How 'extra' do I have to be?

[meglynnie]

With my horses and dogs I'm very care free about biosecurity, I foresee that will be the same once I'm around my flock more

 

[meglynnie]

Chicks are currently in their brooder w/ heat lamp in an enclosed garage that is unheated. Last night went down to the mid twenties, tonight is doing the same and then it warms back up. The chicks were fine this morning, however I wonder if they should come inside? Unsure hubby will let me however, he was all for chickens if he didn't really need to deal with them other then building chicken mansion I do have a brooder thermometer that I check frequently.

 

[Cryss]

In Saturday a woman with a heavy cough came into the shop where I work. "Pollen?" I asked. "No, bad cold," she answered. I immediately headed for the basement until she left as I'm on immune suppression drugs!
Now I'm wondering if I can catch something from (future) chickens!

Please talk to your doctor before acquiring chickens.

 

[JurassicBawk]

Check the temperature of the surrounding area of the brooder in the garage. I'd bet that the brooder itself stays within acceptable temperatures and is fine. I've got a 26 year old Parson Russell dog that lives in my attached but unheated garage in her "apartment area" with a heat lamp over her bed, and she's been just fine there through the winter/spring because the garage itself is always warmer than the outside and her raised heat lamp keeps her about 80 degrees no matter what. I worried extensively about her initially, but after checking the temperatures multiple times everything was fine and she was happy.

(She's mostly deaf, mostly blind, has no teeth, has a heart murmur, and has dementia so she constantly paces while awake. She can only see about 1 foot in front of her face in bright light and gets scared unless she's in a secure area that she knows where everything is. She was in the house and driving the other dogs insane and keeping me up all night, affecting my work, so this just works out and makes everyone happy. She can pace all night if she wants because she has a light on to see, eat when she wants, I keep pee pads down everywhere, she's got about 100 sq ft she knows well, and her bed area is always toasty warm. She's still stupidly happy to be alive and once she realizes that I'm there will bounce around and play with me for awhile until it's nap time again. )

Also... chicks are super nasty in the house. I raised chicks twice and quail once in my house, and vowed never to again after each time. lol The poop is one thing, but I always put down pee pads then shavings, and the dust from the shavings goes everywhere. Good luck with them. And if your husband slacks off too much and you need a run fast, look into chain-link dog kennels. My raised 4x4 coop is inside a 10x10 dog pen that I fortified with hardwire mesh and netting, and it was the quickest/easiest option I could find that gave me enough room. I like being able to walk into it and playing with them, and my 4 regular size and 3 bantams have tons of room on the ground and on branches/perches/their coop roof as well.

 

[meglynnie]

Check the temperature of the surrounding area of the brooder in the garage. I'd bet that the brooder itself stays within acceptable temperatures and is fine. I've got a 26 year old Parson Russell dog that lives in my attached but unheated garage in her "apartment area" with a heat lamp over her bed, and she's been just fine there through the winter/spring because the garage itself is always warmer than the outside and her raised heat lamp keeps her about 80 degrees no matter what. I worried extensively about her initially, but after checking the temperatures multiple times everything was fine and she was happy.

(She's mostly deaf, mostly blind, has no teeth, has a heart murmur, and has dementia so she constantly paces while awake. She can only see about 1 foot in front of her face in bright light and gets scared unless she's in a secure area that she knows where everything is. She was in the house and driving the other dogs insane and keeping me up all night, affecting my work, so this just works out and makes everyone happy. She can pace all night if she wants because she has a light on to see, eat when she wants, I keep pee pads down everywhere, she's got about 100 sq ft she knows well, and her bed area is always toasty warm. She's still stupidly happy to be alive and once she realizes that I'm there will bounce around and play with me for awhile until it's nap time again. )

Also... chicks are super nasty in the house. I raised chicks twice and quail once in my house, and vowed never to again after each time. lol The poop is one thing, but I always put down pee pads then shavings, and the dust from the shavings goes everywhere. Good luck with them. And if your husband slacks off too much and you need a run fast, look into chain-link dog kennels. My raised 4x4 coop is inside a 10x10 dog pen that I fortified with hardwire mesh and netting, and it was the quickest/easiest option I could find that gave me enough room. I like being able to walk into it and playing with them, and my 4 regular size and 3 bantams have tons of room on the ground and on branches/perches/their coop roof as well.

Thanks for the other options, I was going to use tposts and chicken wire for run, but would like to be able to walk in run, may look at kennels as well.

