# New Brooder Entrance



## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

This is the new entrance to the front porch where my brooders are. It's all made of recycled lumber from my parents' farm including the door.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

That's lovely entrance to the space that is holding new life. It's fitting.

What does the sign say?


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

The sign says Fossil Ledges Ohio Animal Sanctuary and the small sign is the operating permit from the Ohio Secretary of State.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I didn't even see the small sign. 

How many are in the brooder room now? How many can it hold if you got all crazy about hatching?


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

There are two old steel stock tanks in there that I rehabbed, with room for a couple more. Let's see, right now there are ten Pioneer Ginger Red Bantams, three, Black Shoulder Peafowl, four Phoenix, two Eastern Wild Turkey, and four Old English Earl of Derbies. I have hinged lids which are made from old screen doors, so that during the day, and as they get older they can fly around the whole screened porch. It makes a mess as you might imagine, I have to clean it good every two days. I use shavings in the brooders and newspapers on the floor. I like my birds to be old enough and in good shape before they transition outside. The ducklings, of course, trash the place, and after they transition to the kiddie pool, it's not too long before they go out with the rest of the ducks. So far, my two older Ancona ducks, do an excellent job of supervising new arrivals and integrating them into the duck mafia outside, where they learn additional thuggish behavior.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Oh yeah, a mess is part of it. Having that many in one place I'm having trouble imagining how bad it can get. When I brooded chicks in my home office the feather dust was thick on every surface if I didn't clean right behind them constantly. 

Having the two Ancona adults makes life so much easier for you. I had Silkies that would adopt young birds without complaint. It made things easier for me when it came time to transition to the coop. 

The more you guys talk about ducks and the messes they make the more I'm glad I didn't go there. It was hard enough with all of the other birds without adding them to complicate things further.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

That's why I keep a shop vac out there. And the ducks? They're a pain in the butt sometimes but they are endlessly entertaining.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Sylie did tell me a couple of stories that were adorable. 

I was always worried about using anything that noisy around the peeps. So it was a lot of wet wiping to clean things up.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

They do not seem to care about it, they don't even get out of the way. Maybe it's because they are used to it.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I know, it's what we were supposed to do with babies so they got used to everyday noises. But I worried over getting baby chicks so scared they ran away from home that I never did it.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Nothing here ever seems to run away...they know where their feed bucket is. I am a little worried about habituating the Peafowl to outside though.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I don't follow you on the outside for the Peafowl. Aren't they going to be in enclosed outside runs?


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Yes, but "The Baby" is very attached to Melissa and the house. She goes back to daytime work next week as a school nurse, and I worry about transitioning him to the run. He spends some time out there almost every day but I am ashamed to say he is afraid of chickens his own size, (even though he was in the brooder with them), and he wants to pick fights, but with a Rhode Island White hen who is three times his size, go figure? It's like a soap opera here!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Oh boy, now your set up for a real headache. Since he's bonded to Melissa tell her he has to go with her during the day. That should go over big with the school.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

I already suggested that. I mean this Baby is weirdly bonded with her. He chews on her hair constantly and he's getting too big to carry around. Lately, he is strutting in front of her and puffing himself up. I have said to her, "Yup, you've got a problem!" Oh, and Melissa is a smoker and this Peacock is always trying to get her cigarettes. I get irritated and tell her that none of the vets we know are going to deal with a Peafowl that ingests a cigarette butt, so she did get a couple covered ashtrays.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Round up the usual suspects, this is the mugshot we're looking for!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Maybe when she returns to work you'll have better luck introducing him to the outdoors. Although he does know about the brooder babies. That could be what saves you from depressed peachick that loses its human outside forces.


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