best tips to a new chick Mom?

[Miss Chickpea]

Welcome! You've already received some great advice, but I'll just throw this out there too. This is what my good friend @lazy gardener was talking about. It's worked so well for so many of us!! Takes a lot of the stress about brooding out so you can relax and enjoy the whole experience more!
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/956958/mama-heating-pad-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update

So helpful and love the idea of creating the most natural environment for them! Definitely will be doing this instead of heat lamps thank you so much!

 

[Peter.J]

If you do go with chics, make sure to check them daily for ‘paisty butt’, their droppings can clog up their vent and they will perish. You just have to wet the feathers and wipe it off. Clean the brooder often.
Another, easier option is buying pullets; a lot less work for just a little more $ and eggs sooner. Although raising chics is a fun experience...
I don’t think you should wait, Go for it! Just wait to put them out side until they’re fully feathered and can handle the cold. The sooner you start the sooner you get eggs and that can feel like an eternity sometimes...

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. Excellent advice from @lazy gardener and @Blooie.

 

[lazy gardener]

You mentioned that your hubby is going to build your coop. That's great. You can avoid the prefab doll house coops on the market! If you are into build/DIY, you might even consider building an incubator. I started my first flock with 3 EE from a local hardware store, and a few chicks that I hatched in my home made incubator. You can build a bator very economically. The only component that will have any appreciable cost is the thermostat. You can buy a good digital thermostat for less than $20.

 

[Miss Chickpea]

Welcome to BYC!

Hey there! So I am from Canada as well. It is a crazy -40° here, -47° with windchill.
You'll want a small combed, evenly feathered bird. Orpingtons, Plymouth Rocks, Chanteclers, and Wyandottes are the best, friendliest birds suitable for cold climates. They lay around 4 to 5 eggs per week per hen.
The best way to control brooder temp is watch your chick's behavior. If they are huddled under the heat lamp, lower it a bit (keep it 18" above shavings or straw). If they are avoiding it, raise it. If they are running around, eating and drinking, they are happy. Raise it 2" every week! Heat source should be a heat lamp, not a heater, because heat lamps heat objects, not the air. If they are dust free and a safe height above the bedding, fires are a very minimal risk it also provides light. If you want them friendly, handle them lots at a young age.
It is best to move them outside at 6-8 weeks, during a warm weather spell.
Use hardware cloth, that is 1/4" wide. In Canada weasels can inch through 1/2" holes! Make sure it is tall enough to walk into, and cover all ventilation with hardware cloth. You'll want some ventilation closable for cold winters but openable for hot days, but your chickens will always require some ventilation. Double wall insulation with fiberglass ins. And a vapour barrier works for me. Ventilate the walls and roof. I love the deep litter method myself so if you want to try this, make your coop suitable for it. You need 10" of roost space per bird, at least 3' off the ground (above the nest boxes for sure). One nest box for every 5-8 hens, 12" by 12". 4 sq ft of space for bird, but I advise multiplying that by 2 or 3, because you WILL want more chickens!
Don't seal up the coop in the winter or the moisture from their breath will increase frostbite. Use wood on a hinge for a door. For the run, make the fence at least 5' tall, and keep your space to 10 sq ft per bird. To cover it or not is your choice, but if you do, make it high enough to walk into.
You should be fine to feed twice a day in summer, if you plan on having a rooster feed 18% maintenance ration and provide oyster shell free choice on the side. Maintenance ration is cheaper and layer feed is not safe for roosters or growing birds. You can feed all table scraps to birds except meat, boiled eggs (they resemble laid eggs causing egg eating), avocados, raw potato skins, or chocolate, or spoiled/bad foods. They love leftover corn cobs! If you want to avoid commercial feeds during summer look into feeding whole grains
During winter they should have 24/7 (or at the least, daytime) free choice access to an 18% maintenance feed with oyster shell. Adding corn to that mix will keep them warmer, as will warm oatmeal.

