2 1/2 week old chicks in laundry room

[newchickmomma4]

Good afternoon everyone and Happy Mother's Day! I have 4 black sex link chicks that are almost 3 weeks old. I currently have them in a clear plastic 115 quart storage bin with an open air lid. They are tall enough now that when they "fly" they can almost get out. They are on a countertop in my laundry room and if they were to fly out (I only remove the lid for feed, water, human interaction but they do try really hard to "be free") they would fall about 3 feet to the floor and I'm sure die. We're looking at other solutions and at this point, I am seriously considering retiring one of the pack & play portable cribs that I use for my childcare service (I do have a new one to replace it) because it is slightly larger but more importantly much deeper(by probably a foot). If I were to put a piece of cardboard in as the floor would this work? Anyone ever done this?

 

[claudiab]

Do you have a garage? In the past, we have put a plastic tarp/drop cloth on the floor, took 1 1/2 sheets of OSB boards, cut 1 of them in half (2'x8' pcs.) and the other one into 2 pcs. ( 2'x4'). Drilled small holes in top & bottom of each. Then zip tied them into a rectangle...4'Wx8'Lx2'H. Put bedding (pine shavings) inside, put in chicks, brooder (brinsea eco glo 50), feeder, waterer and covered the whole thing with bird netting. Attached the bird netting so it fit SNUGGLY, not drooping inside with the chicks! Worked super! When they were ready to go outside into the coop, we just cut the zip ties, gathered up the plastic with the bedding...easy and worked great!

 

[newchickmomma4]

Have thought about rigging something up in the garage, but will have to convince my hubby that the van will be ok outside for a couple of weeks hehehehehe

 

[Quickster]

I didn't know you were supposed to move chicks to a bigger brooder after about 4 days and my 6 stayed in a storage bin till they were 3-4 weeks old. I just didn't realize how much they had grown and that they took up a lot more space then they had when we got them. A couple of them did fly out and were about 3 feet off the ground. If they can fly to the rim of the container they can most likely fly to the ground without getting hurt. Once mine realized they didn't like being on the garage floor, they would just fly to the rim and roost there.

 

[claudiab]

I know...out with my car...in with the chicks! All our neighbors know if my car is parked outside, there are babies inside!