The 3rd batch of meat chicks arrived early this morning. We ordered 100 chicks for this batch. We've slowly worked our numbers up as we have been more comfortable.
Hard to believe 100 chicks can fit into a box this size, it is about 24"x16". They sent 104 chicks, but one arrived dead. So we ended up with 103 so far, hopefully we won't have too many losses. Our last batch we lost 2 out of 60, which is a 3% loss rate down from about 11% on the first batch! Yeah, for improvements!
Then we had this little oddity in the mix. I must admit I am fascinated by oddities. Something is misaligned here.
Poor little guy, his beak doesn't line up right.
We marked his head with a green permanent marker so we can keep a better eye on him in the crowd of 100 to be sure he is getting enough to eat and thriving ok. If he begins to suffer we will have to put him down so we won't prolong his suffering.
The eye on the right side doesn't open and he seems deformed in some way, but he is vigorous so far and drinking well. We haven't introduced dry feed yet because I like to make sure they are well hydrated before adding the dry feeds. That delay in the first feed seems to be helping our survival rates. We are going to let this little guy have a chance to live to be a big meaty bird (don't worry he won't be one for sale, we will gladly take him if he makes it to butcher weight.)
I feel like I am cheering for the underdog or something. We have nicknamed him Cock-eye.
Hang in there Cock-eye!
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