Got any advice on taking your chicks for a 5 hour car-ride on vacation

[patandchickens]

Eight days of not being recreationally handled and talked to will not make one bit of difference to the ultimate personality/temperament of month-old chicks.

Whereas, being taken on a stressful scary weakening trip has a good possibility to end up with scaredy or sick or dead chicks.

I sure wouldn't do it.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[silkiechicken]

Just have someone check in on them at dusk to make sure they are in the coop. My little babies learned how to go in and out of their brooder, granted no ladder, just a step up, by 3 weeks old.

 

[NancyDz]

I agree, leave them at home, by then they will be BIG and a tupperware brooder will be really cramped. I would definitely take them outside in week 3 during the day and the last couple days before you leave , let them be out there at night so you can see how they do. I'm sure they will be fine with those temps. Make sure their waterer is elevated and both waterer and food are inside the coop area so they tend to stay in there more.


Nancy

 

[mrandmrschicken]

Hey Chickenbutt;

A brief story to share:
Thanksgiving weekend 2008. Went to a poultry show 4 1/2 hr. drive from here. Stayed for 3 nights. Had eggs in the incubator hatching that weekend. Used a power inverter to supply incubator on the road. Hatched 6 chicks in the hotel. Used a styrofoam cooler and a heating pad with a plastic tray on top, lined with rubber shelf liner for a brooder. Hatched one more chick upon returning home. It was tenuous but our first hatch and could not find anyone responsible enough to turn the eggs, or handle them if there was a problem. End of story... all turned out well even in a blizzard, and the hotel did not charge a pet deposit!

Good luck...

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

Sorry for all the questions, but our coop doesn't have a door to keep them in the enclosed area - they'll be able to go down the stairs and into the enclosed run and then up the stairs and into their nesting area whenever they want.

See the little 12" x 12" hole at the top of the stairs? (I know it's hard to see in this pic). That's how they'll get into the enclosed roost-nestbox area. I figured with low temp's in the mid-60s they probably didn't need a door at the top of the stairs to be enclosed until winter (which for us will be January 2010 - we live in Central Florida so won't have temps below mid-60s until next year).

The floor is wood and the sides are hardware cloth. Think they can live in here at 4 weeks old?

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
Very good advice, I second that.

 

[guesswhatchickenbutt]

Quote:
Please keep in mind that I'm new at this - these will be my first chicks - and when I originally enquired about what to do with 4-week-old chicks I was told by quite a few BYCers that they'd still need to be under a heat lamp and be inside and require more care than just the daily feeding and watering that my pet sitters will do (we have cats so these 2 high school girls will come to feed our indoor cats).

Since I can't leave a heat lamp on in our house while we're gone and don't have a coop that can have a heat lamp, I thought that taking them with us was the only thing I could do to ensure they'd survive while we were gone. I really thought I was doing the right thing for the chicks. I guess it's pretty apparent now that taking them would be a very bad choice. I suppose they'll be fine in the open coop outside without a heat lamp for the 8 days we'll be gone.

 

[LaLoomis]

Can you delay getting the chicks until after the wedding?

 

[silkiechicken]

Don't worry, if you lived in michagan or some cold state, you'd not be able to put them outside. Location makes a big difference on how you can treat the chicks, and where you are is warm, so they'll be fine.

 

[SeramaLife]

I have taken 3 weeks old on a 5 day trip before because it was impossible to leave them alone. I had them on my lap most of the time we were driving. They stayed in their brooder whenever we weren't driving. They were fine. They came out super tame and an unnatural tendency to love being on laps even when they could be eating or doing something else.