Small Scale Poultry Equipment

[GaryD]

Hi,

Here's a few photos of the sort of equipment that we use to breed, hatch and rear our poultry and game birds.


The Quail Hilton - we use this 2 tier pen to house our Quail breeders and to rear the day old quail chicks. We've also used the pen (which has removable dividers) to brood our meat bird chicks.
Hanging Brooder - a spun aluminium holder which houses a 150w infra-red brooder lamp.
A 150w infra-red brooder lamp.
Several brooder cages.....these cages lift out of their base for easy cleaning.
Our electric incubator - can incubate up to 144 chicken eggs or 288 quail eggs.Gary

[sallu00]

Hi Gary,

I just bought an incubator from Ebay:-
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=140165930455&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=004

My friend have some layer hens and he will give me some fertile eggs this weekend, I'll use the incubator and see what happens. It also came with a turner for quail eggs. I'll have to wait till my quails stsrt laying eggs.

Gary, is it necessary to use the infra red lamp? can we use normal electric bulb? Also how do you open your quail pens for feeding as I can't see any door?

Salman.

[GaryD]

Hi Salman,


Gary, is it necessary to use the infra red lamp? can we use normal electric bulb? Also how do you open your quail pens for feeding as I can't see any door?


I use infra red lamps because they generate heat but no light. Regular light bulbs generate more light than heat and too much light in poultry or game bird chicks encourages feather picking and cannibalism.

The doors are located in the top of my pens. The cages sit in a sheet metal tray.....so that they can be lifted clear of the tray for easy cleaning. If I build more cages, the doors will be in the side of the cages so that I can stack the cages on top of each other.

Gary

[sallu00]

It was like I don't want to sleep for my kids, as the 21st day came closer. Early morning I heard the loud noice door of my bedroom door opening and I woke up and saw my kids rushing towards me with excitement, the chinks have hatched. I rushed to the garage with Sameer & Serena and saw 3 chicks struggling to stand. My wife and her mother soon joined, this must be 6am Sat morning. One after the other 8 chicks hatched and then none followed. After a day or so, I gave up and cleaned the incubator and disposed the rest 7 eggs in the bin. Hard work of turning the eggs twice daily and puttiing water in the tray finally paid off. They are soo cute to watch and all my kids are facinated.

Gary how long do you reckon it will take them to grow to a laying hens? I have 3 laying chickens already and are old (as the poultry farmer told me) I will BBQ them soon.

Salman.

[GaryD]

Hi Salman,

Congratulations on your first hatch......that's always an exciting moment.

I'd suggest that you get those chicks under a heater globe or some other source of heat. If they get chilled, they will grow more slowly, get sick easier and even die.

You will have to keep your chicks for 24 - 26 weeks before you can expect eggs from them......and then some of them will probably turn out to be males. As soon as the males reveal themselves, eat them.

Good luck with barbecuing your spent layers. They are usually pretty tough so it might pay to get your teeth sharpened.

Retired layers (boiling hens) are usually used to make soups, curries or other slow cooked dishes will allow you to make the best use of this tough but tasty meat. Having said that, your culture may have a way of preparing these birds so that they don't end up tough.

Gary

[anniefish]

Hi Gary,
You're soooo right, sometimes it's better to boil the bird with some rocks and when the rocks are tender throw the bird and eat the rocks!
But seriously, I like to fry some onions, add the chicken pieces, gently saute for a while, then pour over a stubbie of beer (donated by the other half, under sufference). Keep over a gentle flame until cooked. Serve with rice. MMMM Also love paprika chicken, or boil bird with onion and garlic and a few veges for flavour 'til done, shred the meat and add to stir fry veges. The stock can be frozen for 'ron. Then again, a pressure cooker works wonders too.
Cheers, Annie