We lost eleven chicks in one day. ELEVEN!! I called the hatchery thinking that this last batch was the last I would order from them. It turns out that I accidentally ordered the wrong bird. They tell you on their website that these birds can’t handle the altitude above 5000 ft. We’re at 6503 ft according to Google Earth.
You might be wondering why it would matter. Well, these chickens have been bred for meat. They gain weight as fast as possible, using as little feed as possible, for as short a time as possible. Great idea except their internal organs, particularly their hearts can’t keep up. So my four-day-old chicks died of heart attacks. Ah! The wonders of agricultural science!
I ordered 25 birds and I can expect to have zero survive. I’m going to see if I can salvage them by putting them on a feed with a lower protein content to try to slow their growth. We’ll see.
I was warned some time ago by a software engineer turned rancher that there was nothing like this life, but not to deceive myself. There would be train wrecks.
The City Girl Farmer 