brooder question -- too drafty?

[mamarose]

Hi,

My 10 chicks are 1.5 weeks old. I have them in a cardboard box, which appears big enough for them until you see them start to try to fly. They cover the length of it in no time! I have an old pack'n'play I am going to move them up to, but two of its sides are mesh net. Will this be too drafty for them? If I need to, I was planning to either line the whole thing with plastic (was hoping for clear so we could see them and they could see us without us looming over them), or to line those two sides with cardboard, and just line the bottom with plastic to contain pine shavings and poo.... We'll still have the light over them for a while.

Thoughts?

 

[chuckzoo]

Do you have a themometer in the box?

At 1.5 weeks they should be at 85-90F. I would just tape clear plastc over the mesh until they get a little older.

I cut a "window" in my box and attached a metal screen that I could open for them to get a little sun but still stay protected when they were about 4 weeks, at night I would just close the "window" to keep the warmth in.

 

[kimb]

I'm assuming they're inside... ? ... is the room/house drafty ? ...

I'd say easiest solution is to cut the sides of the box they're in and lean/tape them to the sides of the pac n play (you could always push one side up against the wall too ...