Pros: Gentle, friendly, beautiful
Cons: none
I bought 4 - 3 days old chicks. They lived in my kitchen until old and large enough to move outside with a heat source. I live in Vancouver Canada where the nights are cold even in the summer.
Of the 4, 3 have survived. The runt lived for about 4 months then just quit eating and died. She was just feathers and bones when she died but had no other symptoms. ??
I think one of the survivors is a roo as his comb is much redder and his tail is shaped different. He hasn't started crowing yet. If he does I will have to sell/trade him as we can't have roos in Vancouver. Yes, silly, I know.
They are such affectionate chicks. Very soft and fluffy with pale lavender gray feathers. Truly beautiful girls. If you are going to have chickens you may as well have beautiful chickens!
They are very intelligent and affectionate. My 11 year old grandson carries them around tucked under his arm.
They have not yet started laying, but it is Feb. so very cold and the days are short. I have my coop on a timed light. 12 hours on, 12 hours off. My other older hens have laid all winter.
I had pine shaving bedding and a plastic quart waterer and a feeder. If you are going to use wood shavings make sure you use PINE bedding as cedar is TOXIC to birds. Pine is nice because it is clean and smells good and you can put it into your compost when it gets too dirty. I use pine in my coop as well and just put new layers on as it gets dirty. The chickens scratch it around and keep it aerated. Every 6 months or so I shovel it all out and put it into the compost. My garden is very happy.
I put a portable lamp on the wire top and a thermometer in the cage at floor level.
They needed to be kept around 95 degrees.
You slowly reduce the temperature by lifting the light up farther away as they get older and have more feathers. You reduce it by about 1 degree a day to 85 degrees. They slept together in a fluffy lump and still do as adults.
When they got too big for the hutch I moved them into the run but in a segregated section. I used an old plastic baby gate to keep them separate from my other adult chicks.Same run different area. I put the lamp out with them and a sheltered box laid on its side for them to go into. The nights are cool in Vancouver so they needed warmth in the nights. If you live in a hot climate you probably would not need a warmth source at this point.
You cannot put baby chicks with adults. The adults might attack them. This is the "pecking" order. With the baby gate separating them they could see and hear each other, but have their own space. As you are getting yours as babies and not introducing them to adults you don't have to worry about this.
I left the babies in there for about 3-4 weeks until they were fairly large, they grow so fast it is simply amazing. I had taken the light out as they no longer needed it. When I thought they could hold their own I took the gate out at night time. The next morning they all mixed in together with no attacks or stress.
The 3 orpingtons still move around together and roost together and are obviously very attached to each other. If one is a roo and I have to move him out I know they will be very upset. (we cannot keep roos in Vancouver)
Good luck with your chicks. I know you will love them and they will enrich your life.
PS they do not come into my kitchen as adults!