Space requirements for chicks

If I remeber correctly, I think it's a half a sqaure foot per chick.


Sonja

one sqaure foot per chick

That'll usually keep 'em happy to 8 wks.

Well what kind of chicks? Light breed, heavy breed, broiler or bantam?  I have three bantams in a plastic tub and they are very happy in it. But you couldnt fit three broiler chicks of the same age in it.

Here is what I wrote down in my notebook:  .5 sq ft/chick for 4 weeks then 0.75 sq ft per chick for four weeks.  I'm sure I got it off BYC somewhere. 

A refrigerator box would not need ventilation holes if the top is open, but it will need a screen or netting on top in a few weeks to keep them from flying out.   You can buy a small roll of bird netting for $5 or so -- meant to keep birds off strawberry plants and the like.

I clamped my brooder light to a floor lamp then strung/fastened the cord so it would keep the lamp off the litter if the clamp failed.  Lots of folks screw something in the ceiling and hang it from there.  You NEED to have a backup system to hold the light out of the brooder if the clamp fails, because they do, and that of course means fire if it falls in the shavings.

It would help if you put your location by your name; just the state (if you are in the US, obviously) would help a lot.

You can probably move them out a lot earlier than 5 weeks, esp. if you can get a brooder light to your coop.  Some people put them out in the first week.  Some don't even brood in the house.  I won't do it again, or at least not for more than a few days while I set something up.

By the way...

Here is what I wrote down in my notebook:  .5 sq ft/chick for 4 weeks then 0.75 sq ft per chick for four weeks.  I'm sure I got it off BYC somewhere. 

A refrigerator box would not need ventilation holes if the top is open, but it will need a screen or netting on top in a few weeks to keep them from flying out.   You can buy a small roll of bird netting for $5 or so -- meant to keep birds off strawberry plants and the like.

I clamped my brooder light to a floor lamp then strung/fastened the cord so it would keep the lamp off the litter if the clamp failed.  Lots of folks screw something in the ceiling and hang it from there.  You NEED to have a backup system to hold the light out of the brooder if the clamp fails, because they do, and that of course means fire if it falls in the shavings.

oops, sorry about the double post.