Chicken math: How many chicks have you brooded in your house???

[kathleens1979]

Ok, folks who have read this. I sold 7 silkie chicks today, so I will be down to 40 chicks tonight. Not a huge number, but a step in the right direction! lol

 

[Blooie]

I had 22 chicks in the house last year. Got them the end of February (not smart in northern Wyoming) and evicted them April 1st at 5.5 weeks old. Like so many others, I could NOT handle the dust one more minute. And they were noisy little boogers - all night long peeping and cheeping! Sheesh! The coop wasn't even finished when they went out, and boy, was it cold! I put a heat lamp out there for them. They didn't even use it. The third morning I took that out.....and that night it snowed. And it kept snowing! We got our last snow of the year on June 6th. If I'd have waited to put them out until it was "warm enough" for the little Divas I'd have had eggs laid in the brooder.

Not this year. 11 chicks were brooded out in the run with a heating pad, a towel, some straw and a wire frame. They did awesome, despite temps in the teens and 20s. Second batch of 4 joined them a week later. Third batch of 8 is out there now. No dust in the house, no heat lamp to worry about, no noise, and strong, healthy chicks. The pen is in the run, and the Bigs could see the chicks and vice versa. So integrating the older chicks at 4 and 5 weeks old (they are now 7 and 8 weeks old) was a snap. Booted them out of the brooder, put the new ones in, and haven't looked back.

I've raised chicks, and I've raised Divas. I much prefer the chicks!

 

[WindyHillFarm]

WOW!!! 47! I think the most I've had in the house at a time was 12, plus 4 ducklings. Talk about chaos...

 

[kathleens1979]

I had 22 chicks in the house last year.  Got them the end of February (not smart in northern Wyoming) and evicted them April 1st at 5.5 weeks old.  Like so many others, I could NOT handle the dust one more minute.  And they were noisy little boogers - all night long peeping and cheeping!  Sheesh!  The coop wasn't even finished when they went out, and boy, was it cold!  I put a heat lamp out there for them.  They didn't even use it.  The third morning I took that out.....and that night it snowed.  And it kept snowing!  We got our last snow of the year on June 6th.  If I'd have waited to put them out until it was "warm enough" for the little Divas I'd have had eggs laid in the brooder.  

Not this year.  11 chicks were brooded out in the run with a heating pad, a towel, some straw and a wire frame.  They did awesome, despite temps in the teens and 20s.  Second batch of 4 joined them a week later.  Third batch of 8 is out there now.  No dust in the house, no heat lamp to worry about, no noise, and strong, healthy chicks.  The pen is in the run, and the Bigs could see the chicks and vice versa.  So integrating the older chicks at 4 and 5 weeks old (they are now 7 and 8 weeks old) was a snap.  Booted them out of the brooder, put the new ones in, and haven't looked back.  

I've raised chicks, and I've raised Divas.  I much prefer the chicks!

Hi, Blooie! Your thread on your mama heating pad is on my favorites. Great idea!!! I tried something not as ingenious in my brooder. I put the light on a stackable shelf in the brooder so the chicks could run underneath for the first couple of weeks. I think next time I am going to try your mama heating pad on my shelf.

 

[kathleens1979]

WOW!!! 47! I think the most I've had in the house at a time was 12, plus 4 ducklings. Talk about chaos...e

I also hatched three ducklings, but those guys went out as soon as possible. They were three weeks old and out in our coop in a dog kennel. The three ducklings were MUCH more dirty than all our 47 chicks put together. They were also much more friendly and cuddly, though. Someone needs to make a hybrid bird that has the personality of ducks and the mess factor of a chick. That's the dream!!! Lol

 

[Blooie]

Hi, Blooie! Your thread on your mama heating pad is on my favorites. Great idea!!! I tried something not as ingenious in my brooder. I put the light on a stackable shelf in the brooder so the chicks could run underneath for the first couple of weeks. I think next time I am going to try your mama heating pad on my shelf.

