Chicken Virgin

[cityturncountry]

These are the plans I have laid out for my new chicks that will hatch April 29th from a hatchery. 2 barred Plymouth Rocks, 2 Buff Orpington, 1 New Hampshire red.
Brooder:
Puppy pads with paper towels lined on them inside the brooder for one week. Brooder is a huge cardboard box (4 foot long 2 foot wide). Then sand that will be cleaned with a kitty litter scoop. Change once a week. Heat lamp with a thermometer to keep perfect temperature.

Food and drink:
Bought some screw in poultry nipple waterers for a water bottle in the brooder and a 5 gallon bucket for the run and a smaller jug for their small coop. Chick starter feed for 8 weeks (?) then non GMO organic corn free feed with crushed oyster shells in a separate dish. Feed will be going in a DIY PVC feeder.
Coop and run:
Recycled little tikes homes secured from predators. Run will be the grass until it's destroyed then I want to have a sand run.

Any tips, pointers, objections?

 

[pmcont3]

My chicks are 6 to 7 days old. Started them on puppy pads topped with paper towel. Worked perfect, changed paper towel 4 times a day, puppy pad twice in 1st week. At day 5 I divided my brooder in half with a 1 1/2" (1x2) board, keeping food and water at one end and red heat lamp at the other with added pine shavings on top of the paper towel. They love it. All 18 sleep on top of the shavings. Now I only change paper towel at food and water end 4 times a day.