Help! Loud chicks!

[rosemarythyme]

. Another question, might be silly but, since I'll have a shed do you recommend putting a heat lamp in there? I've seen some images of coops with heat lamps, but I know that could be a fire hazard out in my garden.

It's a huge fire hazard and we get posts yearly of someone burning down their coop, barn, and even part of their house due to heat lamps.

Also chickens do quite well in colder temps. Unless you live in an extreme climate (i.e. Alaska) you do not ever need one.

 

[murphygirlwyondotte]

Last thing - I promise! My first 4 were out in the coop by week 3. I just plunked their whole brooder set up into the coop. I was planning on starting these 3 in the coop on day 1, but there were complications (long sad story) and I decided to keep them inside. They require a little more care than my first flock, and they are bantams, so they are smaller and more fragile (or so it seems to me).

Oh please keep us updated!!! I'm always excited when someone becomes a chicken parent!

Enjoying some outside time

 

[Aunt Angus]

They're so cute!!! GLW sure are pretty!

 

[Steven Bussell]

Im on the Bay Area coast of California. Temperatures here are in the low 70s right now, so it might be a bit cold. Brooder is a 45 gallon tote, about 37-inches in length and 21-inch width. And the temperatue is about 83-85F right now from a heat lamp about 3 ft off ground. I put in an upsidedown teacup and they've been perching on that and an upsidedown tuperware as well. I even caught one on top of the feeder a few days ago
What is sod? They are on straw hay and they've been picking and poking at it.
And when would you siggest I can move them outside in their coop for good?
Thanks!

I'm also in the bay area 707 area code. My 4 week old has been in thier coop from day one. I use a heating plate made for chicks. Best money spent . No worries about fire, over heating the chicks and low cost of running it. Some night they sleep next to it . Most of the time they just sleep use each other for heat. I leave it on because its safe and cheap

 

[murphygirlwyondotte]

I'm also in the bay area 707 area code. My 4 week old has been in thier coop from day one. I use a heating plate made for chicks. Best money spent . No worries about fire, over heating the chicks and low cost of running it. Some night they sleep next to it . Most of the time they just sleep use each other for heat. I leave it on because its safe and cheap

thanks, great idea!

 

[DHU3454198]

Every time I get new chicks I put them outside earlier! They are tougher than you think. They love outside!

 

[ecstasis]

I'll be honest, I think three weeks is too young to put them out in the coop. I am also in the Bay Area, in the SC Mountains, and it's still in the fifties at night here. Lat week it dropped into the forties. I have a little golden wyandotte and put her outside at six weeks.
I have noticed that she and her chickmates are pretty cheepy, more so than the batches I've had previously.
If you need to put them out sooner you can also set up a mama heating pad in the coop. It's safer than a heat lamp.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I'll be honest, I think three weeks is too young to put them out in the coop. I am also in the Bay Area, in the SC Mountains, and it's still in the fifties at night here. Lat week it dropped into the forties. I have a little golden wyandotte and put her outside at six weeks.
I have noticed that she and her chickmates are pretty cheepy, more so than the batches I've had previously.
If you need to put them out sooner you can also set up a mama heating pad in the coop. It's safer than a heat lamp.

That's exactly what @Steven Bussell and I suggested. Great minds think alike!

 

[Willowspirit]

The best reason for sod is they get tiny doses of the bacteria in your yard and begin to develop immunity.

And they play and play with it!

 

[Willowspirit]

I put my first set of chicks out at five weeks and we were still having freezing temps at night. I use a Cozy Coop heater that is a flat panel heater that sits vertically against a wall. When we put them in the coop we put that in too to give them a choice in cooler weather. My little glw runt used it the most but not that often really. Most of their nights were in the fifties and they seemed to keep each other warm enough.

Btw for my first brooder I’ve used big cardboard boxes. When I move the chicks to the gig cage I put the box and all of the bedding in the compost. Quick and easy clean up!