Too late for chicks?

My dad had told me earlier that they had big bins of chicks at TSC but some of them were really big but I don't think there was really a point to it, he just I guess didn't know they still had them or had never seen it.

But so anyways, so then we were talking later, at Lowe's, and he had said it's too late for them, we were supposed to start building the coop in February, brought up again that they're all big now, etc. but I told him that it wasn't and that the season goes until like May or June. He says it will take a month to build the coop but I brought up, again, how late they sell chicks, but am I wrong?

Because now I'm worrying that I am and that it is in fact too late.

Do people still build coops and/or get chicks this late?

I figure also the chicks won't be ready to go outside for a while but I think he's thinking they're going to be out there from the beginning, just have the lamp and stuff out there, so it has to be ready so I don't know.

But yeah, is it too late?

That depends on where you live. Chicks need supplemental heat until they are fully feathered, usually around 6 weeks of age; by that time they are around half their adult size, so need considerably more room.

You might want to look in the Learning Center at the raising chicks and keeping chicken articles, you will find the answers to many questions there.

1muttsfan said:

That depends on where you live. Chicks need supplemental heat until they are fully feathered, usually around 6 weeks of age; by that time they are around half their adult size, so need considerably more room.

You might want to look in the Learning Center at the raising chicks and keeping chicken articles, you will find the answers to many questions there.

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We're in Massachusetts. Though I think they'd still have a heat lamp even out there - he's just thinking they'll be outside not in I think but I don't know.

And thanks, I'll definitely look through the stuff again because there's always a lot of interesting stuff. Though I think I sort of know the basics- it's more just convincing them I guess aha but maybe we could compromise and put them in the garage at least

I live in NW Florida, and I bought chicks as late as June last year. They came online and began laying in November. Just make sure if you have your chicks outside and it's cold at night that they have a heat lamp. They won't be fully feathered until 4/5 weeks, depending on the breed.

Peeps61 said:

I live in NW Florida, and I bought chicks as late as June last year. They came online and began laying in November. Just make sure if you have your chicks outside and it's cold at night that they have a heat lamp. They won't be fully feathered until 4/5 weeks, depending on the breed.

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That's good! yeah, from some brief research I just did (aka looking at various hatcheries sites), it seems like most of them have them until June, some even July or August though that was only one or two. Although the problem I found was that a lot of the breeds that I wanted were either sold out, limited, or not available until June. It wouldn't necessarily be a problem, it just seems sort of far away. But maybe we'd need that time anyways. But I will have to see what our local feed store has or if it's still possible to order because we have a friend there and when we went there in I think January, he had said they start taking orders February 1st so I'm hoping it's not too late. We could always order online though but my dad wants to go there. But if it is, then we can always wait till next year.

But yeah, they'd definitely have a heat lamp!

For young chicks you will need more than just a heat lamp in a coop, they need protection from drafts, and to be confined to an area close to heat, food and water. You can easily make a brooder cheaply, I use large appliance cardboard boxes for my young chicks then just burn them when finished with them. A brooder could be kept in the coop, and the chicks as they got older and sturdier could just move out of the brooder. You might also check around on your state thread and find out if there are any local breeders of the breeds you are interested in, they may be able to hatch out chicks later than you can get them in the farm supply stores.

1muttsfan said:

For young chicks you will need more than just a heat lamp in a coop, they need protection from drafts, and to be confined to an area close to heat, food and water. You can easily make a brooder cheaply, I use large appliance cardboard boxes for my young chicks then just burn them when finished with them. A brooder could be kept in the coop, and the chicks as they got older and sturdier could just move out of the brooder. You might also check around on your state thread and find out if there are any local breeders of the breeds you are interested in, they may be able to hatch out chicks later than you can get them in the farm supply stores.

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Yeah, that's more what I meant, like the brooder out there, but didn't really word it well so sorry about that. Though hopefully I could get them to be allowed inside. And oh that's a good idea! I never thought about that. I'll definitely have to look around. Thanks