167
And Rob wants to know, has Pete Moss whoop click?

00:20:35.708 --> 00:20:38.857
Has Pete Moss gone up in price as much as shavings have?

00:20:39.758 --> 00:20:41.288
I haven't priced, I really don't know

00:20:41.438 --> 00:20:41.917
the book.

00:20:42.548 --> 00:20:42.907
Yeah.

00:20:43.008 --> 00:20:46.577
And there's a good chance that both are coming from Canada.

00:20:47.097 --> 00:20:48.567
And that could be part of the reason.

00:20:48.656 --> 00:20:55.886
So it probably has gone up, at about the same rate as the shavings, but I haven't bought any.

00:20:56.787 --> 00:20:57.237
I don't know.

00:20:58.136 --> 00:21:00.386
Katie's gonna stick her daughter on that little project.

00:21:00.386 --> 00:21:02.251
She said I'll get her to start one.

00:21:03.152 --> 00:21:03.642
Awesome.

00:21:04.541 --> 00:21:05.132
It'll be nice.

00:21:06.031 --> 00:21:08.771
And let's see, double oz.

00:21:09.201 --> 00:21:14.372
What about using dry leaves for bedding and coop once fully feathered in the co.

00:21:15.271 --> 00:21:16.622
Depends on what the leaves are.

00:21:16.711 --> 00:21:17.192
Okay.

00:21:17.192 --> 00:21:22.061
So I have seen some leaves.

00:21:22.061 --> 00:21:29.832
One, they come in contact with moisture in a coop that they will have a secondary fermentation.

00:21:30.342 --> 00:21:35.142
So they, particularly your trees with more sugary SAPs to'em.

00:21:35.682 --> 00:21:38.501
So there's a higher sugar content in the leaf.

00:21:39.192 --> 00:21:40.721
So you can.

00:21:41.571 --> 00:21:48.662
And leaves come in with their own set of fungis as well, so you wanna watch for the little white spots on'em, which is a fungus growth.

00:21:49.561 --> 00:22:00.602
You just need to monitor, you should monitor the temperature of the leaves, so if they start composting again just make sure you got good airflow and be careful.

00:22:00.811 --> 00:22:02.791
Yeah, most of the time nobody has a problem with it.

00:22:03.001 --> 00:22:09.741
And, I got a close friend br bedded with, dried leaves and it was okay until one time it wasn't.

00:22:09.922 --> 00:22:17.326
So if they weren't truly dry, before you put'em away or stored'em, then they will ferment again.

00:22:18.227 --> 00:22:21.616
Let's talk just briefly about temperature and heat sources.

00:22:21.616 --> 00:22:21.826
This.

00:22:21.856 --> 00:22:27.616
I know this is something we've beaten to death over the years, but I like to start chicks out.

00:22:27.757 --> 00:22:34.426
Tell folks to start their chicks out at 95 degrees Fahrenheit and then decrease it five degrees each week.

00:22:35.326 --> 00:22:44.842
Down here where I am it's gets so hot, so fast that I actually start my chicks out at 90 degrees and then decrease it five degrees a week.

00:22:45.741 --> 00:22:52.041
And I used to have a problem with my reds, the males, which had these large single cones.

00:22:52.251 --> 00:22:58.172
The cones would get real big and real beepy and the waddles would get super long, too long.

00:22:58.951 --> 00:23:06.031
But by reducing that brooder temperature, five degrees, I was able to get that back under control to where it really ought to be.

00:23:06.241 --> 00:23:07.682
So just something to think about.

00:23:08.582 --> 00:23:09.392
That's interesting.

00:23:09.392 --> 00:23:14.352
I didn't, wouldn't have known that it would've stimulated that, comb and waddle growth that much fat.

00:23:14.352 --> 00:23:16.807
I understand it's the air conditioning, the chicken.

00:23:16.807 --> 00:23:17.017
Yeah.

00:23:17.017 --> 00:23:18.442
And I, yeah.

00:23:18.531 --> 00:23:21.201
But yeah, chicks are 95.

00:23:21.251 --> 00:23:26.252
Turkey should be 97, 98, even a hundred depending on, where you're at.

00:23:27.103 --> 00:23:30.222
After two weeks, they can start to regulate their own body temperature.

00:23:30.403 --> 00:23:32.952
They cannot do that in the first 14 days.

00:23:33.432 --> 00:23:33.673
Okay.

00:23:33.883 --> 00:23:41.762
So with all that being said now the books say you can drop one degree per day, which would be about seven degrees a week.

00:23:42.182 --> 00:23:50.762
If you're technologically advanced enough to do that, you can drop one degree per day starting on day 15.

00:23:50.962 --> 00:23:52.583
And you can harden'em right off.

00:23:53.242 --> 00:24:00.333
Pretty much for most people, you can harden'em off within another, week or two depending on where you live and what the outside temperatures are.

00:24:01.173 --> 00:24:05.823
But by four weeks they should be able to withstand, they should be fully feathered and, hard feathers.

00:24:06.363 --> 00:24:14.742
And they should, they should be able to withstand whatever the ambient temperatures are, as long as they don't have a draft on them and they're not getting wet.

00:24:14.803 --> 00:24:15.702
You should be in good shape.

00:24:16.212 --> 00:24:17.803
Yeah, drafts is a killer.

00:24:18.042 --> 00:24:19.212
You gotta really watch that.

00:24:19.393 --> 00:24:28.692
It is feed, we beat that to death with the liver and boiled egg, but I like to use a non-medicated Kickstarter.

00:24:29.593 --> 00:24:32.333
And when it comes to co acidosis I have.

00:24:32.798 --> 00:24:48.788
I learned how to whip that using whole raw milk or if I can't get that, which is often the case down here, I'll use something like plain Greek yogurt non-fat, live cultured, non pasteurized yogurt.

00:24:49.028 --> 00:24:50.258
And that works pretty good.

00:24:51.157 --> 00:24:58.344
That provides the gut bacteria that helps them ward off Coccidia Oocysts

00:24:58.857 --> 00:25:02.768
This concludes part one of Best Practices in Brooding Baby Chicks.

00:25:03.147 --> 00:25:06.607
We hope you learned something new to improve brooding your chicks this year.

00:25:07.367 --> 00:25:15.357
Before we go we want to remind you to visit our new website at, w w w dot the Poultry Keepers Podcast dot com.

00:25:15.887 --> 00:25:20.847
Be sure to share it with a friend so they can take advantage of all the poultry information that's there too.

00:25:21.548 --> 00:25:25.248
Until next time, keep learning, improving, and enjoying your flock.

00:25:25.718 --> 00:25:27.837
So long and we'll be back next week.