Hi, I'm new here...my 5 little chicks arrived this morning (after I was that crazy girl driving up the street looking for my mail carrier). The little peepers arrived and are super active and adorable. I have a 2'x4' wire dog crate that I converted into a brooder. It's in an upstairs bathroom that we don't use in a corner away from the window so it gets light but not directly and no drafts. Our AC is kind of weak and so the air temp up there according to the thermometer is around 85 degrees. I lined the sides of the brooder up to about 4" with cardboard and then put in 2" of shavings and a layer of papertowels for the first few days. I made a heatingpad cave for them in the back corner of the brooder so that they could cycle on natural light but stay warm, and of course they have plenty of food and water. This afternoon when I came home, they were all asleep under their heater and all came out to play for a while. I went downstairs to do some chores and have dinner, but then a REALLY bad electrical storm kicked up. Bright lightning, dogs barking, house shaking thunder. It's passing now, but it was REALLY loud...so I went up to check on them. In the dusky light, I saw a little lump between the crate and the wall and so I turned the hall light on and it's my Buff and my Plymouth Rock all snuggled up asleep on the floor OUTSIDE of the crate. When I went in looking for the others, they were in the bedding under the papertowels in the opposite corner of the heater. Because I was up there poking around, they all got up (except the buff who stayed under the heater where I put her) and ate and were being social. I turned the heat down on the heating pad and added about 6 more inches of cardboard and then smushed up some towels between the dog crate and the wall so that they theoretically can't get out again? Is there anything else I should be doing right now? The storm is passing and as it was getting darker up there, the 4 that weren't under the heater seemed like they were snuggling up with each other to go to sleep, so maybe it's fine now? I'm so nervous that I'm doing something wrong!
Every thing sounds good. Don't stress out chick are pretty tough little buggers. They can handle a lot of stuff. They have been doing it for years in the wild with no help from us humans. We are the ones that stress out about them. Just leave Mother Nature to herself she will work everything out.
Just be sure they know to get under the heat for warmth. Sometimes they will go out to eat or run around, and then get away from the heat, and "forget" that the heating pad is the Mama. They'll smoosh together to stay warm, and that won't provide enough warmth for them in the early days. You may need to put them under the pad and hold your hand over the opening till they get the idea that THIS is where the heat is. Put your hand under the pad, with the back of your hand touching the underside of the pad. Does it feel good? That's what they should feel, and if the pad is low enough, they can get right up against it. With only 4 chicks, that shouldn't be a problem.
Hi Kelly! Everything will work out fine....Don't stress (easier said then done) How did they get out?
Hey all, thanks for your replies! it looks like they squeezed through the bars. It's a big dog crate, so the bars are kind of far apart. I just went to check on them again and this time they were all out on the other side of the crate. So I grabbed a big Rubbermaid (smaller than the crate but bigger than what they were mailed in by a lot) and bunked them in there for the night with all their supplies. In the morning, I'll try to really fix the issues on the crate...but if I'm going to sleep tonight, I need to not worry about the little buggers chilling to death on the bathroom floor.