Thank you for the kind words. This system has worked so well, not only for me but for everyone who's tried it. I can't take the credit - it was Patrice Lopatin who put up a video of her chicks under it, then Beekissed gave me the encouragement with her support and her incubation experiment. I think that shelf would work really well with Mama Heating Pad. You'd have to build up the bedding under it so they were closer to the pad for the first week or so, but after that you could adjust the heat simply by scraping some of it out so the shelf just keeps getting higher and higher! Great idea!

 

[WindyHillFarm]

Nifty! Think I will try that with the next batch. I have an old heating pad somewhere...

 

[Grain Gypsy]

Great idea on the outdoor brooder! I am NEVER brooding this many chicks again!!! My brooders consist of 8 50-gallon Rubbermaid containers and three sets of metal shelves that we repurposed as brooders. Each shelf has two brooders built into it. We clean and feed/water half at night and half in the morning. I really need to sell a bunch off... Just thinking I will sell what I should have kept and visa-versa. Hubby would say I should sell all except the Icelandics. He hates the silkies- they constantly dig and mess up their water. Lol

Kathleen, you comment about your husband hating the mess the chicks make in the water got me to thinking. We tried traditional waterers with our first flock, and it was a disaster. They were perpetually filled with pine shavings! We switched to little rabbit/gerbil cage waterers, and they work great. No messes in the water. None. To transition the first flock to the nipple (hanging) waterers, we had to remove all their traditional waterers and let them figure drinking out on their own. We took the most savvy of the chicks and held her beak up and pushed it in so she could feel the water. She started drinking right away, and the other girls followed suit. We also used the deep litter method in the brooder. We used 3-4" of pine shavings, stirred it ever so often, and changed it every 2-4 weeks, as needed. During a growth spurt, it needed done every 2 weeks, but sometimes it could go longer without being changed. We also left 10% of the old litter in the brooder and mixed it in with the new when we changed the litter. I read about how this leaves beneficial bacteria in the litter, helping the chicks/chickens stay healthy. Lastly, something we did almost right away is move to a different, larger feeder. We just start with a bigger one now. We also raise the feeder up on a stable base of bricks when they are about 2 weeks so that the feeder is at breast height.

I have attached some pictures of our brooder. We just put in the divider tonight. We are getting 10 more day-old chicks tomorrow in the mail, and we put a wire screen to divide the newbies from our 4-week-old chicks. The plan is to remove the screen and integrate them when they seem ready.

 

[Grain Gypsy]

10 weeks sounds horrible! Wow! Good to know not to buy chicks so late- thanks for the heads-up!!! Hanna City is in central IL. We are about 20 minutes from Peoria.

I looked it up and Hannah City is 1 hour and 35 minutes from Argenta, where we used to live. I've never been to Hannah City, but I attended USA Archery Leader training in Bartonville, IL. It's probably best we don't live within driving distance anymore. I have a feeling there would be some major chicken swapping and conspiring going on!

 

[kathleens1979]

I looked it up and Hannah City is 1 hour and 35 minutes from Argenta, where we used to live.  I've never been to Hannah City, but I attended USA Archery Leader training  in Bartonville, IL.  It's probably best we don't live within driving distance anymore.  I have a feeling there would be some major chicken swapping and conspiring going on!  

I love your brooder!!! I especially like the divider idea. I have multiple "generations" (from 2 weeks to 6 weeks old) and have been trying to figure out how to introduce them. Kudos!! I tried the gerbil waterers in one of our brooders, but the leaking caused the cardboard bottom to start to disintegrate. That was in a basement brooder, but I think it might work well in the plastic totes. I am going to have to try it for our last group we brood. Yes, we are planning one more group. I am getting Icelandic eggs from Lyle Behl who is the guy who originally imported them. I am pretty excited about it, but DH is not so much. Maybe this will get him in the mood for more chicks... I wish you did live closer! I love finding friends who are also chicken fans!!!