We got three adorable chicks (we haven't the slightest clue what gender or breed they are) about 2 and a half weeks ago, and they were already approximately 1 week old. We live in Israel, so the climate there is quite hot, and we unfortunately lost the littlest and seemingly weakest one last week due to dehydration
and we were very saddened...we ever since have done our utmost and avoided such a thing from happening again with our other two (who we managed to force to drink and we saved, phew!). We built a coop, although not that big, last week. Ever since, the other two chicks are much happier that they have room to jump around and play, and they're no longer limited to their low ceiling cage we brought them home with. We want the best for them and to raise them so that they should develop safely and healthily. We'd appreciate any tips and/or suggestions with stages of feed, how much is too annoying for them to be held (the kids really wanna hold them a lot!), how to protect them from the many stray cats in Israel (we already saw one come in the yard, luckily we went outside exactly when it arrived so we managed to chase it out), upkeep of their hygiene etc, and anything else someone might have to suggest for a newbie, all greatly appreciated. Nice meeting you all!