baby chicks

[chickencarsten]

i was wondering if i could raise baby chicks in december? i live in ipswich and i wasnt sure if it would be too cold for the chicks

 

[gritsar]

There are alot of reasons it's best to wait until spring for chicks.
Are you planning on ordering from a hatchery? If so, you'll find the breeds available at this time of year to be severly limited. They'll have a harder time surviving on the trip from the hatchery to your house and if they get delayed somewhere I can almost promise you dead chicks.
Once you get them you'll have to be extra careful about their care. You'd almost certainly have to brood them in the house and trust me the smell will get bad no matter how often you clean. Especially in a house sealed up tight for winter. I could go on and on but you get the picture.
If you wait until spring you'll find better selection and their care will be easier.

 

[Crazy_For_Chickens]

I would wait untill spring.

 

[birdlover]

I concur with their opinions.

lol

 

[swtangel321]

Unless your going to hatch them and then keep them in the house for 10ish weeks I would wait till spring. JMO, A lot of people do raise chicks in the winter.

I wouldn't get them shipped either, to cold !!

Good luck !!

 

[BamaChicken]

I am hatching chicks now but like they said, you have to be set up to keep them warm this time of year and they get real stinky if you have to keep them in the house. Fortuanately we have an outdoor house and I have brooder boxes with heat that can house them for months. I do have to limit the amount though.

 

[cmom]

Quote:

I agree with the other posts. You can raise babies during the winter but initially you have to keep the temp in the brooder around 95 degrees and decrease it by 5 degrees each week. If for some reason they get delayed somewhere in the postal system you may end up with dead chicks.

My husband is from Newburyport.

 

[Momo]

I have 10 nine week olds and 23 five week olds right now. I kept them in the house for 3-4 weeks and then moved them out to the insulated coop with heat lamps. The 9 week olds are doing great, well feathered and mostly assimilated into the adult flock (which is just 3 hens and 1 roo). They had time to acclimatize to the falling temperatures this fall and have had access to the covered run since they were 5 weeks old.

If I'd been smart I'd have stopped there but I hatched a second batch. The littlest ones (5 weeks) are more of a problem because it's now too cold for them to go out into the run. Plus the coop is raised with a ramp, and it takes time (days, weeks) for the little tykes to figure out how to get back up into the coop. Not a problem when temperatures are reasonable, but a big problem when it's too cold out.

So I've got my coop divided into two sections for the different ages of chicks, and the adult birds are sleeping in the feed room. It's kind of complicated and I spend a lot of time making sure all their needs are being met. If it were spring instead of winter all this would be much simpler! And then there's the cost of running those heat lamps 24/7...

 

[swtangel321]

Quote:
I'll hatch yah some and you can come pick them up, that way they stay nice and warm and dont get shipped !!

 

[urbanhatch]

It is nice to hatch them yourself in December, January. That was they are well on their way in the summer months. But then, you have to see what eggs are available, December, January, and February? We are hatching this winter for nice young chickens in the spring and summer months