RSS
Home
Raise Florida chicks in November to be spring egg layers
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Its already November and the chilly weather is apparently staying up North this year. Chilly weather up north means that hatcheries are closing their season. “Its simply too cold to send chicks through the mail,” says Andrew Malone from Funky Chicken Farm. He says that most commercial hatcheries north of the Mason Dixon line simply shut down until spring. Spring is when a Florida chicken lover wants the girls to ‘lay’, eggs that is. They need to be six months old for that. So what’s a Florida chicken farmer wannabe to do, who wants to buy local?
Where can I get chicks this time of year?
Just down the road a bit is a wonderful little chicken haven called Funky Chicken Farm. Here is where Andrew, the Poultry Master, and Suzanne, the Garden Diva reside and tend to their funky chickens and garden. Lucky for you, they have chicks for sale and plan to have them all during the fall and winter, a time when hatcheries ‘up North’ simply don’t have them. Andrew is the expert when it comes to chickens. “He has read every book on the subject that he can get his hands on and has a memory like an elephant,” says Suzanne. She says he is happy to answer your chicken questions and guide you to making the right purchase for your needs.
How long does it take chicks to grow until egg laying age?
On average, a chicken will start laying eggs between 6 and 8 months of age. “Your fancier breeds,” says Andrew, “ like the Americana and Auracana, and bantams will take up to 8 months to get to egg laying maturity.” This means if you are planning a flock of green and blue egg layers, you will have to start them now, in November for them to be laying in the June time frame. A Rhode Island Red or Barred Rock hen will start laying in the 6 to 7 month timeframe. Planning ahead makes a difference. Our Florida winters are mild and offer wonderful grazing opportunities for your growing flock.
What must I do to grow my chicks successfully?
A chick is very vulnerable to low temperatures and breezes if they have not gotten their feathers yet. Feathers act like an insulating blanket to keep the chicks warm. The momma chicken provides warmth and protection under her large wings and soft, downy feathers. However, if your chicks don’t have a momma, they need you, their new momma, to provide warmth in the form of a heat lamp. There are special lamps you can purchase inexpensively from your local feed store or farm supply store that provides just the right amount of heat. Andrew says that a small, plastic kiddie pool with pine shavings makes a wonderful place to brood your chicks. Once the bedding becomes soiled, just add more on top. Dump it all into your compost pile when it gets too deep or chicks outgrow the brooder. Your kiddie pool brooder will need to be in an area free of drafts. You can make the sides higher by surrounding it with a cardboard collar. This cardboard collar can be made from recycled materials or you can purchase it from your local farm supplier. Water is key to their survival. Make sure they always have a supply and that you refill twice a day as growing chicks drink a lot of water. You can purchase vitamins to put in the water to make sure they get off to a good start. Chick Starter is the feed of choice for your new hatchlings. It has the right amount of protein to grow them out strong.
The chicken lover who grows their flock during the winter has great opportunity to have a very healthy and good looking group by the time egg laying comes around. The cooler nights and relatively warm days with bright sunshine and green pastures are a chickens daydream and growing conditions are optimal. All the people from ‘up North’ may find that our way of life requires a little getting used too because we do things ‘backward’ here. Residents of Florida live for this time of year, snowbirds arrive, and the chickens love it too. Don’t worry if you can’t find a northern, commercial, hatchery to meet your needs, Andrew Malone will have chicks available, “get your orders in!” he says.
For more info: Read Suzanne’s Gardening Articles.
Funky Chicken Farm
Andrew Malone, 3510 Hield Rd. Melbourne, Fla 32904 321-505-4227
Related Articles:
Comments
