How hard is it to raise baby chicks?

[Dustieburk]

If you are going to get that many it is going to take time and $ . You should start out with 6 or 7 just so you can get use to it and then you can add to your flock . There is a lot of good info so just look around and fill free to ask questions and Welcome !

 

[montugirl]

I have six babies and this is my first time. I love watching them grow. I work full time and I'm a single parent and it doesn't seem to bad having them. I have them in a tote inside the house with a heat lamp. In the process of building the coop now.

 

[chiknhurder]

I don't buy chicks. I buy young pullets about 6 to 8 weeks old. Within a week they know who I am. Within 2 to 3 weeks, they run to me and interact with me. They will try to get on me when I sit down. They know who feeds and looks after them so don't think that buying young chicks is necessary to get them to bond with you. That's the easy part. Raising chicks in a house create a lot of dust that gets on everything plus you really need to change their bedding every other day and possibly daily depending on how many you have. You will have them indoors until it warms up or until they're fully feathered so that could be several months. Young pullets that I get go into a separate area of the coop where they can see and interact with the other chickens and after a week, I let them out together. After a few days, they all settle in nicely.

EDIT* I don't handle my birds. They aren't pets to me but you can't tell them that. They still want to be around me and follow me like puppies so handling young birds isn't necessary.