In 2011 I decided to expand the small poultry business that we had here on our farm, so I started Caer Ferch Poultry, and since then it has grown into a successful business, with people coming here from all over Britain to see and buy my top quality birds. I hatch all my own chicks, by collecting fertile eggs from my breeding stock, and hatching them in a huge incubator which holds about 1000 egg
s at a time. When the chicks hatch I leave them in the incubator for 24 hours, to dry off and get strong enough, because they are quite weak when they have first hatched and need time to get their strength up. They don't need anything to eat or drink for the first 24 hours of life, as they still have to use up all of their egg-sac (I'll explain that later). When the chicks are 24 hours old, or sometimes earlier if they are big strong chicks, they are moved into the brooder. This is a sort of big wooden or plastic box with a wire mesh lid , and a heat lamp hanging over, because chicks need heat 24 hours a day, until they get their feathers.
