- May 18, 2011
- 34
- 0
- 32
I am very new to all of this and very relieved to have found this forum. I am a Headteacher of a school with children aged from 3-18 and my Pre-Prep Dept hatched 9 chicks in early May. The experience was so wonderful that we have subsequently decided that keeping chickens on our wonderful and extensive rural site would be a great thing to do - so I have now got two of the (Isa Warren?) chicks in a brooder in my lounge. We wanted to keep 4, but we were told by the hatching company that the browner (Ginger?) chicks were the females (can this be right?) so we let them take the 7 roosters back. We will get another two chickens later this summer once the coop is done. I think by now that if one of these chicks does turn out to be a rooster, I don't think we would have the heart to get rid of him.
My query is that the brooder they are in was not made for longer term use and the light is fixed on the wall. Not only does this mean the light is on all the time (is that bad?) but that I cannot reduce the heat, which I know we should be doing. Am I best to convert my dog cage and buy a heat lamp? The pictures on this website have given me lots of ideas. At what point are they likely to start smelling? At the moment it is no odour problem and it is quite nice having them in the centre of the house - the perspex lid of the brooder keeps the dog and cat out, but if they smell they will have to go in the shed.
The chicks are now just short of two weeks old and seem to be bouncing around and pecking happily. I am just feeding them chick mix at the moment. We are handling them every day (but they are not in the school) and they do not seem to mind. I still worry that they might not make it - can anyone advise me of anything else I should be doing? Any extra food? Going outside for short periods? A perch in the brooder? I am worried that with just two of them they might get bored - but I am not sure if chickens get bored. Having read some of the postings on here my biggest worry is that one of them will die.
Any advice welcome!
My query is that the brooder they are in was not made for longer term use and the light is fixed on the wall. Not only does this mean the light is on all the time (is that bad?) but that I cannot reduce the heat, which I know we should be doing. Am I best to convert my dog cage and buy a heat lamp? The pictures on this website have given me lots of ideas. At what point are they likely to start smelling? At the moment it is no odour problem and it is quite nice having them in the centre of the house - the perspex lid of the brooder keeps the dog and cat out, but if they smell they will have to go in the shed.
The chicks are now just short of two weeks old and seem to be bouncing around and pecking happily. I am just feeding them chick mix at the moment. We are handling them every day (but they are not in the school) and they do not seem to mind. I still worry that they might not make it - can anyone advise me of anything else I should be doing? Any extra food? Going outside for short periods? A perch in the brooder? I am worried that with just two of them they might get bored - but I am not sure if chickens get bored. Having read some of the postings on here my biggest worry is that one of them will die.
Any advice welcome!