Cloverfield Ranch <sdcloverfieldranch@gmail.com>Tue, May 28, 1:34 PM (7 days ago)
to me
How to care for your new baby chicks

Cloverfield Ranch has just added 20 new baby chicks to our flock!
"Isa Browns" to be exact, and I am going to tell you how I care for my little ones. 

I have had a lot of experience raising baby chicks. It came from years of trial and error, and we have narrowed down some winning techniques that have allowed us to raise many healthy chicks to adulthood.

You will usually get your chicks within the first 24-48 hours of their life. Whether you get them mailed through a chicken hatchery or straight from your local farm and feed store there are several very important things that must immediately be handled.

1. You should have a nursery area ready to go before bringing in your new chicks. 
       This includes: 
                    < A box or container the right size for your chicks to grow up in
                   
                   < A heat source

                   < Chick starter food

                   < A water source

We will cover each of these in more detail.

Your nursery coop (or brooder) should have at least 3 inches of bedding, pine shavings make for the perfect bedding, (for us, and for 20 chicks our bathtub makes for the perfect nursery) and be about 2 feet wide by 4 feet long and about 2 feet deep. This allows the chicks to grow up to a healthy size without escaping. It is also long enough to provide them a "warm side" and a "cool side" of the brooder. 

Heat source:
a heat lamp is required for new chicks, recommended for about 6 weeks. You can buy the proper bulb and fixture at any farm or feed store. A 250 watt infrared bulb suspended above the nursery is the recommended amount. A red bulb is the most efficient as it doesn't stop the chicks from sleeping, as white light does, and can help prevent the chicks from pecking at each other. The proper distance from the light to the chicks is important. It should be close enough to provide the adequate warmth, but far enough away not to overheat your chicks.

*We keep our light about 2 and a half feet away from the ground and focus it on one side of the tub. Creating both a "warm side" and a "cool side". Preventing the chicks from either getting too warm or too cold, and allowing them to find their own comfort zone. 

Food source:
Start off your baby chicks with 18% protein chick starter/grower feed for about 8 weeks. They can then go on normal chicken crumbles, eventually switching to pellets. 
*Although this is recommended for 8 weeks, we found that by 6 weeks they can start pecking at fruit, worms, and other soft vegetables, supplementing with starter food. 
As our chickens are free ranging, we like the chicks to get off of the processed food as early as possible, transitioning to a mostly natural diet of vegetation and insects.

Water source: 
For the first few weeks your chicks should have access to water all the time as they can dehydrate easily. After that frequent watering is necessary but is not necessary all the time and they will play in or poop in the water as they get bigger. 
You can buy a metal or plastic chick waterer. Or as we do, provide a shallow plastic or metal container with no more than an inch of water to start. Chicks can get into deeper containers  and won't be able to get out. Also, providing any deeper container could prove hazardous if the container gets flipped over onto one of the chicks and they get trapped inside. 

It is important to note that your new chicks could be only a day or two old. They are very vulnerable at this stage and can easily succumb to dehydration and stress. 

Your new chicks will come home, usually in a box. When you first take them out of the box to put them in your brooder they will huddle together, often not moving very much and will be stressed out. It is best to leave them alone for a couple of hours without touching them, allowing them to destress. Monitor the situation, and shortly they should start moving around and peeping, scratching at the bedding.
introduce your chicks to the food and water. Most chicks will actively search it out and will find it on their own. Other chicks (especially if they are just hatched) need assistance in finding it. Take one chick and gently dip its beak in the water a couple times. It normally only takes one chicken, one time for all of them to figure it out. 

Keep the chicks fed and watered and within no time they will start to grow before your eyes, slowly replacing fluff with feathers and learning how to fly around. 

They will eventually get to a point (about 6 to 8  weeks) where they have gotten the majority of their big feathers and are starting to fly around and out the brooder. At this point we start turning the light off during the day so they start getting use to the normal temperatures. Once they get use to that and get a little bigger we start turning the light off at night also. So they start to sleep when it gets dark. They will then huddle together to stay warm. Note this only works when you have a group of chicks. Not a single chick. 

When they have matured to this point we transfer them to our nursery coop. It is a 3X6 insulated coop attached to an 8X8 enclosed wire mesh chicken run. Nothing can get inside and the chicks cannot get out.

We put them into the coop first, leaving the door open to the run. They will watch from inside the coop, but may not come outside for a couple days. You can feed and water them inside the coop. Gradually one by one they will start to explore the outside world. Taking only a few steps then running back inside. This repeats until all of them are comfortable going in and out. You can then start feeding them inside the run.  Provide then plenty of perches to fly up on, but make sure that there is no obstructions that can trap them, and check them frequently. They will become very active and will start to fly a lot. You can gradually switch them to regular chicken feed, and fruits and vegetables inside the run. 

The benefit of this coop is that our grown chickens can walk around and get to know the new babies and the babies get to know the ranch and other animals from a safe space.

