Day old baby chicks... Hard to raise?

[CHIC]

I'm getting ready to order my first set of babies and am very nervous. I'm afraid of not doing something right and them dying. Is this silly? How hard is it?

 

[rachiegirl]

Don't worry too much, it really isn't hard at all. They are more hardy than people give them credit for! Good luck, you'll LOVE them!!

 

[paintedsavvy]

Watch this video. If they can survive this, I'm sure they can survive you.

 

[nimblytripping]

They need enough room to get under the heat if they want to and get away from it if it gets too hot. If they are bunched up under the light, they are cold. If they are laying around in the corners (like my first ones were!) looking hot, move the light up. Paying attention is the key. You'll do fine!

 

[paintedsavvy]

Really it's not too hard. They need a warm clean area and food and water. I raised mine in a plastic tub in the bathroom. I used pine shavings in their box and had a light and a space heater around the box.

Easy cheesey lemon squeezy.

 

[CHIC]

Im also having a hard time thinkin of a place to keep them. I want them somewhere easily accessable to me. But completely not accessable to my 3 and 4 year olds and the German Shepard

 

[paintedsavvy]

Well, good luck with that! I'm kidding. My suggestion is for the bathroom. Mine doesn't have carpet so it was easy to clean, and it's small so you can control the temp easier, and you can shut the door behind you.

 

[nimblytripping]

Quote:
A big box in the laundry room? Boxes are great for babies.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

They are SO fun and easy to raise. I now raise my babies in the garage with a heat lamp. It's less dusty and we can sit out there and enjoy them any time we want too. All I did was get a nice big watermelon box from just about any grocery store and made a plywood floor for it and covered it with a screen after they started jumping up. It's about 25 inches high and nice and big. It fit my 25 chicks in it just fine until they were feathered enough to go out to the big hen house.

 

[anngili]

I don't have kids but I do have a dog. I've been successfully raising some in dog crates. If I have to leave the dog with them without supervision (she's determined and smart enough to figure out how to open the doors), I use some zip ties on both sides to hold the doors closed.
Since they're mostly flat against the door or the crate, she can't get her teeth on them and even if she opens the latches, she still can't get to the chicks. I think it would probably work with your kids, too, as long as they don't have access to scissors, etc. I do use the heavy-duty zip ties and I just cut them with a sharp kitchen knife or my pliers/wire clippers. It worked great for the first batch of 14 and it's also working for my second batch now.