How quickly will they grow?

[From the North]

Winter is playing a cruel joke on us here in northern Ontario, and as a result we may not have our coop and run set up outside quickly enough. I was hoping to have the coop/run built by May 1st and move the chicks out shortly after that (they are coming on Wednesday).

Now my plans will probably have to change a bit because at this rate (and with the current forecast) there will still be too much snow on the ground at the start of May to get the coop moved into place (we are converting an old shed into a coop but it is currently sitting in 3-4 feet of snow).

I'm getting 10 chicks and wondering how long I can keep them in the brooder, or if I can set up a second brooder once they get too big to fit into one. The brooder I have is approximately 2x4'. I am getting RSL, BSL, NHX, BR, CRX, 2 of each.

 

[Happy Chooks]

They will probably outgrow that brooder within 3 weeks. They grow very quickly. If you can get an appliance box or a large fruit box like they use for watermelons, that would probably work until you get them out to the coop.

I hope you aren't raising them in your house. After 2 weeks, the smell will drive you crazy and the dust too.

 

[From the North]

I am brooding them in the house -- I have a spare room to hopefully contain the dust and any smells. I guess I should plan now to bring a second brooder box in, then if that is too tight I can set them up in the barn if I absolutely have to before the coop is built. I want to keep them inside as long as possible because I don't like the idea of setting up a heat lamp in the barn, and the temps are still struggling to get to the freezing point even on a sunny day.

 

[miquwid]

yeah I have my brooder in a spare room I haven't noticed a smell but we keep it pretty clean. Yeah at 3weeks I changed their brooder and just used a very large box. good luck

 

[SequoyahFarms]

My brooder is about the size of yours and I have five 3-4 week olds in it and they are doing fine with the size (for now) so you should be fine if you brought in a second brooder. They do get dusty, but like you I have them in a separate room shut off from the rest of the house and that seems to help. As far as the smell goes, I clean mine every day or two and have no smell. I use pine shavings over top of a linoleum floor, so scooping it all out with an old dust pan takes all of five minutes total. To help keep the shavings out of my water I placed it on a piece of 1x6 and that helped a lot. Good luck and have fun with them!

 

[cafarmgirl]

I am brooding them in the house -- I have a spare room to hopefully contain the dust and any smells. I guess I should plan now to bring a second brooder box in, then if that is too tight I can set them up in the barn if I absolutely have to before the coop is built. I want to keep them inside as long as possible because I don't like the idea of setting up a heat lamp in the barn, and the temps are still struggling to get to the freezing point even on a sunny day.

Are you talking about splitting them up into two groups in two separate brooders? I would not advise doing so as then you may have integration issues later when you want to put them all back together when they do finally move to their coop.

Those melon boxes or appliance boxes like Happy Chooks mentioned work really well. You could even cut the ends off a couple and duct tape them together for a really nice, large box if you needed to.

 

[SequoyahFarms]

Either way you want to do it and works best for you would be fine in my opinion. My experience is that when you are putting two new groups of young birds together into a new environment to both groups, the integration issues are slim to none. You always have a chance of pecking do to the pecking order when putting birds in a new environment if they have been together or not previously, but much less with younger birds.

 

[From the North]

If I "make" one large brooder out of cardboard boxes, how high does it need to be to keep them from hopping/flying out?

 

[SequoyahFarms]

If your going that route, I wouldn't make it too high, about two feet and put a chicken wire top on it. By 3 weeks they fly! It'll be easier that way to reach the bottom for cleaning/ feeding.

 

[Happy Chooks]

If your going that route, I wouldn't make it too high, about two feet and put a chicken wire top on it. By 3 weeks they fly! It'll be easier that way to reach the bottom for cleaning/ feeding.

Yep, you want to be able to bend over it to clean it, change water and feed. You just need a cover so they can't escape.