When they reach around 5 to 6 months old we will open the door to the run and let them start to come out. They will (same as the first time) run in and out, taking only a few steps before running back into safety. They will gradually, over the course of a week, mingle with the other chickens and start to go in the main chicken coop with them. When all the chickens have moved over to the main coop your work is done. You have successfully raised chickens from vulnerable newborn babies to thriving, healthy chickens.

This is the way we have done it, and it has worked marvelously. If you do things too early or too late it can affect the health and life of the chicks. Timing is important when managing your flock. If you let your grown chicks out of the nursery coop to mingle with the flock too early they may run around, get lost, or get hurt. A variety of things can happen when they are too small and immature to handle the outside world. We find that the longer we leave them in the safety zone the smarter they become, and will easily adjust to life in the flock. 

Happy nursing to all of you chicken enthusiasts! Feel free to comment with your chick stories or questions below. 
Cloverfield Ranch LLC

​Today I'm happy to introduce the newest little peep that has journeyed to Cloverfield Ranch: "Concho," the cutest, most loving little baby goose that ever lived. 

Concho is an African goose, originally derived from the Wild Swan Goose. Despite their name, they've actually been thought to originate from China. African geese occurs in three color varieties: brown, buff, and white. 
Concho is still in the partially fluffy stage, but is getting some big feathers in. So Concho's exact color and gender have yet to be determined (but for now we're thinking he's a boy!)

The decision to get Concho was made because we have another goose, a female African Goose named "Kali". She lives with the chickens, and while she lives a happy wonderful life roaming the ranch, she needed a companion to swim around the pond and enjoy life with her.

Concho lived the first few weeks inside the protection of the warm house, getting to know us, the dogs and the cats. Keeping him/her close and spending all day with her has truly shown the personality and love that can be held inside such a little body. Needing constant attention and reassurance, her little peeps went from curious little noises to loud desperate calls as she explored the world around her. After every new discovery she would run full speed back to her mom and dad, seeking warmth and comfort. I always pick her up and cuddle her in my hair. Her little head wiggling in closer, she coos and chirps softly before falling into a deep sleep. 

We took Concho outside for the first walk around to meet the rest of the animals, and he waddled closely behind us the entire time. She met the pigs, goats, chickens, horses, and Kali goose. We carefully watched her as she explored. The walks are getting longer every day.

For the last 2 weeks she has been tested more and more daily and left outside alone for a few hours at a time while we carefully watch from the kitchen window. 
She comfortably waddled around the chicken coop and down to her favorite little pond. Swimming and splashing in the water, cleaning her ever growing patches of big goose feathers, nibbling on blades of grass as she goes. 

Last night for the first time, and after many trials and testing, Concho spent his first night in the coop with Kali and the chickens. Emerging this morning was a happy, talkative goose baby. No longer was he the little tiny peep that came home not much more than 6 weeks ago, needing constant love and reassurance. Now, he was a confident, bubbly personality, ready to thrive in the big wide world of Cloverfield Ranch.
Cloverfield Ranch LLC

Welcome back. You can probably tell from my previous blogs and from our growing website that we love our animals dearly. Caring for them, growing our ranch and living a simple life is all that we could really ask for. But we want to grow and do so much more, we have such a big dream that we want to accomplish. Our ranch has the potential to be the best animal sanctuary. Every animal that comes here becomes family. We will continue to help those in need as much as we can for as long as we can. But animals need shelter, food, and care and unfortunately that all costs money. 
But that's what we built this business for.  Years of blood, sweat and tears have poured into our business and the ranch. But every splinter, blister, cut and bruise is worth it to provide the kind of life to our animals that they deserve. 
Our business has many arms, an ever growing and changing spider web of new and creative ideas. But the one thing that will always remain true is that all of our proceeds, from every line of business, goes to the building, maintenance, and supporting of the animals and the ranch.  Along with our horse training, riding lessons and farrier work that we do, we have an extensive website full of fun pictures and stories detailing all the adventures on the ranch.  Our online store is constantly growing with new products of all sorts, and of course this blog was started with the intention of informing people of ranch life, and about all kinds of animals. But we are constantly looking for new business and new people to visit and comment on the website. 

That was the driving inspiration behind the writing of our book "How I Raised My Daughter." True stories written from the heart and meant to bring happiness, and even inspiration to other parents. 

This beautiful story is about a man, while very much experienced in life, was not experienced or prepared enough for his biggest challenge yet, becoming a dad. The stories told in this book are just small fragments of the amazing adventures that would continue throughout their lives. Forming a tight bond between father, daughter and dog based on knowledge, hard work and worldly experience. Ultimately forming the curious young girl into the successful, intelligent, passionate, and driven young woman that she is today. 

If you love heartwarming stories, this one is for you. By buying this book not only will you be enjoying a wonderful read, but you will also be making a huge contribution to Cloverfield Ranch, the animals here, and the larger than life dream that we are striving for. 

