Beware of raising winter chicks

[Pepurr]

Thanks for this thread. I was wondering about the pros and cons of letting my hens hatch out some chicks this winter. Now I have some info to go on.

 

[MIKE555444]

Agreed... Obviously it can be done effectively but If you are gonna raise winter chicks.... you need a very good PLAN that involves a deep PERSONAL COMMITMENT to the project. Otherwise you and your chicks will have a long painful winter that may result in sickly or unproductive pullets.

 

[porkchop48]

This was my first attempt at raising winter chicks.

They spent the first 10 days in the frog room in the basement and then were moved to the garage.

In the garage they have heat lights and seem to be feathering up at a good pace. They have been in the garage a little over a week now.

In 4 weeks they will be 6-7 weeks old and will be moved to an enclosed part of the cool with a heat light for another 1-2 weeks before being sent out with the rest of the flock.

I tried raising a group of chicks over the summer, I had pasty butts, dead chicks and they did not thrive at all. I ended up losing more than 3/4 of them.

So far I will take my chances with winter chicks.

I will be adding some greens to their diet now though. They started on medicated chick started along with bugs , just never thought about the greens. Good tip.

 

[Holly0]

Thanx for the heads up. I am new to chickens and am planning to get my chicks the beginning of Feb. I planned on keeping them in the house for the first 2 weeks with a heat lamp and then moving them to the coop for another 4-6 more weeks, again with a heat lamp. I had never thought of providing 2 heat sources in case something happened to 1. Great advise. It was also helpful to hear from you to expect much more coop cleaning while they are all confined to the coop awaiting more feathers and spring weather. I plan on getting 10 chicks and have a 6' x 8' coop. I hope that will be enough room for that period of time. Hopefully we will have their run completed and they will be able to venture outside in April. We have had an exceptionally mild winter thus far, but April could be a totally different story. Thanx again for the advise.

 

[1234duck]

OMG.... Yes make sure you are prepared. I hatched just 9 chicks in December and 3 chicks about 3 weeks before them with all being in the house and the house is under a total makeover. New kitchen cupboards, counters, tile floor and living room new wood floor, painting the hole works.~ Screammmmm..... what a mess, hardly any room and can't locate anything cant walk on the floor so its out one side of the house and in the other. Boy how stupid i was without a plan. so unprepared. Winter hatching inside is more work for sure.

My incubator is put away for quite a while now.. lol ~Julie~

 

[hendryschaulz515]

Quote:
i agree on that...




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[hollyk]

The winter warning is good. But for some of us, the winter is a better time. Where I live, it is much easier to keep a brooder house warm in the winter than trying to keep chicks cool in 115' summer heat that lasts for 3 months. All of the things said about winter warmth must be considered. I will never raise chicks in the summer again. Fall through spring is great. Our winters are so mild that the heat is only a need for 6-8 weeks for us.

 

[MIKE555444]

Quote:
Thanks for a different point-of-view from TX

 

[Charm1704]

I always hatch and raise chicks through the winter months...thank god I live near Austin Tx. We can have 70 degree weather in December...It does get colder though when a front comes through. I like the fact that their ready to lay in early spring and not the heat of the hot summer months, because it gets HOT here. Yes, it is a job...sometimes I have 3 brooders going in the house in my spare room...Always cleaning them but that is just part of having them....I hatch all winter long so as soon as one brooder is empty...it gets filled again....just part of having them and raising them...~Charm1704

 

[Jeffross1968]

This thread was a really good read. We've been hatching chicks now since September, just about once per month, our last having been the NYD hatch contest, and the bator has more in there right now. I've consistently taken chicks 3 to 4 weeks old and cycled them out to the small coop/run with each batch. As the ones in the small coop get big enough, they are allowed out to free range with the big coop girls for a few weeks, until it's time to integrate, which leaves the small coop open for the next hatch, and so on.

The small coop is an "under the stairs on the ground" type...



Their water, without heat, will not freeze until it gets to the low 20's or teens. It stays kind of warm in there. We typically provide additional heat via 75 watt red bulb for the first full week out there, and then start weaning them off, which means no heat by the end of week 5. Also important to note that we are using the deep litter method in both coops, so there is naturally some extra heat in there.

So far, every batch up to this point has been very healthy through every stage, and seemingly growing to expectations. Our hopes were that we'd have brand new layers by the end of winter, and all through the spring. We'll see how it all works out, and maybe I'll learn, like you, that it wasn't the best thing to do. But so far, so good, and we've really enjoyed doing this through the fall and beginning of winter.