Convinced husband and getting baby chicks!!

[haasle]

Hi everyone...I just joined a couple weeks ago. I don't have chicks yet, it's taken some time to get my husband on board, but he is warming up to the idea and I've got the green light to get chicks! I am in the process of gathering what I need for the brooder, and I have a few questions:

1. Do the sides of the brooder need to be high? Will the chicks be able to climb/fly out of the brooder?

2. I have a heat lamp that my son once used for his lizard ...will this suffice or do I need to get a special kind? There is a 100V bulb in there now, but I learned that a red one is better for chicks.

3. Can I use sand on the bottom of the brooder? Like sort of a litter box? Or do I need to use pine shavings?

4. I also have rock bowls from my sons lizards...can I use these for water?

Finally...this is what I was going to use for a brooder.(above) Are the sides too low or do I need something taller? (this is a sand and water table I had used for my daycare)

 

[Hillaire]

welcome to BYC and congrats on the green light for you to get chickens! How exciting. I am happy to answer the questions you have but make sure to discover all the awesome threads on the sight about chicken keeping as well.

1. A lot of people start chicks out in one of the big Tupperware container totes for a brooder. I use this method for a few chicks (6) but anymore than that I use a big brooder I built out of wood and hardware cloth. the sides should be about 2 to 3 ft high I do a foot of plywood the rest hardware... framed of course.. I'm at work so I unfortuneatly can't post a pic... usually you want it to be at least 2 to 3 feet wide and 5 ft long (ideally)

2. The heater that you have I don't think will work for chicks they'll probably try to dig under it instead of jump on top at first. Conventional method is a heat lamp or heat pad.

3. I wouldn't recommend sand on the bottom of the brooder as they may try to eat it in excess... instead shavings work great.

4. You would want to get waterers and feeders from a feed store like tractor supply if you use the dishes there is a chance the chicks could fall into the water bowl and drown. (they are quite clumsy)

 

[rosemarythyme]

1. Yes chicks will hop/fly out of a brooder. The height isn't as important as making a lid. Hardware cloth secured to a frame, with some small weights to hold it down, works very well. Doesn't have to be fancy - I duct taped hardware cloth to a frame of cardboard and used a couple bricks on corners and it was fine.

2. A reptile heating bulb is fine. I started off with a higher wattage red bulb (the type sold at feed stores for chicks) but it was so hot and the red coating burned off. Went and got a reptile bulb after that and it held up much better.

3. I don't have experience with sand in a brooder, so I can't say.

4. I assume that would be ok, though I'd want to see a photo of one. Keep in mind chicks can drown themselves in a waterer, so you'll want to put rocks in it to keep them from being able to submerge their heads.

Hard to tell how large the bin in your photo is. Also how many chicks were you planning on getting? They grow surprisingly fast.

 

[lazy gardener]

Chicks double their size every week. they need a lot of room to stretch their wings. My chicks are 1 week old today, and are bombing from one end of their brooder to the other. The sides are 2' tall, and they would be over the top of it if I didn't have it covered. Today, one little booger was standing on top of the waterer, eyeballing the top of the box, designing escape plans in his little pea brain.

I strongly suggest that you read the article on brooding (written by Blooie) in my signature. You can also read a lot about raising chicks in the learning center. IMO, using a heating pad is so much more natural, less fire risk, and the chicks are less stressed, have better social development, and they feather out faster. Managing the temperature of the brooder is not as problematic with a heating pad. It's super important that you reduce the heat as the chicks grow, and that they have plenty of room to get away from their heat source. The temp at the cool end of their brooder should be about 20* less than the heat under their heat source to start.

How big is that sand/water table? The sides should be about 18 - 24" tall. Your chicks will need 1 s.f./chick during the first week or so. By the time they are 2 - 3 weeks old, they will need 2 s.f./chick. by the time they are 4 - 5 weeks old, they are ready to go into their coop which should have 4 s.f./bird, and the run should have 10 s.f./bird. If you have electricity in your coop, you can brood your chicks right in the coop. Even doing that will decrease their stress and make the whole acclimitization/weaning them from heat go much smoother.

If you have the option, you should get your coop built and then get your chicks. A walk in coop is much easier to maintain. Many of the pre fab coops are very poorly designed, and I have yet to see a pre fab manufacturer who doesn't grossly misrepresent their product by stating that it will house more birds than it can. Crowded birds are more prone to disease, parasites, often have behavioral issues that can lead to aggression, blood shed, and even cannibalism. Not to mention the increased work involved in keeping a too small coop clean.

Poultry keeping is a lot of fun. I bet your hubby will enjoy them also!

 

[hilltopchicks77]

I use the Rubbermaid storage totes. I used a dremmel or scissors to cut the center of the lid out and used old window screen and zip ties to make a lid that allows air through.

As long as the bowls aren't deep I've had no problem using just regular bowls. Be aware you will have to fill them very frequently. If you use a feeder you don't have to fill it ten times a day. Chicks scratch so a lot of feed comes out of the bowls.

 

[chickens really]

I brood all Chicks on sand if they are not being raised by a Broody hen....
That water/sand table will work..Just put a wire top on it.........

I use a 250 watt heat lamp and only put it over one end of the brooder where they sleep..........I put stumps and big rocks for them to hop onto.......

I feed medicated chick starter....

I use Chicken waterers and feeders.....Placed up on bricks to keep the sand out...


Congrats on the Chicks...


Cheers!