All these stories I've read of chick dust are scaring me! =O

[cafarmgirl]

Ookay...


looks like i might only be getting 3 chicks

Then would my <2x3 brooder work for the whole time? It's the bare minimum space but I guarantee i'll be holding the birds and letting them out to play a lot,

That would cut down on the dust problem

but i'm disappointed my mom wants to only get half the amount of birds we were going to get. Three are better than none, I guess

By the time they are 3 to 4 weeks old they are going to need a bigger space, even with only three of them in there. By that age they are getting pretty big and they are active. Even with fewer birds boredom and a small space invites problems. At 2 or 3 weeks of age I start taking mine out into an exercise pen for at least a few hours during the day, weather permitting, and extend the time as they get older. They wear themselves out very nicely pecking and scratching in the dirt and grass and are more then ready to settle down and nap when they get back to the brooder. Mine move out to their coop and run at 5 weeks of age. If you don't have an outdoor pen or the weather is to cold you could also set up a pen in a garage or other sheltered area and add a heat lamp if it's chilly.

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Okay, thank you! I wasn't sure.

 

[misbhaven]

I will post some pictures and post them later of the currant coop we are building that i can used as a brooder after a couple weeks if I wanted materials have only been around $100 I already had the dog kennel outdoor type but they are pretty easy to find...i installed a cermic light fixture .74 cents the wire we used was heavy extenion cord wire you can buy at a hardware stire and put a male end on it so i i can literally just plug it in as needed..i have to duck to get in the door of the outside part of the coop but the ceiling is about 7 ft... btw the dust depends on what type of heat you have i have a boiler my brooder is in my basment but no dust because no forced air to blow it around actually i get very little dust from anything .

 

[misbhaven]

.. any way i also have an a frame type that i use for basically chick day care after a few weeks.. anyway i brood in rubbermade tubs but i have a room in my basement just for that it is 12 by 12... because the little cuties can and will excape at just a couple weeks.. i have 5 kids, 3 dogs, and 2 cats in my house. i used and old coal storage area it already had two outside brick walls and 2, 4 foot high with a door way i just used a couple sheets of foam insulation the kind with foil over it so little beaks would be less likely to eat it to make the walls go all the way up and adding a $29 screen door....instant brooding room note i did this because i live in the midwest and temps this winter have been brutal and i don't see my new chicks, the first of which come this week going outside in the normal amount of time..

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Well apparently we can't get chickens at all

at least for awhile

apparently money is too tight and we can't afford a coop, but of course I'm being told this now after my mom suggested we get chicks and told me we could get them in February and we'd have a coop and everything by then

ugh I've never felt so disappointed over something before.

thanks for the info guys

 

[nicole63021]

Sorry fluff, I used a 4x2 1/2 foot brooder with a dog crate top for the top of the brooder. If you already have racks and reptiles/rodents, then you can use what we did, Sani-Chips. Since we get that in bulk we had plenty. The dust wasn't too bad till they were 5-6 weeks and were really letting the feathers fly. The chicks (11 at first, 9 by the end) ended up staying in much longer than we ever wanted because of issues with our city. We were putting them out in safe garden beds and such though, so they weren't so cooped up inside. Some people use puppy training pads as the brooder bedding as well. Minimal dust that way and very easy to clean. Hope you can get your little chickies, they are so much fun. Feel free to post to my profile or PM me if you have any questions about raising the chicks inside when you have exotics, it did take a little work, but was worth it!

 

[lazy gardener]

Good luck. Good to see a teen ager taking interest in poultry. I was the kid who grew up with a hamster in one pocket and a frog in an other pocket. I strongly recommend that you don't put the chicks in your room. Their dander is incredible. Could you possibly talk your mother into letting you get 4 chicks. Chickens are more cliquey than a bunch of 6th grade girls. If you only have 3 birds, 2 of them might be BFF, and ostracize the third one. If you get 4, your chances are better (IMO) that there won't be one chick left out of the group. An other recommendation I would give, is to try to get that coop built before you get the chicks. They grow incredibly fast. Don't let your cat be alone in the room with the chicks. Even with them securely covered, there's the risk of the cat knocking the heat lamp over. When I was growing up, I had a jungle in my room... hamster, parakeet, canary, turtles, lizards, mice, fish... and a ton of plants... The only animal my mother wouldn't allow me to have in the house was a snake!

 

[sumrfun65]

We got three baby chicks last March. We had them in a box on top of the dryer with a light hanging over for probably two weeks. Then we put them in a big tv box with plastic fencing around it and put them in a back corner of the den. We put pine shavings in the bottom and still had the light hanging over it. They stayed in that until May when it was warm enough for them to go out in their pen. Seemed they had plenty of room and it was not that dusty or dirty. We just cleaned the bedding regularly. They are now almost a year old, laying and healthy. This was our first time and it went well. I love those little ladies!!

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

We do want to have the coop before we get the chicks, or at least within the first two weeks we have the chick and no later than that. Though I don't know WHEN we'll be getting chicks at this point. I was just told we probably couldn't get them for several months and then right after that my mom saw my dad looking at coops to build and I don't even know what's happening anymore.
Ideally my mom and I want to get six chicks. As far as the heat lamp goes, I have it attached to the brooder in a way that would be very difficult to knock it over(its stand is zip-tied to the bars on the side).

We'd need a more secure covering for the top of the brooder if I'm to move the brooder out of my room. I guess the other option, since I'm home all the time now, is to keep the brooder in the living room where my mom suggested we keep it, and when we leave the house we'd have to either A) move the brooder into my room just while we're gone or B), shove all three cats in one room.

I still don't know when we'll be able to get them at this point, but boy I want to start building that coop now so we'll be ready for the little puffs. Unfortunately that's not likely at this moment. Unless my dad changes his mind.

 

[lazy gardener]

What is the critter in your avatar????????