Got my first chicks! Any pointers? :)

[mom22alcorns]

We got our first chicks today.

They were hatched on Thursday.

We have 5 silver laced wyandottes and 5 barred rocks. They are supposedly all females. We hope! Any tips or tricks we should make sure to do for their first few weeks at home in my kitchen? Our coop has no door that can close and no other hens right now so they are inside with us until they can go out to the coop and pen. Wish us luck!

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

Here's a write-up I did after raising day-old chicks, maybe it will be helpful: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/09/12/raising-day-old-chicks/

And good luck with your chicks!

 

[mom22alcorns]

Thank you!

We got them a red light tonight for warmth and they are set up in a kiddie pool with pine shavings. One had a poopy butt, but I cleaned it up with a warm paper towel and she seems to be fine. They cheeped all day long though...didn't realize how loud 10 chicks could be!

Now that the red light is on them and my kids are in bed asleep and not "checking" on them every 10 minutes, it is nice and quiet.

 

[Nicole01]

When I integrated my two flocks, I used an xl dog kennel that I put inside the coop and kept them separated for 3 weeks. I switched out which flock went into the kennel equally. Just make sure the babies are old enough to hold their own, which is at least 12 weeks or more when they are the same size. If I didn't seperate my two flocks, I'd have dead babies for sure. Now they all get along as well as they can and live peacefully amongst one another.

Good luck with the babies. They are so much fun! We handled our chicks everyday and now I have 8 lap chickens.

 

[LovinChicknFarmn]

They will "peep" for the first few months! And, it is crazy how loud they can be! Congrats! You'll love them! But, beware that it's hard at this age to tell if they're male or female, so you could still end up with a Roo.

 

[SteveBaz]

Have a great time. We had to show our chicks were and how to drink and where the food was. That is enough to get them going for sure.

BAZ...

 

[koakritters]

for mine, i just have a normal, 75 watt bulb that hangs about 6 inches off the floor of the brooder, and that keeps them warm. I used to have the red bulbs, i had one shatter on the chicks (no one got hurt luckily!) and another got so hot that it actually melted to the lamp!!!! So i'd watch the red bulbs very carefully... I'll never use one again.

 

[kyeschicks]

good luck!

 

[CarlaS]

We had ours in our kitchen too! You may want to give them vitamins such as Vital to give them a boost as little chicks. Have fun, chickens are great!

 

[lorain's fids]

Quote:
Good luck with your new chicks.

Just enjoy them, they grow so fast. I'm new to having chickens and my girls are 7 weeks old ( and still living inside)-I truly was amazed on how fast they grew and grew.