Curiosity killed the cat...err chicken?

[ElfenLied89]

Not literally of course. I had 10 babies a few weeks ago until a lady over on our neighboring street had her dogs loose (not the first time either but the first time they came to our neck of the woods). All my babies were slaughtered. No blood no nothing. Just all dead in the yard the next morning, chicken run cage bashed in. They even got my neighbor's roo, whom we adopted as our own step baby. Dogs in question were in the yard still when I opened the door for the day to go do the chick feed.

Fast forward to now. Last Wednesday we brought home 7 new babies. All pullets. And one 7 month old roo. The lady at the hatchery was talked me into seeing the roosters and I grabbed one okay? Lol.

I was wondering if anyone had any pointers on raising babies in the fall? I live in South Carolina. Weather is 50s and 60s at night, and during the day it is maybe 75 to 85 still. Doesn't get really cool here during the day until late November.

Currently my fluffy babies are a week old Gove or take a few days. They are in an indoor brooder. Aka storage box with lamp and food and water. They use the wood flakes for bedding.

 

[NatJ]

I was wondering if anyone had any pointers on raising babies in the fall? I live in South Carolina. Weather is 50s and 60s at night, and during the day it is maybe 75 to 85 still. Doesn't get really cool here during the day until late November.

Currently my fluffy babies are a week old Gove or take a few days. They are in an indoor brooder. Aka storage box with lamp and food and water. They use the wood flakes for bedding.

At any season, chicks need one place to warm up (under the lamp, big enough for all of them to sleep at once.) The rest of their space does not need to be heated. They can run around in warm or cool temperatures, even below freezing, as long as they can always warm up when they want to. It is best to keep their water from freezing, but that isn't going to be a problem with the temperatures you have.

If you can run electricity to the coop, you may be able to brood them there. That is usually easiest, if you can make it work. They will get themselves used to the cold weather by playing in it, in between trips to warm up under the lamp. Instead of wondering when they are feathered "enough" to move outside, you will just to remove the lamp at some point after they quit needing it. (You should be able to tell by their behavior when that is.)

Of course you will need to be sure the coop is dog-proof this time, before you put the new chicks in it.

 

[ElfenLied89]

At any season, chicks need one place to warm up (under the lamp, big enough for all of them to sleep at once.) The rest of their space does not need to be heated. They can run around in warm or cool temperatures, even below freezing, as long as they can always warm up when they want to. It is best to keep their water from freezing, but that isn't going to be a problem with the temperatures you have.

If you can run electricity to the coop, you may be able to brood them there. That is usually easiest, if you can make it work. They will get themselves used to the cold weather by playing in it, in between trips to warm up under the lamp. Instead of wondering when they are feathered "enough" to move outside, you will just to remove the lamp at some point after they quit needing it. (You should be able to tell by their behavior when that is.)

Of course you will need to be sure the coop is dog-proof this time, before you put the new chicks in it.

Most definitely. We added an extra layer of wiring and beefed up our fenced in yard as well

 

[LuciferRoo]

What happened to the dogs?
Two or three weeks ago I had a pack of 3 dogs get into my backyard and kill 6 of my young hens, one chick and two roosters. The dogs were chased away by a couple of guys who work for me.
Next day the dogs returned. I shot one of them.
I will kill any of them if they come back onto my property.
They tore apart those poor chickens for pleasure. One of my roosters back looked like raw meat.

 

[Penpal]

I didn't know what was killing my chickens. Then one day I looked out my sewing room window and saw the neighbor's big Labs with a chicken. One had the head, the other the tail. I screamed and ran outside. They dropped the chicken and took off. Their owner didn't believed that the dogs should be fenced in since they lived in the country. I finally did complain about them and he apologized. A couple of months later they made it into the tiny village a mile away. One was shot dead when a little kid's bunny cage was broken into and they were doing the same thing to the rabbits.

He got underground fencing. It worked well as long as the batteries didn't go out.

If you don't want to kill the dog(s), most any dog will jump into a car. Take the dog to the animal shelter. Most people will start to pay attention when they are inconvenienced.