Bringing baby chicks home

[Hopethehen]

Is it bad to bring them in the car for too long? if we bought four, would it be ok if we were in the car for like an hour an 45 minutes? We are getting four so we could get rid of one if its a rooster, plus someone we know wants a chickens. So i just wanted to know tips on bringing home babies. When i first got babies, one of them died the night we got her, and they say "she make the transformation to different homes." I want to make sure that never happens again.

 

[N F C]

I don't think an hour and 45 minutes is too long in the car. I brought home 6 chicks in April and that was a 2 hour car trip. Another BYC member once transported birds from WY to South Dakota.

As long as they are comfortable, I think they'll be fine. Once you get them to their new home, show them where their feed and water is and let them rest.

Good luck to you!

 

[lazy gardener]

Put them in a smallish box that has plenty of air holes, yet is small enough to hold their body heat. I've transported chicks in the car in a February snow storm. They did fine. Consider that hatcheries send out boxes of chicks that are traveling for up to and sometimes more than 48 hours. Most survive. IMO, the weak ones do not.

No matter where I get chicks, (most from my own incubator) they all get Poultry Nutri-Drench for the first 2 weeks, first daily then decreasing to every few days. Be sure to change out the water every 24 hours if you add ANYTHING to it.

 

[azygous]

Two years ago in early spring, I drove two hours to retrieve an order of four day-old chicks. I brought a twelve-inch diameter wicker basket lined with fleece deep and fluffy and snugly. I took the basket into the feed store that had ordered the chicks for me, and after making sure they all had drunk some water, I packed them into the basket, placed it on the car seat beside me, and started on the trip home. It was a sunny day, mild, and the sun warmed the area where the chicks sat on the seat on the way home. They mostly snoozed the entire trip.

When I got them home, they each got a drop of Nutri-drench, and a waterer with a quarter teaspoon of the drench mixed into a quart of water. They were then introduced to their Mama-Heating Pad and they thrived.

The previous spring, an order of four chicks were in transit during a frigid cold snap of miserable 30 degree weather for three days, the last twelve hours spent in a postal sorting center 100 miles from me. I was a wreck from the experience, but the chicks did just fine.

Keep your babies warm and out of any cold drafts, and they will do just fine for the short drive they need to endure.

 

[betR2]

I'm so glad I stumbled on this thread tonight. I am picking up some 4-week-old chicks tomorrow and now feel quite confident that they will be comfy until I can get them home to their brooder/cozy-fish-tank. Thanks everyone for the advice that you had posted for Hopethehen. If tiny chicks can do it, I'm sure mine will be fine. Very excited to finally start on this little flock! Very excited to see the grandkids faces when they arrive!