Advice for New Chicks (Amerucana)

[zowie214]

So I already have two chicks that are living outside full time in their coop, I'm interested in getting some Amerucana chicks from a breeder in Texas but have some questions for advice from more experienced breeders. When I raised my first chicks indoors we had some bad experiences with heat lamps and had a lot of complaints about the bird smells. I changed their bedding every four to five days, washing their little tub and putting in fresh pine but I was curious if there was any other things we could do to make less smelly birds. As for the heating problems, the heat lamp fell despite the safety measures and while the chicks were fine, the floor was not. I've seen some people make little hutches with heating pads that shouldn't burn holes in anything or hurt the chicks either. Have any of you ever done this or have any tips? I'm also curious if anyone has any advice about Amerucana the breed itself.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

How many chicks were you brooding previously and how large was the brooder? Common causes of a stinky brooder are wetness (water spilling form the water station is primary cause - even if it doesn't look noticeably wet on the surface around the water station the under layers of bedding can be soaked), over-populated space resulting, overheated brooder, insufficient housekeeping, etc. Understanding how your brooder was set up and how many birds were in it can help to assess whether your housekeeping schedule should have been sufficient or not - but I suspect you likely had several factors coming together to create a stinky situation.
As to the heat source - yes the "mama heat pad" is a great, and much safer, approach to warming your chicks. In addition the safety factor, you have the added benefit of more closely mimicking the natural brooding process, allowing the chicks to live in a natural day/night cycle and less risk of overheating your brooder/birds. You can find a great discussion on it here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update - I would encourage you to read through the entire thread.

 

[zowie214]

We had two chicks and a duckling in a big tub that was maybe four or five feet long and two and a half feet wide. It was fine when they were pretty small but ducklings get very big very fast. They had a rabbit water bottle because the mallard would always spill water otherwise so it definitely got wet from dribbling I imagine. The chicks were part bantam chicks so they grew very slowly and were pretty small up til their 6 or 7th weeks.