How long do chickens need to stay in brooder?

[Ridgerunner]

What will the weather be like when you brood them? What will your outdoor facilities look like? Will it be a fairly small enclosed coop/run or will they free range? There are a few different things to consider.

We all have our own opinions on how to do this. Lots of different things work. I raise mine in my brooder in the coop. In winter I keep the heat lamp on for five weeks, five and a half weeks if it is much below freezing. One ridiculously hot summer I turned the daytime heat off at 2 days and the overnight heat off at 5 days. There is no set time that I turn the heat off, there cannot be a set time that works for everyone.

In my opinion some people keep heat on much longer than they need to, but that's up to them. A fairly standard time frame, depending on weather of course, is to leave the heat on for four to five weeks, then turn it off. Normally chicks are fully feathered out by 4 to 5 weeks and can handle temperatures we would consider downright cold.

 

[shadowfox]

@azygous I checked out your article and want to make sure I understand everything correctly. I'm getting my first chicks in the mail next week. From the box I can take them straight to the coop. In the coop I'll have food, water, and the mamma brooder set up. Should I have pine shavings under the brooder for them or let them be on the bare ground, which I'm not planning on covering because it's mostly sand and gravel? Then I just go check on the chicks and make sure they're thriving and doing well.

My only hesitation would be that I've never raised chicks before and feel like I wouldn't be able to keep a close eye on them out in the coop.

 

[azygous]

Many of us will set up a temporary brooder indoors for the first 24 -48 hours so we can observe our new chicks. It makes it easier to treat any chicks that appear to be suffering from shipping stress or may be having other problems.

What I did was to spread big towels on my dining table in the kitchen and staple some twelve-inch high plastic deer netting all around the table with the heating pad cave set up in the center. But a large tote will do for just a couple days.

When I move my chicks into their chick brooding pen in the sand run, I use a half-inch thick foam pad covered with Glad Press'n Seal to make it easy to keep clean. I place this under the heating pad cave. This provides a moisture barrier as well as protection from the cold ground so chicks don't lose body heat by sleeping directly on the ground.

 

[Timmi.Jernigan]

I'm with LG. A few years ago, many of us learned about the heating pad system of brooding and took it a step further and began brooding right outside in coop and run since the heating pad cave so closely mimics a broody hen.

So, in answer to your question, you do not ever have to brood in a container indoors. In fact, after I did it for the first time, I saw so many benefits I never realized were possible, I will never go back to putting baby chicks through the oppressive confinement of being brooded in a box under a hot light.

I wrote up an article about brooding outdoors linked below.

Hi, I've just joined this forum. This is my first post, and also my first time getting baby chicks (soon... after husband finishes building our coop!) Please tell me if the heating pad is a special chick heating pad, or a human heating pad, and please speak to details about 'heating pad cave.' Thanking you in advance!

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you follow the links in Azygous' signature you'll find a thread where they talk about it. I don't use a heating pad cave but it is an excellent method. My warnings are you want a pad that does not have an automatic shut-off after two hours and you want one that automatically comes back on after a power outage. People usually line them inside or out, you don't want to create something a chick can get stuck in. There can be questions on what heat setting to put it and how tall the cave needs to be.

What am I forgetting @azygous , you are the one with experience with them.

 

[azygous]

Blooie's thread on "Heating Pad for the Brooder" is almost always on the first page of this forum or can be found for sure on the second page, it's that popular. It has all the information you want on how to set up the "cave", materials, the best brands of heating pads, how to adjust it for day-olds crucial heat needs, how to set it up to avoid accidents, and much more. Lots of photos.

 

[Kstring]

Used the heating pad method on the 4 we hatched this year. Kept them in a big tote box with shavings on bottom. At about 10-12 days I moved them to an outside brooder with no heat source. They are currently 4 weeks and doing well and feathering out. They have become much "wilder" since being outside.

 

[chickenmama109]

when they fully feathered and about 6 weeks old

 

[Mrs. Light Sussex]

Depends on your outside weather at the time.
Where I live, summers are hot, 3-4 weeks is all they need in the brooder.
Fall time hatches stay an additional 2-3 weeks, until mostly feathered.

 

[Izzychicky]

This is my first time with chickens i only have five. I kept them in the brooder longer than i wanted( the coop wasn't ready) they stayed inside 8 weeks and were fully feathered. Everyday the last to weeks i would take them outside and lat them roam, btw my yard has a fence and we haven't seen many hawks. Anyway they chase the birds away!