So I am brand new to the whole chick thing. We had set about to incubate eggs as part of our science project for Oviparous animals. My sister who does raise chicks and provided us with the eggs and incubator was going to take the chicks back after hatching. However, we ended up with only one that hatched and lived (only two hatched and they both were late) and we fell in love with her. She is going to be four weeks this Tuesday. We have a great set up inside as we have plenty of room and I am not adverse to keeping her cleaned out. We live in Northern New York where it is not unusual to have 20-40 below wind chill and seeing as how we hadn't planned on become a "chicken family" we did not set up outside housing. We have since decided, (it wasn't hard falling in love with our chick and the idea of adding two or three more) to build a coop and run in the spring and raise a few.
My question is; Will homing chicks inside make them weaker to weather changes in the future and am I nuts for thinking that it is plausible to have them inside as they grow over the next few months?
I am planting a "grass patch" inside for her to scratch and peck at and trying to provide a somewhat small simulation of the outdoors for her.
And yes I realize that if she did turn out to be a he or I ended up with a he, I'd be insane when he started crowing. lol. Worse came to worse my sister would come up and get them as she does have heated coops, but I would very much like to at least keep our little Peep. We LOVE her.
Thanks for any input.
My question is; Will homing chicks inside make them weaker to weather changes in the future and am I nuts for thinking that it is plausible to have them inside as they grow over the next few months?
I am planting a "grass patch" inside for her to scratch and peck at and trying to provide a somewhat small simulation of the outdoors for her.
And yes I realize that if she did turn out to be a he or I ended up with a he, I'd be insane when he started crowing. lol. Worse came to worse my sister would come up and get them as she does have heated coops, but I would very much like to at least keep our little Peep. We LOVE her.
. They remain light feathered and when exposed to the cold, it can be shocking and potentially kill them. If your going to keep her inside then plan on it until the spring when it warms up again and she can accommodate herself. Good thing is, is that you can get started with your new additions soon and when it warms up they will all be ready to go outside! You could possibly set up an area just for her to "winter-it-out."
