Equipment that is needed to raise baby chicks

[chickens 17]

Just wanted to know what equipment is need to raise baby chicks? and is it an expensive task to do?

Thanks

 

[PeepinChicken]

How many do you intend to raise?
Heat Lamp = electricity
Brooder = size again depends on how many
Starter feed
bedding material
time and patience

 

[BLS88Jrfan]

I'm planing on getting a couple week old chick what would i need?Would i need the same?And how much would it cost?

 

[PeepinChicken]

I've got five chicks that are between 1 1/2 and 3 weeks and so far besides the cost of the chicks 6@ 3.00 ea ( I lost One)
and a 25 lbs sack of med. starter food for 10.00 and a 5 #bag of pine shavings @ 2.42. I already had there brooder from previous animal encounters, as well as the feeder (garage sale 1.00) I anticipate another sack of feed in the near future. For the rest of the story I have put free ads on Freecycle, my local radio station, and the free paper here, to get the materials to build the coop. I am trying to do this as cheap as possible...lol

 

[chickens 17]

if i wanted to get 4 how much would that cost

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

Well for me all I needed was:
a heat lamp and electricity ran me about $25 when it was out in the coop
food $8 a bag, lasted more then a month
water= free we use rain water
water and feeder $6
Cage/brooder= free of CL
bedding=$3.50 for a giant bag of it
Chicks=$20

 

[cva34]

Heat lamps are elect hogs esp the 250w most com,,,For a few chicks you can get away with a 60 w (maybe a little more or less depending on ambient temp) household bulb in a rubbermaid storage bin.Rig it where ihe bulb is down in the bin and close enough to chics that they get the heat they need and can't touch them or the sides (fire haz) .Put thermometer in area chicks are going to be (there body level) adjust light up or down to get temp where you want it .You can use a aluminum pie plate with hole cut in center for reflector if you like.The temp on day old need to be about 95f the first week.an drop about 5 deg a week .. Even better is the Brinsea ECO Glo 20(sized for about 20 young chicks) it only uses 18w and it works fo me and my birds like a dream come true.Yea its high but so is Elect ...cva34 ..
My math says at .12 cents KW
a one month run costs
250w HL=$21.60
60w household bulb= $5.18
<18w Brinsea EG20 =$1.55

 

[mstricer]

Heat lamps are elect hogs esp the 250w most com,,,For a few chicks you can get away with a 60 w  (maybe a little more or less depending on ambient temp) household bulb in a rubbermaid storage bin.Rig it where ihe bulb is down in the bin and close enough to chics that they get the heat they need and can't touch them or the sides (fire haz) .Put thermometer in area chicks are  going to be (there body level)  adjust light  up or down  to get temp where you want it .You can use a aluminum pie plate with hole cut in center for reflector if you like.The temp on day old need to be about 95f  the first week.an drop about 5 deg a week .. Even better is the Brinsea ECO Glo 20(sized for about 20 young chicks) it only uses 18w and it works fo me and my birds like a dream come true.Yea its high but so is Elect ...cva34 .. 
My math says at .12 cents KW
 a one month run costs
250w HL=$21.60
60w household bulb= $5.18
<18w Brinsea EG20 =$1.55

Just bought my Brinsea EG 20, and love it. Don't know what took me so long. I got a good deal at Meyer's, someone returned it saying it didn't stay warm enough, they had it too high. Their loss my gain. Get one well worth the money.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

True in a house where the temp is 70ish degrees F a regular light will do just fine. Also you can use rice socks (socks full of rice microwaved) they hold heat for quite a while and it's nice to be able to turn off the light for awhile and let them sleep.

Heat lamps are elect hogs esp the 250w most com,,,For a few chicks you can get away with a 60 w (maybe a little more or less depending on ambient temp) household bulb in a rubbermaid storage bin.Rig it where ihe bulb is down in the bin and close enough to chics that they get the heat they need and can't touch them or the sides (fire haz) .Put thermometer in area chicks are going to be (there body level) adjust light up or down to get temp where you want it .You can use a aluminum pie plate with hole cut in center for reflector if you like.The temp on day old need to be about 95f the first week.an drop about 5 deg a week .. Even better is the Brinsea ECO Glo 20(sized for about 20 young chicks) it only uses 18w and it works fo me and my birds like a dream come true.Yea its high but so is Elect ...cva34 ..
My math says at .12 cents KW
a one month run costs
250w HL=$21.60
60w household bulb= $5.18
<18w Brinsea EG20 =$1.55

 

[RedDrgn]

We used a ceramic heat lamp plus a 60W incandescent with a reflector suspended over a large inflatable pool for our brooder. The lamp and light we already had and use for our corn snake in the winter time (because we keep the thermo low then), but since it was high summer when we raised our chicks, they were available. Worked awesome. The pool was $10, the lamp and light together were about $50 when we got them. Feeder and waterer were around $10 total, and the bedding (which was paper towels for 2 weeks and then pine shavings) was very cheap as well...less than $20 by the time we moved them all into the coop. Then there's the feed (not expensive) and electricity to operate everything (not bad at all)....so actually quite cheap.