Help me decide, please!

[Heckel's Hens]

I have 24 chickens right now....9 extra thanks to Ideal sending me "roos for warmth". I ASSumed that would be like 3 or something. (eyeroll) Silly me! And I kind of expected a few of the chicks to perish...kind of setting myself up emotionally if they all didn't survive. Well I think I have the 24 hardiest chickens around! So that is GOOD, but now they are almost 6 weeks and I don't know where to put them.

We live in Southern VA, but this winter has been unusually cold. I was thinking of moving them to the coop around Amrch 1st, at 10 weeks old. If I do that, I have got to figure out a way to make mroe room in the brooder or make another brooder, etc. Advice welcome!

Can they be too crowded? How would you know?

Thanks!

 

[MustLoveHens]

There are some really great brooder pics in the Pictures of your brooders thread in this forum. The brooders are amazing in what people have on hand and their craftiness to make brooders! I'd take a look at those and see if you have anything on hand to make a brooder or two with. I have used medium to large cardboard moving boxes in the past. After I was done with the brooder box, I could just toss it. Or if I was selling off chicks to someone starting out, I just sell the whole kit and kaboodle to go with the chicks. I like a nice big brooder. That way the babies have tons of room to do baby things but can also stick together with out being cramped.

Chicks can be over crowed. With 24 though, unless your brooder is small you should be able to start them well. With little fluff balls, they can be over crowded and the thing to look for is trampeling. If they are running over eachother, then they need more room. That is the easiest thing to look for. With 24 though in a good sized box, I'd imagine you'd be ok until they start to get feathered, then you might have to add another brooder or make a bigger one.
Hope this helps you out and have fun with the babies!

 

[pdsavage]

If you can get heat out to the coop you can but them out there now.
I use a long heavy duty extention cord/s to hang a heat light in the grow out pen.