How to brood 4 week old chicks

[Chickengirl1304]

I'm just looking to see what others do at his age. I have mine in the shed with a light on in a little pen. How do you brood your chicks at this age when they still need a light and can't go in with the bigger chicks. What's the healthiest bedding at this age? Thanks

 

[MamaManda]

I have my 4 week olds in a large, enclosed rabbit hutch with a heat lamp. During the day, I move them out to a little run enclosure in the yard so they can jump around, get some sunshine and peck at things. I add a small tray of compost, with the occasional worm, which they love to dust bathe in. I know they still need heat, since they are not fully feathered, but I don't put them in the run unless I am home to watch them for signs of being too cold. It's been in the 60's - to low 70's here during the day, and they start to huddle up together around sunset, which is when I transfer them back to the hutch and heat lamp for the night.

I don't currently have any bedding in the coop, as half of it has a wire mesh bottom, and the other half is wood, which I scrape the droppings out of every few days. (A chicken expert at a local farm store told me if I wasn't going to give them medicated feed, since I raise my birds organically, that I needed to not clean the droppings often. I didn't really look into it much, but that's what I've done. I think she said it does something to build their immune systems? Haven't had any problems yet in 2 years of organic chick rearing.)

Here they are (pic is from about 3 weeks ago) out in their run in the yard with their 'babysitter.'

 

[missnu01]

We have turned half our living room into a brooder..I just turn the brooder lamps off when it's warm enough to not need them...that's about it..I have 17 4 week old chicks right now. And 9 4 week old meat birds

 

[ajlynco]

I have 14 Easter Eggers that are 3 weeks old, and 11 older chooks that are 14 months old. Soon it'll be time to move the babies outside and I'd like to incorporate them with the older gals ASAP. I'll be building a grow out pen up against the existing run's fence so they all can interact through the hardware cloth. I have several questions and welcome any and all advice/suggestions. First of all, when can I safely integrate the 2 flocks? In building the grow out pen, what are some guidelines I need to adhere to? I'd REALLY like to see some pics of others grow out facilities.

 

[debid]

Mine started off and are still in our new juvenile detention center. It's a small coop with a run right next door to the big chicken run so the two groups are already getting to know each other. I think it's a pretty useful structure to have in general since it could house an injured hen, be moved to another area for quarantining, house a broody and her clutch for separate but visible chick rearing, break up a broody, etc.

 

[DawnB]

@ajlynco - I have the same question about the grow out pen. I'd love to see pics too...post the links if you find some! I've got 15 almost-4wk old chicks right now in my dining room. They'll be there a while...we've still got a good foot of snow in our yard!

@debid - I'd love to see pics of your juvie hall! I've been looking for ideas like this, but I keep finding pics of tractors and that's all...how many babies of what age will fit in it?

 

[debid]

We built a 3' square house (slant roof is at 32" on the low side and 40" on the high side) with a 3' x 7.5' x 3' tall run. We have four chicks in it to be added to a group of six hens when everyone is ready. If we were adding a dozen or more at a time, the mini coop would be more like our big coop. Really, the only differences between a henhouse and juvie pen are the smaller diameter roost for smaller feet and the run is all 1/2" hardware cloth to keep out things like rats and snakes that are dangerous to chicks. Oh, and the heat lamp for the first few weeks. I have a juice bottle with a nipple for water and they are using a chick feeder right now but I am replacing that ASAP with a wall-mounted gravity feeder.

 

[Chickengirl1304]

How long do you use a light for?

 

[tcmstalcup]

Location, Location, Location. I am in texas where temps are already well above freezing. Today is a cool one-only getting to 70. At 4 wks mine are outside in a grow out pen. It has a light that can be plugged in in case of a severe temp change but mostly its off. How long the light stays on for me depends on ambient temps.

 

[debid]

How long do you use a light for?

I shut it off when they stopped sleeping under it last time and that worked out to roughly 6 weeks. I have another slow feathering breed this time so I'm expecting similar results. It's worth noting that they seem completely happy playing in cold weather as long as they are out of the wind.