Hello all, I am finally getting chicks! My first ever. I am having a hard time finding anywhere that has exactly what I want, so I guess I will just have to get what I get, and figure it out when they are all grown up. I really wanted 1 leghorn, 1 orpington, 1 easter egger, and 1 frizzled bantam. I am in Wichita Ks, and so far the only places I can find the chicks are Tractor Supply and At Woods. Does anybody have any good tips and tricks for brining home chicks? I am all ears really, I have been researching as much as possible, designed a 4x4 coop w/2 nesting boxes, and 4x8 run that I can open into my garden when I am home. I have to get all pullets, I can not have a cockerel in the city. Again any advice is more than welcome. Oh and if anybody has any tips on how to identify day old chicks by breed, that would also be amazing! Thank you Rachel
Good luck with your chicks! Sounds like you've done your research. And as for breed identifying, just make a thread in the breeds section of the forum. You're bound to get plenty of replies.
Hi Rachel, How exciting! You sound like you've done your research really well! The enclosure sounds very nice, very big for four chickens, especially if you're in the city! About identifying, I know that Leghorns are yellowish, but I don't know much apart from that, especially about the breeds you mentioned. The Frizzle chicks I have didn't start frizzing until about a week or two, when they grew their wing feathers. And Easter Egger, you probably wouldn't know until it layed an egg. But I agree that you should take pictures and make a thread on the breeds section of the forum. There are lots of experienced chicken-raisers here who will no doubt be able to tell you! As for bringing home chicks, well: - the 'bringing home' part is easy. You basically just need a cardboard box with newspaper on the bottom and airholes. It doesn't have to be all that big, especially if you just have four chicks. For a short journey, it shouldn't matter whether they have a heat lamp, but if you're worried, put them where the aircon vent points and turn the aircon onto hot. - very small chicks will need to be kept inside at first. I tend to use a small, square, wire bird cage, put straw on the bottom and a container of food and one of water, with a heat lamp attached to point to a corner, opposite where the food is. - depending on what your weather's like, start taking them outside in the sun without a lamp for a few hours at about a week or two, and then build it up to most of the day. If you can create a small enclosure on the lawn, they'll love it in the sun. You can buy 50cmX50cm squares of basically bird-cage-sides which link together from most cheep shops; they're good to build temporary enclosures of for small chicks. Of course, if it's very cold, you probably wouldn't want little chicks outside by themselves! - if you don't have any other chooks, the chicks can probably go out to the coop around 1 - 1 1/2 months, maybe later if it's cold where you are. If you have other chooks, don't put them in until they're big enough to hold their own. The pecking order can be vicious. We often subdivide the main enclosure(s) and put the new chickens in one part and the old ones in the other part, so that they can get to know each other first. We do this when we get full-sized chickens, too. I hope I've been helpful, from Rachel.
