How to build perches for baby chicks?

[ohnoicantfly]

Hi, I'm getting seven Easter egger chicks in two days and I need to make some perches for them. These chicks are three weeks old so I believe they will already be perching or will want to soon. How do I go about making perches for three week old baby chicks? What height should they be? How much should I raise them as they get older? Thanks.

 

[rosemarythyme]

This was the roost I built for my chicks, just scrap wood and a few screws.

In reality, they don't need baby sized anything. They can fit on adult size, adult height roosts without issue by 3-4 weeks.

 

[K0k0shka]

The chicks will be going in a brooder for about 4 weeks until I move them to the coop. I don't want the perches to be too tall because the walls of the brooder are about 3-3 1/2 feet. Will the chicks be able to jump out if there's perches?

Wow, 4 weeks in a brooder, for 3-week-olds? Why so long? Yes they will jump/fly out if the brooder doesn't have a top, even without perches, and with perches it's pretty much guaranteed. They'll need to be outside and will try their best to get out - fly out, break out, eat their way out. Last year was the longest I kept chicks in a brooder - 5 weeks - and they ate through the cardboard box they were in, trying to get out! It was a chest freezer box, for 5 chicks, so it wasn't small, but they looked comically inadequate in there - big, rowdy, loud, smelly and desperate to get out. 7 weeks is just too much. If you don't have any seriously compelling reason to keep them in a brooder that long, don't.

 

[nuthatched]

3 weeks? 1 inch Dowling rods about a foot up, or a 1x2 screwed in across the corner of a coop. Or a tree branches with lots of branches laid on the floor. Chicks aren't picky

 

[K0k0shka]

Wow. So I could put them in the coop sooner? I thought I had to wait until they were older because of temperature, feed, etc.

You can brood straight in the coop from day one if you have a heat source, they really don't have to be in the house. And after they are feathered out, they don't need the heat source anymore, especially now that it's summer and it's warm. May not be as warm up there in Canada, so it will depend on how feathered out they are and whether you want to add something for them to keep warm out in the coop, like a brooder plate or even just a huddle box. Or you can brood them indoors for an extra week or two, but I wouldn't go past 5 weeks total. At 5 weeks old they'll be feathered out and ready to take on the world. They don't necessarily need chick food either. You can feed your whole flock a flock raiser type of feed, which is intended for a mixed flock of different ages. Just provide calcium on the side for the layers (crushed eggshell or oyster shell). That's a lot easier than dealing with different feeds and who ate what and stole from what.

 

[RoyalChick]

Just to reiterate what others have said, at 3 weeks they will be flying and exploring. Mine were all over the place at that age. One made it to the 4’ adult roost and was craning her neck up examining the rafters which must be over 8’ up. Thankfully she decided it was more than she could handle but it was clearly a close call!

 

[Ridgerunner]

@K0k0shka I need to rewrite this because I don't do it exactly this way anymore, but the basics still hold. Feeding them medicated feed does not give them immunity. It allows them to develop immunity if they are exposed to the bug that causes Cocci. If they are not exposed to that bug it doesn't do anything. That is covered in here.

First you need to know what the "medicated" is in the medicated feed. It should be on the label. Usually it is Amprolium, Amprol, some such product, but until you read the label, you really don't know. Most "medicated' feed from major brands for chicks that will be layers uses Amprolium, but there are a few out there mostly for broilers, that use other medicines. I'll assume yours is an Amprolium product, but if it is not, then realize everything I say about it may not apply. And it is possible that the "medicated" is Amprolium AND something else.

Amprolium is not an antibiotic. It does not kill anything. It inhibits the protozoa that cause coccidiosis (often called Cocci on this forum) from multiplying in the chicken's system. It does not prevent the protozoa from multiplying; it just slows that multiplication down. There are several different strains of protozoa that can cause Cocci, some more severe than others. Chickens can develop immunity to a specific strain of the protozoa, but that does not give them immunity to all protozoa that cause Cocci.

It is not a big deal for the chicken’s intestines to contain some of the protozoa that cause Cocci. The problem comes in when the number of those protozoa gets huge. The protozoa can multiply in the chicken’s intestines but also in wet manure. For them to reproduce they need some moisture. Slightly damp isn't an issue, soaking wet is. Different protozoa strains have different strengths, but for almost all cases, if you keep the brooder dry, you will not have a problem.

To develop immunity to a specific strain, that protozoa needs to be in the chicks intestines for two or three weeks. The normal sequence is that a chick has the protozoa. It poops and some of the cysts that develop the protozoa come out in the poop. If the poop is slightly damp, those cysts develop and will then develop in the chick's intestines when the chicks eat that poop. This cycle needs go on for a few weeks so all chicks are exposed and they are exposed long enough to develop immunity. A couple of important points here. You do need to watch them to see if they are getting sick. And the key is to keep the brooder dry yet allow some of the poop to stay damp. Not soaking wet, just barely damp. Wet poop can lead to serious problems.

What sometimes happens is that people keep chicks in a brooder and feed them medicated feed while they are in the brooder. Those chicks are never exposed to the Cocci protozoa that lives in the dirt in their run, so they never develop the immunity to it. Then, they are switched to non-medicated feed and put on the ground where they are for the first time exposed to the protozoa. They do not have immunity, they do not have the protection of the medicated feed, so they get sick. Feeding medicated feed while in the brooder was a complete waste.

I do not feed medicated feed. I keep the brooder dry to not allow the protozoa to breed uncontrollably. The third day that they are in the brooder, I take a scoop of dirt from the run and feed it to them so I can introduce the protozoa and they can develop the immunity they need to the strain they need to develop an immunity to. Since I keep my brooder extremely dry and the water clean the protozoa can't reproduce so every three days I give them more dirt from the run so they get more protozoa and can develop immunity. I don't lose chicks to Cocci when they hit the ground.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding medicated feed to chicks, whether the protozoa are present or not. It will not hurt them. They can still develop the immunity they need. But unless the protozoa are present, it also does no good.

If you get your chicks vaccinated for Cocci, do not feed medicated feed. It can negate the vaccinations.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It does not. If I were to attach some hardware cloth, would I just use some u nails? Or is there a better means of attaching it?

Best ways to attach would be screws + fender washers, or utilizing a trim or finishing board over the edges and screwing that in place.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I have used paper towel holders and sticks and even handles through bars of cages. It doesn't need to be fancy.

 

[K0k0shka]

They'll be flying high soon if they aren't already, so you don't need to worry that much about height. You can always make two roosts at different heights - one lower (about a foot off the ground), the other one higher. That way they can get to the higher one easier by using the lower one as an intermediate step, and when they get too big for the short roost, they can just use the tall one. They like heights even when they are young, and if they have a way to get to it, they'd gladly roost by the ceiling too

I have 3 permanent roosts in my coop, all made from thick tree branches (3" diameter). One is about a foot off the ground, one is 4 feet off the ground, and one is between the two. They are spaced about 1 foot from each other horizontally, so whoever is on the top roost doesn't poop on the ones below. I hatch chicks every year (in the coop, with a broody) so I did this to allow all ages to roost somewhere. And guess what - nobody ever uses the roost that's 1 foot off the ground! The grownups sleep on the top roost, and the chicks use the other two roosts to hop up to the top roost and sleep there with their mom. They start doing this at under 2 weeks old. So, if your chicks are going to be going straight to the coop, I'd say don't waste your time with baby roosts. Make big roosts that they'll use when grown, and just provide some stepping roost (or ramp) for them to get there. If they're going in a brooder, then you can make whatever size roost will fit in the brooder.