Please go to our store to purchase "How I Raised My Daughter" enjoy in either paperback or ebook.

https://www.cloverfieldranch.com/books.html

You can also show your support by purchasing any of the variety of products in our store or by visiting our go fund me page.

https://www.gofundme.com/happyfurrypals

Visit us at www.cloverfieldranch.com
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Cloverfield Ranch LLC

 They don’t judge us or question our motives. They trust and depend on us, their world revolving around us.  As I look into the faces of all of my animals, that same love is reflected in all of them, independent of species or gender.   People often claim to have preferences. You have your dog people, cat people, bird people, or whatever the case may be. But I myself am an "All Animal" person. When you have a close relationship with such a large variety of animals like I have, you cannot play favorites.

However, I want to touch on one particularly illusive, mysterious, and special creature, or, in our case, three of them. That would be our friendly felines. That’s right, I could talk all day about my feisty lions. The proud, majestic beauties of Cloverfield Ranch.

It all started with a horse trailer. We had bought a four-horse stock trailer from a person that lived in town and we went to pick it up. When we got there, though, we found it filled to the top with furniture and obviously being for storage for quite some time. We got to work and started unloading. Out of nowhere, we started hearing weird noises amongst the dusty chairs and tables. Catching only glimpses of white and black amongst all the furniture, we continued to work while trying to figure out what it was inside the trailer. After removing more than half of the load a sudden appearance was made. It was small, fluffy, and scared. No more than 4 weeks old this small little kitten braced itself in the back and hissed. He was probably born in the trailer and completely unaware of humans or the outside world. We closed the door behind us, and slowly moved towards the kitten, but before we could get to her she darted into the lining of a couch. We carefully moved it and adjusted, trying to coax the small thing out. To our sudden surprise, a kitten popped out, but not the same one, then one more darted out, followed lastly by the original fluff ball.  Three tiny, amazingly cute, but obviously terrified kittens. We worked together and caught them. They resisted and hissed out of fear, but once wrapped up in a blanket and put in the truck, they settled down. We got our trailer and brought the little fluffs home with us. Two girls, Layla and Helen, and one strong boy, Heisenberg.

Years later, they have grown up on the ranch, and are now strong and independent. All three are amazing hunters and catch mice on a daily basis, and eat them, for make sure to leave reminders of their successful hunt on the kitchen floor in the morning!

They spend days basking in the sun and playing outside, prowling the whole property that is their home. They climb the inside and outside of the barn and surrounding buildings, and we will often see them suddenly dart from somewhere and run up a pole, hanging there for a while before coming down. Then, at night, they come in to eat and enjoy our company. They spend most of cold winter days inside snuggling up with us.

Though they came through the same process, their personalities are completely different. Layla is outwardly shy and flighty, fiercely independent, but in the secret lair of privacy is an intense love bug. Helen is the definition of a couch potato. She is the only black cat out of the three and will melt into her surroundings, finding the most cushy and comfortable places she can find. Helen is a marshmallow. You can pick her up, carry her like a baby and do completely what you want to her and she will happily enjoy the attention. Heisenberg is a lion. He is big and powerful, and he struts his stuff like he owns this ranch, which, in his defense, he does. He forces his sisters into rough housing and is constantly outside exploring. Heisenberg is also a very vocal creature. He lives to meow, and he knows that its effective. At 4am he follows me around the house, calling for me to feed him. In the bedroom changing, he is rubs on my legs meowing loudly for me to bend down and pet him.

They are all so playful and loving. I couldn’t imagine our home without them. They add so much life and love to it. Even when we are busy working, for them it is the perfect time to come and demand love, or, in Helens case, chase the mouse cursor across the computer screen.

Cat love is all about kneading, purring, chirping and even biting but I wouldn’t change it for the world. It is a spiritual experience to snuggle with a cat. They look into your soul and melt into your heart. I’ve loved my little fur balls since day one, and our love for them has only grown with the years, and will keep growing for many more years to come. ​

Everyday I am overcome with intrigue at my pigs. Pigs are by nature a creature of comfort. Feed them until they are satisfied and they will sleep in contentment. Give them the time and space to extinguish their energy and they have the friendly docile nature of your average pet.
One amazing new thing I have come to realize is their amazing ability to  adapt and change their environment to suite their needs. Provide them with a cozy space with lush bedding and they will make themselves a nest, a pig hole. They will root and push the bedding around until it encircles them making a one to two foot wall of lush comfort all around them. 
When going to release them one morning, we looked through the window and saw them happily cuddled up in the center of their house, surrounded by a mountain of bedding, sleeping nice and warm. I thought to myself that it looked more comfortable than my own bed, I might just join them!
They continue to baffle me everyday as they are learning and growing. 
Share your pig experiences with me, I would love to hear what you pig lovers have to say about your snouted companions.