1st chic order probably getting cancelled

[TeeMom]

We have 5 kids (ages 2, 4, 5, 8 and 9), 2 dogs, 2 cats, a snake, 20 chickens and just added a dozen ducklings. Oh...And one of our hens is sitting on 10 eggs that should hatch in another 2 weeks. We're busy! I do stay home, but I will go back to work after the kids are all in school and our farm is only growing. The chickens are very much therapeutic for me...I enjoy all aspects of caring for them, cleaning included. I can't say that about laundry! As others have said, they are definitely more work when they are little and varies with your setup, but there are days that our young chicks only get checked on twice a day. Today is one of those. It's cold and rainy...I tended to chickens and ducks first thing this morning and I don't plan on going back out there until this evening. It definitely depends on your priorities, but my chickens have given me far more than they have taken.

 

[Stephine]

As long as your brooder is big enough and you are using some tricks to make keeping water and feed from being spilled or soiled easy, chicks only require some more work in setting up for them, making sure you are around to pick them up at the post office as soon as they get there (or occasionally finding out their whereabouts when the PO messes up and picking them up at the distribution center...) and monitoring on the first day, to make sure your set up works as planned and to see if any chicks need support after the trip.
Make sure the brooder you set up will be big enough for them until they can move to the coop. At 6 weeks you'll need 2sq feet per bird. Starting big will save you the having to make up a series of larger brooders as they grow.
Start them out on shavings - a lot of people do - or put paper towels over the shavings for a day until they all know where to find their feed. The sooner you can get rid of the paper towels the less you have to work on cleaning the brooder. Start with a thin layer and just add another layer when it starts looking messy. With a tall brooder you can go for a while in this way without having to clean it all out.
Get a nipple waterer and train them to it on day 3 or 4, (the kind that points down, not the horizontal ones - those can be too hard to make work for tiny chicks): no more worries about spilled and dirty water!
I highly recommend a little round red plastic feeder with adjustable roof (I'll get back with a link) for when they are little - put it up on an overturned terra-cotta saucer or flower pot that has a base about the same size or just a tad bigger than the feeder base. Make it the hight of their backs. Keeps them from roosting on it and pooping in their feed and keeps shavings out.
When they are big enought to knock this feeder over get a trough feeder with a lip - they can not beak out the feed and they can't roost on it.
If you make smart choices they really aren't that much work and they can keep you kids entertained with "chick TV" at least for a while here and there.
Good Luck!

links! Chick feeder: https://www.chickenwaterer.com/BriteTap-Automatic-Chick-Chicken-Feeder-p/chick-feeder.htm

Chicken trough feeder: http://www.miller-mfg.com/product/9836.html

One more thing: Get a good book or two on raising chickens - it'll help you do things right the first time and save you time searching around on the internet for answers! Cheers!

 

[BantyChooks]

Sorry, don't know what I was thinking. Yes, chicks take time, and they need to be checked on about once an hour. If that does not work for you, that s too bad. Good luck!

 

[6sablehens]

If you think nine is necessary for your needs, then that will be fine your set up will still be similar or the same but they will just need a bit more food and they may make the area dirtier faster. It can be handy to have a few extra chickens because when they are moulting and in the winter they don't lay as many eggs. Young chickens will usually lay an egg a day in the spring and summer. Once you get a few chickens it's hard to stop collecting more!

 

[Ilovemy3babies]

Now feel like awful chick parents. We have three kids, 3 dogs, 1 turtle and fish tank full of fish. My kids are on the swim team, we are constantly gone. The chicks are alone most of the day, we check on them first thing in the morning, change water and feed them ( the kids do that), once we get back to the house after practice around 8pm, again we check on them , change water and add feed if needed. But no we do t check on the every hour. We have 16 chicks, started out with 12. I don't think it's a lot of work at all. When we are home we take them outside and around the house. We clean the brooder twice a week. We get the kids involve in the process, ages 10,8, and 7.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I am with you. I don't check on my chicks every hour and it hasn't killed them yet. More like 1-2 times before work, again after I get home, and one more time before bed.

 

[TheKluck]

Thanks all,

So we have 2 adults to work and 2 kids to daycare and that about it for the mornings. evenings is only kids sports once a week.

So from what I'm being told it should be rather easy.

 

[Wandercreek]

Same here. I've raised hundreds of chicks. With a properly functioning brooder set-up, there is no need to check on them multiple times a day. I see mine when I open the coop and when I close the coop. I might linger to 'peep' at them every now and then, but most days they get a cursory glance to make sure they are all moving around in the brooder and the food and water situation is good. I noticed a few pasty butts last night and made a mental note to take care of that this morning...and I didn't stress over it. I just got back from the barn doing just that...wiping chick butts. Chicks are easy. Adult birds are easier. Just educate yourself on proper care and age specific needs and you'll be fine. Promise.

 

[silarajc]

I arranged my order to arrive during spring break (I work in the schools), so I was around to pick them up from the post office and check on them frequently the first few days. By the third day we had pretty much finished with pasty butt and everything seemed to be going pretty well. I would check on the feed and change the water out every morning and every night - just schedule an extra 15-20 minutes in the morning until things iron out. We lost two in the first week, but it wasn't for lack of checking on them.

My first order was 29 chicks! I may be crazy, but I'm loving it! I taped together several large boxes for their brooder in the garage - they started flying over the walls at probably 5 1/2 weeks and I had to improvise to go bigger (the coop was supposed to be built over spring break, but life happened).

If I had it to do over again...fewer chicks just because of space, and probably pick up at the feed store instead of mail order, so they are less stressed when I get them (less pasty butt). And build the coop first. I thought I had it planned so we'd have the coop done in the first week, but we had a difficult time getting everything leveled and squared due to the rocky hill we placed the coop on.

 

[Wandercreek]

My first order was 29 chicks! I may be crazy, but I'm loving it!

Nope! Not crazy

If I had it to do over again...fewer chicks just because of space, and probably pick up at the feed store instead of mail order, so they are less stressed when I get them (less pasty butt).

Pasty butt can happen for a multitude of reasons. It isn't necessarily due to shipping. Stress of any sort can cause it...temperature fluctuations, lots of big smiling faces hovering over them, being under constant lights, being picked up, starting to eat food...the list is endless. I wouldn't stop ordering chicks for this reason. There are so many varieties available out there that you just can't get at a feed store.


Quote: Definitely!