Baby chicks with working family

[Volvo Farmer]

Hello, I'm rather new around here and have been reading, but have not seen my question asked yet. We are preparing for a backyard flock, 12-15 birds. We live in Southwest Colorado and will set up a brooder inside the house, at least for the first week or two. I have purchased a Brinsea Eco-glow, as we are off grid.

My question is: Is it necessary for the chicks to be attended during the day for the first week? Both my wife and I work, and there is nobody home from about 8AM to 4PM. My Goodwife teaches school and will be able to be home towards the end of May, but I was hoping to move things up several weeks to get a head start on the summer.

Thanks for any replies!

 

[paceysgl5]

You should be fun. Just monitor them the first day (hopefully you'll get them before the weekend so you can watch them and get to know them for a couple days before heading back to work). Make sure they have plenty of water & food, and that they are at a good temperature, and they'll be fine. We both work as well. We set up a camera in the brooder so we can see what is going on, but that's just for fun

 

[sheila3935]

to the wonderful world of chickens. So long as they are kept warm, with food and water available and where nothing can get them they will be fine. we all work here. Different hours for all of us, buth there are many times no one is home. I would keep them in til they are fully feathered though unless you can keep a heat source on them outside.

 

[TeamChaos]

This is my second year raising chicks, so I'm not super seasoned. Last year I practically slept in the brooder with the babies because they seemed so fragile and I was freaked out, this year I haven't been able to be home as much but my babies are doing just fine. As long as you have a stable temp in the brooder (one nice toasty side and a cooler side they can escape to) and non-tippable food and water stations, they should be fine. Take time in the a.m. and p.m. to pick each one up and check their butts for pasting up and to do a general once over as chicks can go down hill fast and they should be relatively tame and in good health.