General/Basic questions about raising Day-old Chicks. Opinion on situation much appreciated.

[MyDiem]

I didn't know where to categorize this post under.

But, I recently took in a chicken about 5-6 weeks old that my cousins found and almost trampled over while playing ball at the park, and so I'm left with a lone chicken. I had planned on getting two more pullets for it to socialize with, but my local hatchery said they would have the next batch of chicks available on August 6th. By then, my pullet would be about 8-9 weeks old and the two new chicks would only be a day old.

I also start school again that very same day (I live in Hawaii) and have no knowledge about raising day old chicks.

So I'm torn between keeping the order I placed or canceling it. Is 8-9 weeks too much of a age difference for the chicks, will my chicken be too antisocial at that age? How difficult is it really to raise the day old chicks, how much would it cost, how much time would it take to raise these chicks until they'd be alright to join my other pullet outside? Also, I have chick starter pellets, would that be okay to feed them, or no?

I'm new to all this so yeah... Any information/tips would be helpful!

 

[4 the Birds]

Assuming that you have a coop, put the 6 week old in the coop/run. The newer chicks will need to be protected in your garage or house and segregated from the older pullet. It will be in the brooder area until they reach 6 weeks of age. By then, you can place them with the older one.

Feed them chick CRUMBLES along with some cracked corn (good for digestion). Keep CLEAN water available for them at all times and the recommended temperatures.

Here is a batch of chicks that I just got this morning.. CUTE!

 

[settingdusk]

Great pictures! As you can see by that picture you can use almost anything to hold food and water. I keep my new chicks in plastic tubs with dried grass in the bottom. Oh and young chicks love wet food. I have mixed feathered chicks with other chickens and done fine. What you can do to speed the process is take the chicks outside after a week and let them play in a pen near your chicken or do supervised visits. Your chicken will be able to socialize and you can see its reactions to the new chicks and go from there. Also, buy a red heat lamp and point it at one half of your brooder so your chicks can decide how much heat they want. Good luck!

 

[MyDiem]

Those chicks are adorable! I'm in the process of building a coop, but how exactly do you care for the chicken, as in, how much attention would the chicks need and for how long would I have to give them this attention? I don't think it's as easy as putting them in a cardboard box with a heater, water and feed, or is it?

 

[mithious]

Those chicks are adorable! I'm in the process of building a coop, but how exactly do you care for the chicken, as in, how much attention would the chicks need and for how long would I have to give them this attention? I don't think it's as easy as putting them in a cardboard box with a heater, water and feed, or is it?

Actually it IS pretty much that simple...I didn't get to socialize with my new chicks for the first three weeks of their lives...I have a very jealous kittie, a Bengal, and she would most assuredly attack the chicks, even in my hand...so I didn't start socialization ( actually holding, petting and touching them ) until I moved them to their coop at just under 3 weeks...they are now 4 weeks and I go out to the coop, about once a day, for just getting them used to me handling them. They now fly up on my shoulders, legs, and sit on my feet, a few are a bit more timid, but all have been now handled and I can pick up anyone I want...I am raising mine for meat and eggs, so am getting them used to me picking them up so if I need to tend to one, or do a dusting for mites or something, I'm not chasing them all over the place...but yeah...it's as simple or as hard as YOU make it!!!

Best of luck in whatever you decide!

 

[MyDiem]

Thank you for this! I think I will keep my order. I'll be able to handle them and socialize with them, just not as much as I want to because of school, but it's good to know they won't require much more attention than I can give them.

 

[mithious]

Nope, just as long as they have food and clean water, and dry bedding and a safe, predator proof place to live, they will do just great!!! Sounds like you have it under control...no prob, we all have to start somewhere

You WILL have to be there the day they arrive....usually the post office calls you early in the am...you will need to dip their beaks in their water and put down some paper towels for a few hours or first day and sprinkle some feed on them leading up to their feed container...after that, they pretty much take care of themselves....I only had the paper towel down for 3 hours, over the shavings, until I saw they were all eating and drinking just fine...then threw in bedding as needed, sometimes on top of them...not hard or very much, but was trying to get it in the brooder fast so the kittie couldn't try to get in also LOL, I got a few squeeks out of that, but now, I just let them move it around where they want it....

Mine are in their coop...moved them at 3 weeks, they are 4 weeks now...It's summer, so didn't have the heat lamp on them for very long either...they really didn't like the heat, was hot enough already, being summer and all...prolly about a week or less...I have 15 hatchery BR's, so they are not very good with heat and never liked the 95 degrees from jump street....just watch your chicks and they will tell you what they like and don't...there is tons of information on this site also, if you go to the top box and type in a question, you will get threads that will, most likely, have lots of different ways to raise chicks, from complicated, to really easy...it's all in the individual person's desire, how they want to go about this, but some really great ideas too...

Best of luck with you chicks!

 

[settingdusk]

Chickens are super easy. The more you handle them, the more you can pet them and hold them. If you don't have time, about a week of hand feeding mealworms when you say something like "here chick!" will get them to love you. Also if you let them sleep on you when your outside they love you forever. I make a "peep peeeeep" or "bawk bawwwwwwk" noise and all my chickens come running.

 

[3riverschick]

I see you are in Hawaii. There is a groups of people here on BYC called the Aloha Chicken Project . They are in Hawaii. Just put that phrase in the search engine on the BYC website
https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch/advanced/?search= and you can search individual posts or whole threads on the subject. Maybe one of them near you has some chicks which will match your chicks age. The can probably tell you what breed your chick is too.
Best,
Karen
in western PA, US

 

[MyDiem]

Whenever I type in the aloha chicken project, it just shows me a bunch of aloha chickens. That aren't even from hawaii... so yeah.. thanks though!