chick behavior??

[chickenannie]

enjoy them...they grow up sooo fast!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Good I was worried.

I have a half blind hen that had some trouble with finding her food when she was a baby.
You can start raising your waterer little by little and that helps keep it cleaner. Right before my chicks arrived I found 8 pieces of plywood that were an inch thick and 12 inch squares. As the chicks grew we added one of these wood blocks under their waterer at a time to raise it up off the shavings just a little. You want them to reach up just a little to get a drink and it will really help keep the water clean.

 

[coachwife2004]

I'm using butcher paper with papertowels on top of it right now when should I switch to the shavings??

 

[blueroot]

im wondering if the size of the nest coop thingy really matters like if they like it bigger or dont mind i know this makes no sense...

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I'm trying to remember how old your chicks are. They're at least a week old, right? Yeah you can have them on the shavings now, no prob. You may notice when you first put them on shavings that they will pick them up to investigate whether they can eat them or not. Don't worry, they won't.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
With chickens size does matter. They like to huddle together to sleep for warmth and security, but when they are awake they need plenty of room. Crowded conditions lead to stress and can cause pecking issues. Basically you want the biggest brooder you can manage. They grow at a tremendous rate.
Once they are in their coop you want at least 4 sq. ft. per standard chicken with at least double that in their run. You want your nesting boxes to be large and comfortable too; at least large enough that the hen can move around and change positions. Too small and you might wind up with alot of broken eggs or worse, the hens may refuse to use them at all.