Chicken Stimulus Package: Brooding 300 Chicks During the Polar Vortex

Reader Contribution by Pat Foreman
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The organizers of the Home and Garden Show heavily promoted chickens before and during the show on TV stations, radio, newspaper ads, and their website. They made a 30-foot vertical banner that simply said: “chickens” pointing down to our booth. There was a lot of anticipation and focus on these chicks. Chickens had become the centerpiece of the show, these chicks had to show up healthy and showcase camera ready.

The chicks would arrive 2 to 4 days before the H&G Show began on Friday. They had to be kept warm (brooded) at 95 degrees, fed & watered. This is the fragile time for a baby chick. If a chick can survive the first 5 days, then chances are higher that it will live to adulthood.

When I co-owned and operated our organic, free-range poultry ranch, we routinely brooded batches of 400 chicks. But that was over 12 years ago. We had a barn and commercial equipment. Plus, we only brooded in warmer weather—late spring to late summer.

The CSP chicks would arrive February 25th or 26th, the week before the H&G Show and the same time a “polar vortex” was predicted to hit our area with plummeting, sub-zero temperatures and chilling gusty winds bringing the wind chill to sub-zero temperatures.

We needed a well protected and easy-to-keep-warm area to set up the brooder. The only place big and warm enough was our main office. It has a wood stove as backup heat if the electric goes out. To keep the chicks continually warm at 95 degrees, we wanted a backup heat source. There would be fine dust everywhere in the office, so we covered all the electronic equipment with plastic.

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