Brought our Buff Babies home

[asphaltwarrior1]

Love this site and wanted to post this info here as well as my original introduction thread .We're thrilled to announce that our chicks are home and doing well. We brought them home today and they are now 6 weeks old. I'm still not done with the roof on the run and they appear to need a little more time with some supplemental heat before we set them up outside. They don't stay under the heat lamp but keep moving back to it occasionally . We were gonna bring them inside but a few things have happened to make that not a possibility, so for now I have taken the seats out of my winter beater minivan that i dont need to drive right now and set up there brooder in that. They are lively even with outside the van temps at 35 right now. Under the heat lamp is warm so I'm hoping they will be fine ? A lot of what I've read here says without drafts and some supplemental heat as an option and they should be fine. I'm open to any input y'all may have though.

 

[sourland]

Congratulations, and good luck. Sounds as if things are going well.

 

[asphaltwarrior1]

Thank you , we're excited to finally have chickens. I'm smart enough to realize that for the most part variables affect each flock individually and that a measure of common sense goes along with all the advice and research . We're hoping that all the work and research we've done the past six weeks will pay off .
.

 

[fldiver97]

Congrats! Aren’t chickens great?

 

[asphaltwarrior1]

They sure are. It would sound silly to non chicken folk, but we've dreamed of it for a long time. I just checked on them and one has separated from the huddle so I think it's safe to say that they are ok temp wise or atleast they are working it out naturally.

 

[asphaltwarrior1]

Just made another visit to our babies and they are all up and moving around and eating and drinking. I think they are gonna be just fine.

 

[asphaltwarrior1]

They are doing well. If you've followed along you know they are living in the minivan temporarily till the metal roofing comes in . That buys them some more time and me to as I'm worried about failing on our first attempt . They are already running to the kennel door when we open the van to feed amd water and hold them. They love the roost bar I added too. Temp wise I think they're doing fine. My thermometer away from the heat lamp says 60 with the out side temp at 34. The heat lamp they came home with was a 60w but they were being kept in a finished basement so I decided today to get a 100w being that are in the van with no outside heat except for the lamp. They move back and forth fine with minimal time under the lamp and when they are away from the lamp there is no panting. They're eating, pooping and scratching like healthy chicks. I swear French Toast is trying to crow lol. He is the dominant of the six.

 

[asphaltwarrior1]

Well with warmer temps then expected and the birds food intake and size increasing like it is, we've decided to move them to the coop. They'll spend a few days in the coop to get used to it, then I'll introduce them to the run. I found a home for one of my boy's, now I gotta find a home for another as we definitely ended up with three cockerels. The other three are growing fast as the boys but just barely showing any signs of a comb.

 

[N F C]

Looks like they're doing well!

 

[asphaltwarrior1]

Looks like they're doing well!

They are indeed. They have found spaces they like and sorted out sleeping locations already. Surprisingly it stays a lot warmer in there then I thought.