Well, I love my 5 pullets SO much that when a fellow BYCer who lives not-too-far away was offering free mixed breed chicks, I said, "Well, why not?" Sooooo now I have these 3 beautiful baby chicks.
I have a great spot for them in my bathroom and have picked up some chick starter food in addition to the baggie full that the fellow BYCer was kind enough to provide along with the chicks!
They do not seem to be drinking much water. Maybe it is the watering "dish" I have. I did not put a regular chicken waterer in their temporary brooder... should I? I'm so scared the'll drown in it. I have vitamin/electrolyte powder--should I be adding that to their water, as well?
BTW, one chick hatched yesterday morning, another one 3 days before that, and the oldest was about a week old yesterday when I got them. I think the oldest one is temperamental.
As far as a brooder, I fashioned one out of lights, a heated fan, and an old dog crate which I thoroughly sterilized first. For the next several days, they'll be living in our bathroom. We are preparing a space for them in a corner of the garage that really doesn't get hot. What is the best type of bedding for chicks? We have both alfalfa hay and mixed bedding (wood shavings). The box they were given to me in appears to have hay in the bottom.
I also have a couple of very good books on raising chickens/chicks and have all my great "peeps" here on BYC to help get us through this.
You guys have been SO right... start with a couple, and next thing you know, you have 60. When we first bought our pullets, we wanted 3. Well, we ended up getting 4, and finally a 5th (I wanted a white egg-layer). Now I have these 3 chicks, so that's 8. Farmer Lew has placed a moratorium on any more chickens until we get a big lot in the country where we can have as many hens or roos as we want!
I have a great spot for them in my bathroom and have picked up some chick starter food in addition to the baggie full that the fellow BYCer was kind enough to provide along with the chicks!
They do not seem to be drinking much water. Maybe it is the watering "dish" I have. I did not put a regular chicken waterer in their temporary brooder... should I? I'm so scared the'll drown in it. I have vitamin/electrolyte powder--should I be adding that to their water, as well?
BTW, one chick hatched yesterday morning, another one 3 days before that, and the oldest was about a week old yesterday when I got them. I think the oldest one is temperamental.
As far as a brooder, I fashioned one out of lights, a heated fan, and an old dog crate which I thoroughly sterilized first. For the next several days, they'll be living in our bathroom. We are preparing a space for them in a corner of the garage that really doesn't get hot. What is the best type of bedding for chicks? We have both alfalfa hay and mixed bedding (wood shavings). The box they were given to me in appears to have hay in the bottom.
I also have a couple of very good books on raising chickens/chicks and have all my great "peeps" here on BYC to help get us through this.
You guys have been SO right... start with a couple, and next thing you know, you have 60. When we first bought our pullets, we wanted 3. Well, we ended up getting 4, and finally a 5th (I wanted a white egg-layer). Now I have these 3 chicks, so that's 8. Farmer Lew has placed a moratorium on any more chickens until we get a big lot in the country where we can have as many hens or roos as we want!
