3 week old chicks, what now?

[Sinfonian]

Getting bigger by the day! Now I'm asking myself several now what questions that I thought I'd ask here.

1. When do you allow them to have a field trip outside? I still have my heat lamp at around 85 degrees due to the late addition when they were a week old, so our 50s temps may be the deciding factor, but they sure want to stretch their legs.

2. Speaking of spreading their wings...

When do you normally clip one wing to keep them from flying? They seem to be flying around my brooder a ton lately.

3. Is moving them to a new, bigger cardboard box brooder in the garage in a week or two ok, even if they're still at 75 degrees when my garage is in the mid 50s? I would have the heat lamp set around 75, but that wouldn't cover the whole brooder area.

4. Lastly, I see no white splotches (urine) when they deficate, only pooh. Is that normal or are they not drinking enough? They have plenty of water and I do see them drink on occasion, though they eat far more than they drink at this age.

Thanks! (oh, videos posted on my blog).

 

[galanie]

Quote:

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yes, because your ages vary so, your heating is a bit problematic, but hardly insurmountable. Keep a warmer patch of 80 for the young ones, and have plenty of room for the older chicks to stay out of the heat. As spring advances and ambient air temperatures rise, none of them will want heat very often.

Light weight deer netting can be draped over the brooder or they fly right out, up to 3' wall won't even keep them in.

You can move them into the garage now. Many, many folks brood in the barn or unheated garage from day 1. I sure do. When I started two weeks ago, ambient temperatures were in the high 20's. Still, no issue. Those bulbs can put out a lot of heat, especially within 20" reach.

It's quite easy to provide an 80 degree warm spot with a red bulb. Chicks at 4 weeks won't spend hardly any time directly under the bulb, other than to nap near its edges on cool days or nights.