Chicken

We brood the chicks on pasture.

Here is Darrell helping to set up the cardboard liner that keep the chicks near their heat and food the first few days.

We use "Ohio brooders" to keep the chicks warm. They can run under the box when they are cold and come out to get food and water. We use wood shaving to keep the ground dry while they are enclosed. After a few days they will be allowed to explore the

"Ohio brooders" use high watt lamps to provide heat. The box keeps the heat low to the ground where the chicks are. The box is a few inches off the ground to allows the chicks to self-regulate temperature.

You can see the chicks are healthy. If you could hear them peeping you would know they are happy.

As the chicks get older we start to move the houses. After the chicks are two and half weeks old we move them everyday to fresh grass. You can just see in the foreground the chickens lined up at their troughs now eating outside.

Cornish Rock Crosses gain weight very rapidly so their life cycle is quite short (6-9 weeks). We work hard to provide for them unlimited quantities of grasses and bugs during this time to provide optimum nutrition.

Grass is a seasonal item in Missouri. We only raise chickens for meat in the spring and summer. You can registar on the website or stop by our farm to learn how you can fill your freezer next year.