Silver Laced Polish, Straight Run
Today has been off to a get-er-done start, putting away the animal feed while we were out to do morning feed. After that, and arranging some of the new feed we bought to raise meat birds, we wiled the rest of the morning away, then went to do our grocery pick-up. We stopped at IFA on the way and had a look around at the chicks.
I noticed there were Silver Laced Polish on offer for $3.49 a bird, and knowing right off what those were, I thought they would be lovely in Missus’s ornamental flock, so I picked up the half a dozen they had left. On the way home we stopped in to get gas in the truck, and I had a look in the box, and right away noticed one of the birds to be laying down, so we give it a closer look. I don’t think it was just tired, I think it is either a day younger than the rest, or even a bit of a runt.
I suspect our runt will not make it to adulthood, or maybe even the night in the brooder. I could have separated it and kept it apart, but there is no strength in that, and I don’t really have a good place to keep it and to warm it as necessary. So I put it into the brooder, where it will live as it has done in the store brooder, and hope that the feed and access to water will help it grow and survive. If it don’t…
Anyway, we have some Silver Laced Polish chicks now. Five, at least. They are a straight run, so could be anything from all male to all female. We’ll see! I just Googled both the roosters and the hens, and be danred if I can tell which is which.
So, about that meat flock. I will have to run those through the assembled brooder on the floor with a light I will have to buy. That’s fine. They would outgrow the suspended brooder quickly anyhow. They will need to get out into a run quickly, too. It is sure going to be a different experience raising birds that grow up in only two months!