Have to check new chicks 5 times a day?!

[bluie]

Does this mean I can't get day old chicks until school is out (and I am home) in late June? The MyPetChicken site says you have to be able to check on chicks five times a day for the first four weeks of life. Does everybody do this? How can you raise baby chicks if you have to go to work? Please advise! Thanks! Bluie

 

[Zenbirder]

Bluie,
Yes, I say wait till school is out. You will be able to spend so much more time enjoying the chicks. It will be warmer and you won't have to worry as much about them being cold, you can even take them outside for short supervised sunshine time. You really do have to check the chicks often. I had one get pasty-but, it would have died within a very few hours if I was not there to clean the hind end. Chicks are fragile at the start and need a human parent around a LOT!

 

[JenniferJoIN]

While I think it's ideal to spend as much time with your chicks as possible, if you're as impatient as I am, you want them right NOW. hee hee.

I got mine in the beginning of September. I would check on them in the morning, before work (around 6am) then when I got home from work (around 5:30pm) and play with them and then check on them before I went to bed (around 11pm). They all survived and are now happily living in their coop outside!

 

[BantyChickMom]

There is no reason I know of to "HAVE" to check on the chicks 5 times a day.
If you're like the rest of us here, you will want to check on them every 30 minutes.

I say "get them now"!!!

 

[lurky]

If your gone all day and heat goes up and nobody is there to know they are getting cooked, is a great reason to wait til you will be home

If you cant wait, try to find some that are a little older at a poultry swap/sale. There still seem to be alot of them going on.

 

[AtRendeAcres]

They will be fine!!!

I go on many day trips sometimes over night! As long sa they have water & food they will be fine

I take food away when I am home so they will be happy to see me though!

 

[Cheryl]

I asked the same question before getting my 5 chicks from MyPetChicken...they have done great! I am gone from 6 am to 2:30 pm...Infact my "girls" are growing like weeds to the point where I have a feeling two of the "girls" are "roos!!!!" (much to my unhappiness I might add) You will just want to get home all that much faster to see them!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

If the weather is too cold, too hot or they took too long in transit, they need a lot more care when they arrive. I think it's always smart to plan on having the day they arrive free, in case there's a problem. It takes time to get them settled in, even if they all arrived in good shape.

Once they're all doing well, active, drinking and eating on their own, no pasty butt, happy with the heat lamp placement, then we feel we only need to check them 2 or 3 times a day. All the other hours of viewing time are optional.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Put them in a brooder box where they have enough room to get away from the light if necessary and leave them.

I work 12 hour days. I fed and watered them in the morning before I left. I'd feed and water them again when I got home. They are 26weeks old and laying at least 6 eggs a day.

They'll be fine!

 

[PeiTheCelt]

Mine are checked on in the morning as we run out the door for work mainly checking for water and food around 7:15am, and again when I get home at about 5:45 or 6pm, this is usually when I do the daily "toss" of their bedding (mixing it up for dryness and so on). Sometime between 6 and 10pm I try to every day get down to love on the crazy little featherheads (they don't sleep on any kind of regular schedule at this point so I'm not waking them up) and play with them some, this doesn't happen as often as I'd like and when they are not as hand tamed as I'd like there will be no one to blame but me :-/). I usually come down and peek in on them right before bed too, but not always (sort of depends on when I was down playing with them). So between 2 and 4 times a day depending on the day during the week.

On the weekends I spend more time with everyone and do the full coop clean outs (and DE as needed).

Get them now.. As long as you have enough time to give them some attention, keep their brooder clean, their food and water full (and clean, which is the bigger problem wtih my kids *laughs*) you'll be fine, as will they.