Getting Ready for Baby(ies)!

[monkcat]

Sort of excited. Got my brooder supplies today. Got a 50 gallon black rubbery/plasticky animal water trough for a brooder. Got my clamp on light, chick waterer and feeder and a small bag of starter crumble. Am planning on fermenting the food from the get-go. So, have some kombucha starter I can use to get it going or can just add water, stir daily and let ferment that way. Have a gallon glass sun tea container with a plastic lid I can sit on top of it for now. Have to get clean buckets for long term. But this would be a start since I already had them.

I did not get bedding and I did not get chicks. So, a question I have is this: Can I used raked up leaves and pine straw that has been dried for bedding? Want to start them in the type of stuff I intend to keep them on. I am not keen on pine shavings and other "clean" stuff. Let's face it, this is a germy world and their immune systems need to be sensitized to to what their environment will consist of. Anyway, that's my thinking.

Another question is this: It will be one, possibly two weeks at the outside before the coop is done. Is it ridiculous to get the chicks Monday knowing that they don't have a coop ready? They won't be ready for several weeks themselves. But I spoke with a few places today. They are getting chicks next week and that's it around here. So, if I wait too long, I won't get them locally and I reallllly don't want to have them mailed. That just feels wrong to me.

The local place has all the ones I wanted to start with right now. Buff Orpingtons, silver laced Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock. Sigh. Trying to be patient and wait, but afraid of missing the boat.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Judy]

Yes, you can use leaves and pine straw. If they are a bit crowded, some pine shavings do help control odor, though.

You can raise them in the coop if you wish. I won't brood in the house again. You will want them out there before 6 wekks, at any rate, as they will be clamoring to get out and start foraging during their first week. By 6 weeks your house will also be very dusty, not to mention odor.Your brooder sounds like it may be small, though that's hard to say since you didn't mention how many chicks. They need 1 sq ft per chick by 2 weeks and 2.5 by 4 weeks of clear, floor space, that is, not counting space for food and water, etc.

 

[monkcat]

Yes, you can use leaves and pine straw. If they are a bit crowded, some pine shavings do help control odor, though.

You can raise them in the coop if you wish. I won't brood in the house again. You will want them out there before 6 wekks, at any rate, as they will be clamoring to get out and start foraging during their first week. By 6 weeks your house will also be very dusty, not to mention odor.Your brooder sounds like it may be small, though that's hard to say since you didn't mention how many chicks. They need 1 sq ft per chick by 2 weeks and 2.5 by 4 weeks of clear, floor space, that is, not counting space for food and water, etc.

Thank you so much for the reply. I am hoping no later than the chicks age of 3 weeks to have them outside. There really should be no reason not to have them out in a week. Two would be the absolute outside. That being said, I think three, maybe four chicks to start. If all goes well, I'll add more later. We are going to have a large coop, I think. So down the road enough room to increase if it's all working out. when you brood outside, do you use a container or just put a light up in a corner of the coop? Our coop will be mostly open, so am wondering how that works.

Not too concerned about dust at this point, only because we can have them in an enclosed porch/sunroom. But space is my biggest concern. Want to keep them happy and healthy.

 

[Judy]

It's more ike a light hanging in a corner of the coop. but the corner has "walls" of chicken wire making about a 5' x 5' room, because they had no mana. Broody mamas raise theirs in with the flock.

 

[monkcat]

Thanks. That's what I was wondering. We are planning on having an open air type coop with chain link walls from the roof to floor and covered in hardware cloth. Only the back wall that's up against a metal building will be solid - and the roof. Didn't know if that would be appropriate since there won't be a mommy bird for these test chickens. The light in a corner that is. Later on, I'm hoping a mama bird will raise the next batch.

 

[monkcat]

Ruh-roh. Okay, looks like we will be getting more like 8 chickens. So, guess I'm off to get another tub for more babies. Will have coop completed by next Saturday. Plan on getting chicks one day next week. Hopefully they will be okay for that short a period of time. Hate to do that, but with my and my husbands work schedules, and the dwindling time frame for getting the birds, this looks like the best shot. Should another of the same size tubs be okay for less than a week or should I get a bigger one? Thanks.

 

[Blooie]

The only thing I would be concerned about is how hot that black rubber tub might get.....never used it so I don't know. They get pretty doggone hot in the sun, I know that. I brood my chicks outdoors too. The dust got to be way too much for me....and it's powdery and it gets absolutely everywhere! I evicted the first batch out to the coop when they were 5.5 weeks old and vowed I'd never brood in the house again.

 

[monkcat]

I'm thinking/hoping it shouldn't get too hot. It won't be in direct sunlight and it's only hitting the 80's right now. Some days 70's. I'll try the light for a day or two when I'm off work and it's empty to see how it does. Then I may add the leaves and straw I'm planning to use to see how it does. That will give me time to try it before I put chicks in. If I need to get a different set up, I can do that first thing Monday.

Hoping for the short duration of about 5 days, the powder won't get too bad. I have a cockatiel who powders something awful. I can imagine it x8!

Thanks!

edit - want to add that when they go outside, they won't be in the black tub. So, hoping it'll do for the short term.

 

[Blooie]

I'm thinking/hoping it shouldn't get too hot. It won't be in direct sunlight and it's only hitting the 80's right now. Some days 70's. I'll try the light for a day or two when I'm off work and it's empty to see how it does. Then I may add the leaves and straw I'm planning to use to see how it does. That will give me time to try it before I put chicks in. If I need to get a different set up, I can do that first thing Monday.

Hoping for the short duration of about 5 days, the powder won't get too bad. I have a cockatiel who powders something awful. I can imagine it x8!

Thanks!

I wasn't so much thinking about the sunlight as I was the black rubber absorbing the constant heat from the heat lamp. If you're using a lamp I realize that you probably want some heat retention, but if the light is on all the time then will the rubber get too hot? I guess my brain is on the barefoot-on-black-asphalt vs barefoot-on-gray-sidewalk thing.

(Just ignore me - when I get this tired I usually go to bed shortly after making a pest and a ninny of myself.)

 

[monkcat]

Oh, it's a valid concern! That's why I'll try the light for a full day while it's empty to see how it does. Will try it with bedding as well. Should let me see if it gets too hot.