Chicks in the garage

[chicken lover #1]

I am wondering if I can keep the chicks I am getting in the garage if I have a stronger heat lamp? If not I am wondering if they are going to smell

 

[kitkat5505]

This spring we had our chicks in the garage until 7 weeks. It smelled like a barn lol.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes, and you simply use the same red heat lamp that you normally would. You raise and lower temps by raising and lowering the lamp. (Be sure that the lamp is very secure to prevent it from falling when (not if) a bird bumps it so as not to start a fire in the bedding.)

Yes, it will smell. You will have to change out the bedding.

And it will create lots of dust.

So much so, my husband complained for the sake of his motorcycle, so for that, and the fact that we burned the coop (not garage) down with a heat lamp in the coop, I went to broody hen hatching and raising (so much easier).

But I used a heat lamp and card board box for my first 2 years.

Many of us started in the garage.

LofMc

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed with all that the Lady says. You can keep them in the garage, and by far the easiest and safest and best (IMO) way to brood them is to make a heating pad cave. Look for @Blooie 's article ("Yes, you certainly can brood chicks outside") and her thread MHP in the brooder. If you have a coop with electricity, you can brood them in the coop. Even better!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes...I second Blooie's article....I forgot about her method since I use Broody hens...the heating pad is much, much, safer than heat lamps and mimics natural settings much better which is much healthier for the chicks.

LofMc

 

[ChattyChickens4Life]

Something very easy to do is to use a standard sized dog crate. You can set everything needed on the inside, hook the heatlamp to the bars on the top, and easily access the chicks. When they get too big for the crate, you can simply extend the area with a portable dog fence and put some type of covering on it. This setup lasted me 6 weeks, and by then the chooks were ready to go out into the run! If that isn't possible for you, however, the garage is perfectly fine. It will smell, but so will any other place you put them! Just clean it daily, and you shouldn't have any problems! Good luck!

 

[Parront]

Depends where you live. I always started them in the garage in Riverside Co, CA. Three weeks, then they were fine outside there. Other colder places, maybe longer than you want in the garage -- 7 weeks! I would die! I hung the heat light from a chain like a swag lamp, never had a problem raise it or lower it using the links on the chain, do not hang it by the cord and it is fine. I started them that way for about 10 years I had them.

 

[lazy gardener]

Depends where you live. I always started them in the garage in Riverside Co, CA. Three weeks, then they were fine outside there. Other colder places, maybe longer than you want in the garage -- 7 weeks! I would die! I hung the heat light from a chain like a swag lamp, never had a problem raise it or lower it using the links on the chain, do not hang it by the cord and it is fine. I started them that way for about 10 years I had them.

Even here, in zone 4.5, if I did brood chicks in the garage, they would be out in my ambient temps, fully weaned at 4 - 5 weeks of age with night time temps often dipping into mid 30's!