 

[Cryss]

Also... chicks are super nasty in the house. I raised chicks twice and quail once in my house, and vowed never to again after each time. lol The poop is one thing, but I always put down pee pads then shavings, and the dust from the shavings goes everywhere. Good luck with them. And if your husband slacks off too much and you need a run fast, look into chain-link dog kennels. My raised 4x4 coop is inside a 10x10 dog pen that I fortified with hardwire mesh and netting, and it was the quickest/easiest option I could find that gave me enough room. I like being able to walk into it and playing with them, and my 4 regular size and 3 bantams have tons of room on the ground and on branches/perches/their coop roof as well.

I did exactly the same thing for my run when it became apparent the attached "run" was seriously too small for 4 birds. It worked so well I got a second 10x10 dog pen and attached it to the first one extending the run to 10x30. If the coop is inside such a run, as mine is, remember to subtract the square feet of the coop from the square feet of the run for a more accurate available run size. These chainlink dog runs are often found at yard sales and craigslist. Covering it with 1/2inch hardware cloth is vitally important as critters can get through anything bigger than that 1/2 inch.
Concentrate on the coop build first. You will want to lock the birds inside for at least 3 days, better a week, so they learn that this is now home. Then add the run while they are in this "lockdown".
For a quick solution for a coop get a wooden shed kit from Lowe's or Home Depot and modify that. If you can afford it they will for a fee even assemble it on your property.
Isn't this all so very exciting?

 

[aart]

Chicks are currently in their brooder w/ heat lamp in an enclosed garage that is unheated. Last night went down to the mid twenties, tonight is doing the same and then it warms back up. The chicks were fine this morning, however I wonder if they should come inside?

Probably not...but go by behavior.

Here's my notes on chick heat, hope something in there might help:

They need to be pretty warm(~85-90F on the brooder floor right under the lamp and 10-20 degrees cooler at the other end of brooder) for the first day or two, especially if they have been shipped, until they get to eating, drinking and moving around well. But after that it's best to keep them as cool as possible for optimal feather growth and quicker acclimation to outside temps. A lot of chick illnesses are attributed to too warm of a brooder. I do think it's a good idea to use a thermometer on the floor of the brooder to check the temps, especially when new at brooding, later I still use it but more out of curiosity than need.

The best indicator of heat levels is to watch their behavior:
-If they are huddled/piled up right under the lamp and cheeping very loudly, they are too cold.
-If they are spread out on the absolute edges of the brooder as far from the lamp as possible, panting and/or cheeping very loudly, they are too hot.
-If they sleep around the edge of the lamp calmly just next to each other and spend time running all around the brooder they are juuuust right!

The lamp is best at one end of the brooder with food/water at the other cooler end of the brooder, so they can get away from the heat or be under it as needed. Wattage of 'heat' bulb depends on size of brooder and ambient temperature of room brooder is in. Regular incandescent bulbs can be used, you might not need a 'heat bulb'. If you do use a heat bulb make sure it's specifically for poultry, some heat bulbs for food have teflon coatings that can kill birds. You can get red colored incandescent bulbs at a reptile supply source. A dimmer extension cord is an excellent way to adjust the output of the bulb to change the heat without changing the height of the lamp.

 

[Cryss]

Thanks for the other options, I was going to use tposts and chicken wire for run, but would like to be able to walk in run, may look at kennels as well.

Do not use chicken wire for the run! Chicken wire is for keeping chickens in, not for keeping critters out. A raccoon or other critter can rip that chicken wire like paper. 1/2 inch hardware cloth is your best friend!!

 

[meglynnie]

I did exactly the same thing for my run when it became apparent the attached "run" was seriously too small for 4 birds. It worked so well I got a second 10x10 dog pen and attached it to the first one extending the run to 10x30. If the coop is inside such a run, as mine is, remember to subtract the square feet of the coop from the square feet of the run for a more accurate available run size. These chainlink dog runs are often found at yard sales and craigslist. Covering it with 1/2inch hardware cloth is vitally important as critters can get through anything bigger than that 1/2 inch.
Concentrate on the coop build first. You will want to lock the birds inside for at least 3 days, better a week, so they learn that this is now home. Then add the run while they are in this "lockdown".
For a quick solution for a coop get a wooden shed kit from Lowe's or Home Depot and modify that. If you can afford it they will for a fee even assemble it on your property.
Isn't this all so very exciting?

Thank you for your input, I was wondering about the size of the hold with dog kennel and critters and was leaning towards having to cover it!

 

[meglynnie]

Do not use chicken wire for the run! Chicken wire is for keeping chickens in, not for keeping critters out. A raccoon or other critter can rip that chicken wire like paper. 1/2 inch hardware cloth is your best friend!!

Perfect, I'm pretty sure we have some left over from other projects!