First Time Chick Parents, Spring 2016

[KiminPA]

@famerzellman Lucy and Ethel, Thelma and Louise, Betty and Wilma... My two cats are whiskey and jager (we were convinced she was a he lol)

 

[famerzellman]

Love them thanks!

 

[mamatink7]

Looking for some names for my new chicks
I got two Plymouth rocks
Two silkie bantams
Would like some pair names

you could always do Disney names or show names. If we named ours I'd wait to see personalities first.

 

[Werforpsu]

After our wet bedding incident this morning, we haven't had another one! I actually changed brooders today. I made one from an old kiddie pool and plastic bin lids to bins that had cracked and been thrown away. I duck taped the lids together in a circle and We were off. I am pleased to report that we now have all 11 chicks of three different sizes (approx. 1wk, 3wk and 8wk) in the same brooder. The 3wk guys are little hellions so they have distracted everyone from the size difference between the 1wks and the 8wk (which was a problem yesterday morning before we had gotten the 3wks).

 

[Jensownzoo]

After our wet bedding incident this morning, we haven't had another one! I actually changed brooders today. I made one from an old kiddie pool and plastic bin lids to bins that had cracked and been thrown away. I duck taped the lids together in a circle and We were off. I am pleased to report that we now have all 11 chicks of three different sizes (approx. 1wk, 3wk and 8wk) in the same brooder. The 3wk guys are little hellions so they have distracted everyone from the size difference between the 1wks and the 8wk (which was a problem yesterday morning before we had gotten the 3wks).

I have a similar setup except my walls are cardboard moving boxes. It's held up for the past two months. I do have a "door" cut into the side so I can sit on a bucket and watch them from the side instead of towering over them though. Just hold it closed with a chip clip when not in use. Some of the older chicks will fly up to the ledge of the door while I'm sitting there and I make them step up to my hand if they want to stay, so they get used to minor handling.

 

[16 paws]

After our wet bedding incident this morning, we haven't had another one! I actually changed brooders today. I made one from an old kiddie pool and plastic bin lids to bins that had cracked and been thrown away. I duck taped the lids together in a circle and We were off. I am pleased to report that we now have all 11 chicks of three different sizes (approx. 1wk, 3wk and 8wk) in the same brooder. The 3wk guys are little hellions so they have distracted everyone from the size difference between the 1wks and the 8wk (which was a problem yesterday morning before we had gotten the 3wks).

What a great clever idea for your brooder. I love it!!!!

 

[RonC]

Here's my "Class of 2016". Just got them today. There is a heating pad wrapped in the T shirt, waiting on the heat lamp. Seems everyone was out today. One Buff Orpington, one each silver laced and golden laced Wyandotte and one Americana. City only allows 4 total
.

 

[Blooie]

Here's my "Class of 2016". Just got them today. There is a heating pad wrapped in the T shirt, waiting on the heat lamp. Seems everyone was out today. One Buff Orpington, one each silver laced and golden laced Wyandotte and one Americana. City only allows 4 total
.

Why use a heat lamp at all if you have a reliable heating pad that doesn't turn itself off after 2 hours.....one where you can bypass the automatic shutoff. I even brood my chicks outdoors in Northern Wyoming without a heat lamp using a heating pad, and so do many others.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

 

[RonC]

My heating pad seems like medium is not warm enough and high gets really warm. Heat lamp seems easier to regulate by raising and lower it and gives a larger area of temperature variation. They can move a little farther away if they are too hot without getting completely away from the heat. Heating pad they are on it or not.

 

[Blooie]

But we don't sit them ON the heating pad. We bend a bit of wire into a frame, put the heating pad on it, then put a towel on that. That forms a cave. They duck in and out just exactly like they would under a broody hen. Temps under the pad don't need to be at that "95 the first week, 90 the second week, 85 the third week, etc" and temps under mine the one and only time I ever tested it in response to a question it was 82.9 under the pad, and the room was 69 degrees. The chicks had already been under it for days before I even tested and were absolutely thriving. When they get bigger or need less heat, you just bend the frame upward a bit or turn down the pad. This video starts out dark on purpose....the first day after we brought them home they already understood the difference between night and day.