Chicks for the first Time

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one old chick said:
hi there, i just joined BYC about a week ago. i have had my chicks two weeks today. i started out with a tub but after a week they needed more. i made a larger brooder for them and they seem more comfortable now. i also had read that at five weeks to add a roost rail but they started flying to the top of my feeder and roosting there last week. they are growing like they are on steroids. i decided to go to petsmart and look for something they could roost on that would fit into the brooder. they were trying to roost on the water so i made a cone and set it on top so they couldn't get on it an knock it over. i picked up a reptile tree. it is made of molded plastic and looks like a natural branch it has graduated height with the highest perch being about 1.5 ft high. THEY LOVE IT! i have seen as many as five of them at a time on it. they sleep on it and are getting quite good at flying to the top perch from the bottom of the brooder without flapping around. I really think it gives them some mental stimulation. i also pour the chick starter over the tree and they love pecking it off it. they would rather eat from the tree than the feeder. i am amazed at only two weeks old they would prefer to scratch the bottom and roost in the tree to huddling in a corner under the heat lamp. they spend less an less time under the light on their own without me always having to adjust the lamp. they are really getting their feathers in some have a deep red feathers randomly coming in. my little tetra tint (rooster hopefully) is getting so big. they are in the house right now but we plan to move them to the barn and provide an even larger space and hang the feed and waterer. i liked the idea of the excersise playyard so we may go with that. Thank you all for your ideas :love
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So very cute! Mine have a small roost bar but its not stable enough so they don't really use it. I have limited space in the brooder but they do need a better roost. I may haveto build something bigger this weekend.
 
this reptile tree really doesn't take up much room on the floor it actually gives them more room because it supplies additional space above the floor. there are a few regulars to the top, my brooder is not real big either that's why i opted to go up. i had chicks years ago that were under hen. she taught them all to roost in my mamossa tree. they never had a coop she would lay her eggs in an old dog house right under the tree and sit there. she would hatch ten babies at a time at one point there were twenty five chickens roosting in my tree including the rooster and the original hen. they free ranged all day and came to the tree every night, it was the funniest thing watching them one at a time fly up to the designated branches every night. this is the first time that i am being the mother hen. it really makes me appreciate what she went through to care for her chicks, i am up all hours just checking on them. they are a bit of work but it has now become a labor of love. good luck with your roost and thank you for starting this thread.
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kynewbchickie said:
This is our brooder - 4'x4'x2', open top, made of 3/4" ply on bottom, 3/8" on two opposing sides, and 15/32" on the other two opposing sides.
We hung the heat lamp from a floor beam off of a coated galvanized chain on a heavy-duty nail, so we could raise and lower the lamp height easily.







We had to switch from pine shavings to equine stall bedding, as the babies started eating the shavings. The equine stall bedding worked MIRACLES and was so much more absorbent and kept the smell down far better than the pine shavings did. Here's a picture of my babies in the brooder, when they were little week-old fluffs:

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Is PDZ the equine bedding that you use? I have some and was wondering if it was safe to use alone as the bedding for baby chicks. I also don't like the thought of them eating the pine shavings. I have shavings in one of my brooders and sand in the one with bigger chicks.
 
heby said:
Is that difficult to clean out? I'm using plastic bins and I take them out every couple of days to pour out sand and put fresh in. I wouldn't be able to turn a horse trough over but it sounds like it would be a great idea.
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I turn mine over to clean out. It actually isn't as hard as it sounds. I have arthritus in my sternum, which makes lifting pretty hard, and I can do it. The trick is to put your foot on the bottom of the side and tip it. It will go in its side, and then you just repeat until it's upside down. However, you could just use sand and scoop it like a kitty litter box!
 
So my girls are getting big. They went on their first outing outside today. They are 6 weeks now. They were getting lots of attention from the horses and our golden retreiver, Finny (he can be seen on the right hand side of the first picture.)


 
I have 1/2" plywood on the floor. As soon as they're a little bigger, I'm going to remove the plywood and they'll be on 1/2" hardware cloth.
 

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