This year’s last batch of chicks is out to pasture.  They spent their first three weeks in a brooder where we can control the environment.  We keep them hot for a few days, then gradually decrease the temperature while they grow their feathers.  After three weeks they are ready for any above-freezing weather, so long as they can keep dry.  We had a close call with frost this weekend, but all the chicks came through just fine.

While on pasture they eat out of bulk feeders, but I noticed earlier this year that some chicks took a day or two to figure out the new feed arrangements.  Disrupting the eating patterns for young chicks seems to have a long tailed effect (particularly compared to a larger animal like a pig or cow going off feed for a day), so it behooves us to get these transitional details correct.  This time I placed a few of their small turbo feeders from the brooder out in the pasture coop.  It seems that helped keep everyone eating without any interruptions.  Just another little detail that makes a big difference for the chicks; I’m learning all the time…