Expecting Quintuplets!

[lthunen]

After doing WAY too much research (ie: Googeling), I finally placed my order for 5 Rhode Island Red baby chicks! The girls (hopefully) should arrive in about 8-10 days. (They have not hatched yet) That should give me plenty of time to absorb the fact that I actually purchased chickens online......hmmmm

I'm very excited and can't wait until they get here! For now, I will start "nesting". I have my shopping list of supplies that I will need to have apon their arrival.....

Heat lamp with 100 watt bulb (do I even need this in the summer?)
Feeder & Waterer
Chick Crumbles

As for housing them until they are old enough to be outside, I thought I could use a large platic tub/bucket with pine shavings on the bottom and put a removable screen over the top?? I also have an old rabbit cage. Any other suggestions?

I do have some questions about the temperature. I have read that the temperature needs to be at 90-100 degrees for the first week. Then decreased by 5 degrees per week. What if the temperature outside is too hot. How do I keep the chicks cool? I live in the Sacramento Valley. We have just started our summer season here and 100+ degree days for weeks at a time are common. Should I bring the chicks inside? Or would a nice shady spot outside be just fine? What about a mister to cool them off?

Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[saddina]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/lcenter.html

The main chick how-to page is linked off of here.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

The chicks will need to be kept at about 90 degrees so you may still need the heat lamp. IMO I would use a black or red heat lamp so the chicks can sleep at night. Using a bright bulb may cause them to get stressed. Good luck with your new chicks! I think your first idea as a brooder was a good one. I don't like the rabbit cages becasue of the screened floor...just sad watching chicks on screen floors

They need to be able to kick the pine shavings and dust bathe

and eat a little of each others poo to get a resistance to cocci from what I have heard.

 

[noitulover]

i would bring them inside. 100+ would be too hot for them!
and a mister would not be good for them, as they need to stay dry for the most part.

i would use the tub! (unless the rabbit cage does not have screen floors)... if it does not, then i would use either one.

a lot of people like wire flooring because they think it's cleaner (poop drops between the wires), but i think it's kind of sad to see chicks on wire flooring... my chicks love to dust bathe in the pine shavings and spread out on them at night...

i would get use the heat lamp, but make sure to shine it in one corner of the brooder, so the chicks have some room to get out of the heat and moderate the temperature themselves. i turn my heater on at night, and turn it off in the daytime. it has been in the 90s here (mine are currently 1 week old as of yesterday) and they aren't outside, but they are in a non-air conditioned room off of the house.