I Am Getting Chicks! 🐥

[CHICKENLOVERtweny7]

I am getting chicks this month! Their hatch date is the 23rd. I was wondering you have any tips.

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Congrats on the babies!!! I would as the day gets closer have your brooder set up with the right heat. I would use a heat lamp because that works best. You can use paper towels as the bedding for the first couple of days so they can have a solid floor to walk on and after those couple of days use pine shavings. Change out their water two times a day because it can get pretty warm. And make sure they have enough food. I used a little tupperware lid for them at first but you can also use the little feeders you can get at a tractor supply. Good luck with your littles! What kind did you get and how many?

 

[Callender Girl]

Yay for babies on the way! As already said, it's a good idea to have the brooder already set up and ready -- I have not always taken my own advice on that .

I know there are some inherent dangers with heat lamps, but I have never had problems with them. That said, I did buy a heat plate last year and was happy with how it worked out.

I've rarely had chicks develop pasty butt, but it's a good idea to keep an eye on their little behinds to make sure all is working as it should.

And again, YAY!

 

[featherhead007]

Be prepared, they grow up so fast!
Feed, water, coop, run, safety, warmth.

 

[CHICKENLOVERtweny7]

Be prepared, they grow up so fast!
Feed, water, coop, run, safety, warmth. View attachment 3012262

so cute those all look like barred rock chickens are they?

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

They look like cuckoo marans or olive Eggers to me. What kinds did you get @CHICKENLOVERtweny7

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I have always used a heat lamp and had no problems. Do check their little butts everyday. I find some probitotics and nutridrench in the water the first couple days helps with that and keeping their energy up. You can use molasses and a bit of plain yogurt if you don't have powdered probitotics and nutridrench. Dip their little beaks one by one in the water right when you pop them in the brooder so they know where it is. The sugar helps them with travel and shipping stress as well. If any of them seem lethargic or aren't eating an egg yolk with warm water and chick crumble should get them eating and up and running. Good luck! They're so cute when they're little! The teenager phase not so much. Then they will start trying to escape the brooder haha

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC! Where, in general, are you located? Climate matters.

Here is some good basic information for you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-raise-chickens.47660/

What are you planning for a coop?

Warning, many prefab coops -- including some commonly sold at farm stores -- are way too small to keep any chickens at all and almost all of them wildly exaggerate how many chickens they can hold.

Coop Rules of Thumb

• If it looks like a dollhouse it's only suitable for toy chickens.
• If it's measured in inches instead of feet it's too small.
• If your walk-in closet is larger than the coop-run combo you're thinking of buying think carefully about whether you have an utterly awesome closet or are looking at a seriously undersized chicken coop.
• If it has more nestboxes than the number of chickens it can legitimately hold the designer knew nothing about chickens' actual needs and it probably has other design flaws too.

 

[featherhead007]

so cute those all look like barred rock chickens are they?

Yep. That’s my Little Rock garden.

 

[CHICKENLOVERtweny7]

I got cinnamon queens astralorps and one other I think