Brooder help, first time with chicks.

[kmom08]

Having only been a chicken mama to full grown hens this will be my first experience with baby Chicks. I am trying to have everything ready at least a week before they arrive. We ordered 18 chicks who are expected to arrive in 2 weeks. I initially planned on using a plastic tote until I started to set it up and realized with water and food set up they will outgrow the tote rather quickly. I do however have 2 large rabbit cages in my attic currently not being used, one 30X30 and the other is 30x36. I was thinking about attaching the two cages together to form one large brooder using cardboard to close it up a bit while they are little. This would make one large 66x30 brooder. We will be keeping them in our Kitchen. Any thoughts or ideas?

 

[azygous]

The size of the hutches together should be adequate for 18 chicks. Are you planning on brooding the chicks outside in an unheated barn or chicken house? If not, you really don't need to enclose the cages with cardboard if the chicks aren't going to be experiencing temps down below a normal 60-70s ambient temp with no drafts.

You will be providing a warmup station at one end of the brooder, and the opposite end should be much cooler so chicks that have absorbed too much heat may shed the excess. The heat "footprint" on the floor of the brooder needs to be between 85F and 90F, no warmer. You will reduce that to 80-85F by week two. By the time the chicks are three weeks old, they will no longer require heat during the day at all as long as the ambient temp is in the 60s or above.

Place food and water down at the cool end.

 

[kmom08]

The size of the hutches together should be adequate for 18 chicks. Are you planning on brooding the chicks outside in an unheated barn or chicken house? If not, you really don't need to enclose the cages with cardboard if the chicks aren't going to be experiencing temps down below a normal 60-70s ambient temp with no drafts.

You will be providing a warmup station at one end of the brooder, and the opposite end should be much cooler so chicks that have absorbed too much heat may shed the excess. The heat "footprint" on the floor of the brooder needs to be between 85F and 90F, no warmer. You will reduce that to 80-85F by week two. By the time the chicks are three weeks old, they will no longer require heat during the day at all as long as the ambient temp is in the 60s or above.

Place food and water down at the cool end.

No they will not be housed outside. I'll be keeping them in my kitchen and keep our thermostat at 70 in the winter and bump it up in the summer. Our kitchen is usually a little cooler than the rest of the house.

 

[kmom08]

oops that sounds silly. What I meant was...they won't be outside while in the brooder. We'll move them to the chicken house when they are older.