Baby Chicks

[Bones3498]

My six baby chicks are doing well. They are Columbian Rock X hens and are now five weeks old. They have not fully feathered yet and I keep them in my garage in a large wooden shipping box with pine shavings, clean food and water. I keep a thermometer where they sleep and a two phase heat lamp adjusted for 80 degrees. I believe they are about two weeks away from being moved into the main coup. We have martins, red squirrels, grey squirrels, chipmunks, and raccoons in our woods property. I am a bit nervous about the safety of these little girls. Time will tell.

 

[pozees2]

Will you be putting them into an area that is safe from those critters? In other words, is the coop secure, and is the run enclosed, with hardware cloth or electric fence or some other barrier to them?

 

[rosemarythyme]

They'll feather out better if you drop the temperatures. Actually they don't need to be on heat at all at this age, so consider weaning them off now. Means you can also put them out sooner rather than later.

The squirrels and chipmunks are more of a nuisance than a "predator" so at least those you won't have to worry about as much. If you're worried about predator safety, you could always post some photos of your set up on the Coop & Run forum for troubleshooting.