So much great info! Thank you we are definitely planning a walk in, and I already want more chickens before I even have the first round LOL I'll plan to make it bigger...at least room for 15-20. Can I feed twice a day maintenance feed mixed with veggies/scraps? Plus free range (grass bugs) Winter they will have 27/7 access to feed. Thanks again!

 

[Welshies]

So much great info! Thank you we are definitely planning a walk in, and I already want more chickens before I even have the first round LOL I'll plan to make it bigger...at least room for 15-20. Can I feed twice a day maintenance feed mixed with veggies/scraps? Plus free range (grass bugs) Winter they will have 27/7 access to feed. Thanks again!

Yes you can! Even whole grains can be sufficient for adults, if you want to go the no-commercial way in summer.
And yes 24/7 access is how I do it too!

 

[Blooie]

I must beg to differ on the subject of heat lamps, with all due respect to @Welshies . Heat lamps DO heat the air. They heat the entire brooder, the walls OF the brooder and AROUND the brooder, the floors, the bedding, the food and the water. A Mama Hen heats only the chicks directly, and not 24 hours a day. The chicks begin to explore their surroundings and learn what they'll need to know to survive at just a couple of days old, squirting under her for a quick warm-up and then they are back out running all over the place. They scoot under her for security if they are spooked. They sit on top of her and beside her. They snuggle under her at night as the sun goes down and stay there, nice and quiet and sound asleep, until the sun comes back up. They don't get any of that with a heat lamp. They just get light and heat. Lots of heat. Chicks put out a lot of dust, dander and fuzz. Those are all combustible. The lamp doesn't need to come into direct contact with anything else to burst into flame. It's happened right here on BYC many times.

Think about a heating pad. Let's say you have one of each running...a heating pad sitting on the floor next to you and a heat lamp hung in front of you. Grab one. Yeah. You aren't going to grab that heat lamp but you would pick up the heating pad, and maybe even throw it on your shoulders. They are designed to come into contact with fabric, upholstery...even bare skin for short times. As for them not heating the air, then why is it that the temperature in my brooder farthest away from Mama Heating Pad was 69 degrees in a 69 degree room, while with my first batch of chicks under a heat lamp the temperature in the same spot, same room, same brooder was 87? The area directly under the lamp was at the "recommended" 90 degrees.

I don't mean to be argumentative, just informative. And a disagreement in a brand new member's post can leave a bad taste in the mouth, I know. That's not much of a "welcome". But I am a firm believer that a heating pad is a gentler, more even, and direct warming method. I would never second guess whatever @Miss Chickpea decides to do, but I do think that like all of us, she deserves to have all the information at hand to make an informed decision. Who knows? A heat lamp may well be the perfect solution for her, and that's fine too.

 

[Miss Chickpea]

Yes you can! Even whole grains can be sufficient for adults, if you want to go the no-commercial way in summer.
And yes 24/7 access is how I do it too!

Amazing, thank you!

 

[Welshies]

Heat lamps don't heat the air, I apologize but beg to differ. They may increase it by a few degrees by heating surrounding objects but they are the go-to for chicks. Many people find them more affordable at $40 versus $150 for a Brinsea chick brooder. They have been most people's go to. It is your choice though!

 

[Miss Chickpea]

If you do go with chics, make sure to check them daily for ‘paisty butt’, their droppings can clog up their vent and they will perish. You just have to wet the feathers and wipe it off. Clean the brooder often.
Another, easier option is buying pullets; a lot less work for just a little more $ and eggs sooner. Although raising chics is a fun experience...
I don’t think you should wait, Go for it! Just wait to put them out side until they’re fully feathered and can handle the cold. The sooner you start the sooner you get eggs and that can feel like an eternity sometimes...

I am so excited for these chics I can't even tell you! Lol I just want to make sure I learn as much as possible, and have a Solid plan for the coop before we move forward. I have no patients lol