First Time Chick Parents, Spring 2016

[tumalochick]

I do this too.  Up on bricks, and then when they get older, I stack it two bricks high.  They can sure kick back a lot of stuff and it goes flying.  2 bricks high prevents most messes now, but occasionally they still manage to kick it all around.  I also don't use pine shavings, so maybe that helps.  I use pure wood pellets as their bedding.

I made the bucket with horizontal nipples for my older chicks and when they moved out to the coop, I decided to leave it in the brooder with the new batch of chicks. At four days old they had figured out how to drink from it! (Probably because they had filled up the other waterer with wood pellets and had no water left to drink!) I was amazed they figured it out so quickly. Now I have a 5 gallon in the coop and a one gallon in the brooder and all are doing great!

 

[collie1470]

Well....soon comes the tough decision....which of the 5 BO boys will we be keeping. I'm super partial to black band chick....since he loves his human momma soooo much, and is much calmer when the boy crew starts fussing. But, the fiance is partial to red band chick, the biggest boy (previously known as "fastest comb in the west").

 

[jwtyrcha]

Mine are just over three weeks now, and they are roosting on top of the water bottle and feed bottle...yes-pooling in it,...and fighting over the roost! LOL. I'm going to have to give them a perch

Mine have a perch but still prefer the top of the water bottle. lol

 

[jessschlles4]

another user gave me a great suggestion to make one of these from a bike water bottle holder set. Another used a gatorade bottle.

 

[kekstrom]

Great idea! So you leave enough brick for them to stand on? I have two bantams, so I need to make sure they can reach everything.

Yup.... I actually put 2 typical sized bricks next to each other, to make a "square" shape. And then put the water on top....

 

[kekstrom]

If they are teeny tiny still (your chicks)... then I recommend you take maybe 3 or 4 bricks (or something similar) to place next to each other and then put your waterer on top of that. Then that way, they'll have a little platform to hop up onto and walk around to get a drink of water.

I have that done in one end of my brooder... using bricks... there is a place for their food, and then one for their water and a brick in between too so its all connected. They love to go up there and eat, drink, and perch. I just had to elevate the water side with another layer of bricks because they have become VERY good at scratching and FLINGING their bedding. So by raising it, I rarely have to change their water throughout the day.

 

[jessschlles4]

Another user gave me a great suggestion to make one of these from a bike water bottle holder set. Another used a gatorade bottle.

 

[clgraham76]

Great ideas!! My babies are 3 weeks old. I think I'm going to use the bricks for the brooder. May look into the bottle for the permanent home.

 

[MommaShades13]

Success!!! Put my 9 girls outside and my 2 ducks. Set up their lamps for them plus shavings for bedding. Everyone survived and thrived. Preening now after breakfast and foraging around in the grass. 60 degrees right now on this morning. My ducks and 1 chick are 5 weeks, the other 7 are 4 weeks. I couldn't handle it because they were getting sooooo big they would walk around the laundry room floor and poop everywhere. It was gross. They are growing up so fast. The littles still have a fuzzy back of their heads but I look at them like a garden everytime they are outside they grow more feathers everyday.

 

[kekstrom]

Success!!! Put my 9 girls outside and my 2 ducks. Set up their lamps for them plus shavings for bedding. Everyone survived and thrived. Preening now after breakfast and foraging around in the grass. 60 degrees right now on this morning. My ducks and 1 chick are 5 weeks, the other 7 are 4 weeks. I couldn't handle it because they were getting sooooo big they would walk around the laundry room floor and poop everywhere. It was gross. They are growing up so fast. The littles still have a fuzzy back of their heads but I look at them like a garden everytime they are outside they grow more feathers everyday.

Look at them, I bet they are loving it! I can't wait to transition mine outside... We are going away on a vacation this weekend. So the brooder setup is better for our chick-sitters. But once we are back, out they go!