DellaMyDarling
Songster
Anxiously awaiting the day I can order our chicks, and then of course for their arrival! Here's a few dumb questions I need answered so that I am prepared.
I plan to order about 20 female chicks for our first go-around at chicken raising (so, there's no other birds here to worry about integration with yet.) We live in zone 5b, so I won't have them arrive until probably late April, giving us a higher chance of warm weather.
Was eyeballing a "starter kit" from the hatchery that includes plastic paneling as walls for the brooder plus most of the early essentials needed. States that it can house up to 25 chicks for 2 weeks. "Great!" I thought, until I remembered that there's a long way to go between week 2 and having chicks that are bigger and more independent.
For some reason I was thinking they'd go from baby brooder bin to outside/coop. Dummy.
The brooder will not be inside the house, we simply haven't the room and my partner has severe asthma, and so it will go right out into the coop. Our coop will be approximately one half of a 10'x20' shed. It has a brand new metal roof on it. It is professionally wired for electricity. Two small windows, but also two vents in the eaves of the roof, and we have a few different fan systems that can be installed for the summer air circulation needs. The other half will one day be a goat night home, and so we will build a simple 2x4 and chicken wire barrier for the chicken half to start with. I plan to do some sort of linoleum/tub lining along walls and floor to make cleaning easy.
When old enough, our birds will primarily free range as happy hens.
Since I thought the brooder would keep them contained longer, long enough to continue procrastination on finishing the chicken half of the shed during warmer weather, I'm not sure what I need to do for my in-between brooder and free range stage.
We do not have finalized plans for how the inside of the chicken enclosure will look yet, since nesting boxes and high perches are so far down the road haha.
Am I going to NEED to nearly finish the coop side of the shed before 2 weeks of age?
At 2 weeks of age, what DO these chicks need from me?
They can move from the brooder to larger enclosure (let's estimate 10'x8' floor space) then? OR should I buy extra panels from the hatchery to make my brooder pen bigger at that point?
Is this panel type brooder pen a dumb idea all together, or are there other manufactured ones you'd recommend? I've looked up a few home made brooders, but I'm far more comfortable with this contraption I think, especially for 20 chicks.
I'll make sure to do more thorough reading on temperature requirements in spring, because there really is no typical weather pattern expected in my zone at that time of year (I'll be kept on my toes keeping them the right temp for sure.)
Oh my. So much to know.
I plan to order about 20 female chicks for our first go-around at chicken raising (so, there's no other birds here to worry about integration with yet.) We live in zone 5b, so I won't have them arrive until probably late April, giving us a higher chance of warm weather.
Was eyeballing a "starter kit" from the hatchery that includes plastic paneling as walls for the brooder plus most of the early essentials needed. States that it can house up to 25 chicks for 2 weeks. "Great!" I thought, until I remembered that there's a long way to go between week 2 and having chicks that are bigger and more independent.
For some reason I was thinking they'd go from baby brooder bin to outside/coop. Dummy.
The brooder will not be inside the house, we simply haven't the room and my partner has severe asthma, and so it will go right out into the coop. Our coop will be approximately one half of a 10'x20' shed. It has a brand new metal roof on it. It is professionally wired for electricity. Two small windows, but also two vents in the eaves of the roof, and we have a few different fan systems that can be installed for the summer air circulation needs. The other half will one day be a goat night home, and so we will build a simple 2x4 and chicken wire barrier for the chicken half to start with. I plan to do some sort of linoleum/tub lining along walls and floor to make cleaning easy.
When old enough, our birds will primarily free range as happy hens.
Since I thought the brooder would keep them contained longer, long enough to continue procrastination on finishing the chicken half of the shed during warmer weather, I'm not sure what I need to do for my in-between brooder and free range stage.
We do not have finalized plans for how the inside of the chicken enclosure will look yet, since nesting boxes and high perches are so far down the road haha.
Am I going to NEED to nearly finish the coop side of the shed before 2 weeks of age?
At 2 weeks of age, what DO these chicks need from me?
They can move from the brooder to larger enclosure (let's estimate 10'x8' floor space) then? OR should I buy extra panels from the hatchery to make my brooder pen bigger at that point?
Is this panel type brooder pen a dumb idea all together, or are there other manufactured ones you'd recommend? I've looked up a few home made brooders, but I'm far more comfortable with this contraption I think, especially for 20 chicks.
I'll make sure to do more thorough reading on temperature requirements in spring, because there really is no typical weather pattern expected in my zone at that time of year (I'll be kept on my toes keeping them the right temp for sure.)
Oh my. So much to know.