Hi from la pine oregon

mossyoakmother

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Iv never raised chickens before but our house we are renting came with 4. So we are getting 12 chicks tomorrow and a duckling. My aunt has informed me to put the chicks indoors in a box or crate of somesort with pine shavings to get medicated chick starter food a few feeders and a water thing. She has 17. Is their anything she left out? How big of a bin or home will I need? An if I have them inside do I need a lamp when its always 80° in my home?
 
:welcome! Get two ducklings. One would be lonely, even with the chicks. You really should have at least two. Also, ducklings shouldn't eat medicated feed, so if you want to feed everyone the same thing, get unmedicated. And those ducklings are going to splash the water everywhere, so putting something under the waterer to catch the drips is a good idea. Otherwise, they are very capable of soaking through all the pine shavings every hour. The chicks and ducklings, when they first come home, need a spot that's 95 degrees that they can get to to warm up, so yes, even in an 80 degree house you'd need a heat lamp at first. You want the very biggest brooder you can get for them - they'll grow fast.
 
eggcellent advice
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and
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Hello and welcome to BYC
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Aim for a brooder that allows at least 1.5 sf ft per chick. It sounds like an awful lot, but they will be staying in there for about 6-7 weeks and they grow fast! They will need a warm environment when they arrive, of around 90-95*, which you can reduce by approx 5* each week, so by the time they are 4-5 weeks old you won't need the extra heat anymore. You got very good advice on the duckling care, x2 on getting 2 rather than one! Here's a lovely article on duckling care and brooders that I think you will enjoy:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/duckling-care-brooder-ideas

Also check out the Learning centre here for chick raising tips and info:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. My son will sure enjoy picking them out at Big R
 

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