How would you start these chicks?

[gale65]

We're getting a dozen pullets around the end of May. We have a 4 x 6 coop that will be a ways from the house (about 200 yds from the house, not visible from the house). Would you set them up in the coop w/ a heat lamp or would you use something smaller closer to the house (or in the garage if needed but there really isn't room in there so I'd rather not)? If we use the coop should we put a box in there to keep them confined? We have a metal washtub but I'm not sure if it's big enough for food plus water plus chickens and have enough room for them to move away from the heat. Also, how often do you check on them when they're little?

Also I read not to use shavings or straw when they're little, and no newspaper either. Is shredded newspaper ok or will they just eat that? Do you use shavings and put something like feed sacks over it for them to walk on? I have raised chickens before but that was a long time ago and I didn't have the internet or magazines or books or anything. Just kinda winged it.

eta: I know they need a heat lamp no matter what. It sounds like I'd only use one if they're in the coop but they will have heat either way.

 

[earnhardtlvr]

This is new to me too...but I have had 29 peeps going on 4-5 weeks now and everyone is healthy and happy so I guess I am doing something right! When u say pullets, about how old r they going to be when u get them?? New babies definately need to be kept close to u and checked on numerous times throughout the day. Pullets, it would depend on their age and how much they are feathered in. Straw and pine shavings are what I have read most people use. Newspaper is bad for little ones cause can get slippery and cause leg problems...again, not too sure if would be the same for pullets. Hope this helps some!

 

[paigeandclyde]

i say keep them in your garage. i just got week old chicks two days ago and i keep them in my room haha i like to have them close to me

but they still need a heat lamp inside, and some people use towels as bedding... this is what i recommend as i think it makes them feel safe and blankets are nice and soft. you should check on them several times a day. i use a big tub to keep them in, that part doesn't matter too much as long as they can move freely and have a spot to cool off
hope this helps

 

[Anianna]

earnhardtlvr is right on about the newspaper, it's bad because it's slippery and your chicks could suffer from splayed legs. I don't know that I would want the ink with the chicks, either, because they try to eat just about anything. I started my chicks on paper towels, which provides great traction but needed to be changed frequently. Also, my babies were trying so hard to scratch at it, but the paper towels aren't really conducive to that. Today they are one week old and I switched them to pine shavings. They are so happy scratching and playing in the shavings and the shavings take care of all that poop much better so I don't have to clean up so often. Just remember "pine is fine". Do not get cedar as it irritates their respiratory system. I do not get the fine shavings because I worry they can't handle the dust. I use heavier shavings, like the kind used for horse stalls.

 

[debid]

Our coop is away from the house like that. I set the chicks up in a box on the covered porch. When you first get them, you will want to keep close tabs to be sure they're OK and how often do you want to take that hike out to the coop?

 

[gale65]

ok thanks. Pullets will be a couple of days old. They're set for a may 25th hatch and will be at the shop on the 27th. I don't know how I managed in the past, really. I raised about 200 broilers once and at least 3 dozen layers plus ornamentals, not to mention the pekin ducks, muscovies and turkeys that I had. I can't remember what it was like when they were little though. I worked 2 jobs at the time and my SO at the time was gone during the week so I can guarantee they were without a check for at least 4 or 5 hours straight during the day (more if I couldn't make it home at lunch time) and not checked at all during the night once I went to bed. I also used nothing but straw for bedding and they were kept in an old milkhouse which was pretty big. I had a heat lamp in there but I never worried about how high or low it was. Just hung it up. lol. I don't know if chickens have changed or just the recommendations. I never lost more than a chick or two and very few hens. But now that I've read all this I feel like I have to follow some new procedures or lose chicks.

btw my husband is a full time farmer but he's more clueless about this than I am. He can tell you all kinds of facts and such about cattle and hogs but chickens? Nope.

 

[gale65]

Just saw in another thread that someone uses equine pine for bedding for babies? I have some of it (I bought it to use for the rabbits but they didn't like it so they get yesterday's news litter) so I guess I can use that when they first come home? Some said they used it straight out of the incubator.

 

[CayuseRanch]

I am pretty new at this as well, but I will share the insight that I have picked up or that others have given me during this process.

In regards to the Heat Lamp, a breeder told me that when a chick hatches it needs 95 degrees and then every week you can take it down 5 degrees. Now, I don't measure the temperature, but if they are all huddled under the light it is too cold for them and I need to lower it or bring them to a warmer place that the heat lamp will keep them warm. If they are spread out away from the lamp then I figure it is too hot and I raise the lamp.

As for where to keep them. My new chicks stay in the house with me for about 2-3 weeks. They are in a big tupperware thing and under a light. After that they go up to the tack room in the barn where they are enclosed and under a heat lamp. When they are fully feathered and no longer needing the heatlamp they go in my tractor until I can introduce them to the flock.

 

[gale65]

DH said he will bring the coop into the back yard while they're little and I can easily check them often. Bringing them into the house isn't an option. For one thing, we don't have any animals inside save the fish, and have no intention of it. Also my dd has asthma and that wouldn't be good for that, I don't imagine. The garage is not an option now because I had forgotten that our dryer vents into the garage, and makes it extremely humid in there. So that would be really bad for baby chicks. I can't not do laundry for that long. So he'll put the coop in the back yard and we'll run an extension cord for the heat lamp and then we can check on them often. I'm usually up pretty late and dh gets up early so between the two of us we should have it covered. So is the 4 x 6 coop small enough or should be put a box or something inside it?

 

[debid]

It's not that recommendations have changed, it's that the people on this board tend to be a bit overboard about care. I'd never met anyone who would start chickens in their house until I found this place. I love to watch them but don't want them in the house so a box outside the window is perfect for me.

You can absolutely put them wherever and as long as they're protected and have their basic needs met, they'll be fine. But, you're right, a humid garage is not as good a choice as a nice, dry coop because humidity encourages cocci growth, mold, etc. I don't think 4x6 is too big but you can always tape a few pieces of cardboard together to divide it in half the first week if you're concerned.

ETA: And I'm not monitoring their temperature and dropping it 5 degrees per week either. I put up heat lamps at a height where they seem comfortable to sleep there (not piled up, not avoiding it). They do the rest -- going out of the heat to play, eat, and drink and returning there to rest.