True, 3 maybe 4 days under optimal circumstances but the stresses of shipping in heat and humidity aren't optimal by any stretch. If I ordered chicks and found the box was opened in order to ensure they arrived alive, I'd call the manager to THANK the carrier for their care and compassion...
Silkies tend to give unappetizing carcasses because of their skin color, and tend to be very small compared to standard breed cockerels.
I've processed over 2 dozen cockerels, a half dozen aged-out laying hens and 20+ Cornish Cross meat birds in the last month. I start by killing and bleeding...
Live animals is the grenade in the game of paper/rock/scissors - it beats them all. If a cop can violate your fourth amendment rights by breaking into your car to free an overheated dog, there should be no quarrel about opening a box containing chicks to render life saving aid.
Do your neighbors have any leverage to force you to get rid of your chickens ie: HOA, city/county ordinances? If not, maybe you could mollify them by moving your coop to the property line farthest from them. Or tell them you were torn between hogs or chickens and felt chickens would be much less...
I've had several incubated eggs ooze an amber or light yellow liquid and, in every instance, the egg was rotten. The first one I ever experienced actually popped in the incubator and I had to take it completely apart, wash every piece by hand with Dawn liquid, wipe it down with bleach and...
You don't sound like you have a lot of experience with aggressive roosters so cull him right away. You won't change an aggressive rooster of an aggressive breed this late in the game.
Depends on what your goals are. If egg production was my only goal, I'd get hybrids bred for laying. If my only goal was meat production, I'd raise Cornish Crosses. If I wanted sustainable eggs and meat, and cost per dozen eggs and pound of meat wasn't a major factor, I'd raise the fastest...
No, not at all. I have a Nurture Right 360 and have had excellent results. I take the turner drive motor out of the base and run it through the dishwasher on the energy saver/no heat/no dry setting, then spritz it down with a 1-tbs bleach : 1 qt water solution and let it air dry. Then I...
My reply isn't critical of Odoban; it was intended for the OP because of OP's aversion to using bleach around chicks due to chemical exposure. I use bleach to disinfect my incubator and pretty much everything else concerning our hatching, brooding and processing of chickens. Bleach is a wonder...
Odoban has way more chemicals than bleach; the safety data sheet looks like a list of chemicals- go to their website, choose the disinfectant then scroll down to the SDS sheet, then scroll up to the list of scents. It'll open in a PDF but my phone won't let me print or save it as a pic.
ETA...
Why not a spray of 91% rubbing alcohol? It's a good sanitizer, evaporates completely in a very short time and leaves no residue. Or even Everclear grain alcohol; whatever you don't use can be mixed grape juice for a relaxing after-chore beverage.