I live in ND and had the same problem last year when I decided to get chickens, though I had beer evading for over a year about the things we needed and what to do.
OK, I'll bite: What is "beer evading"?
Beer: malted alcoholic beverage
Evading: escaping or avoiding
You were avoiding beer for a year while figuring out what to do?
Well, thinking with a clear head IS a good idea!
I'm blown away at the amount of helpful people and advice! I am so glad I found this website!
Thank you all so much! You guys are great!
Me too. That is why I bought the Golden Feather membership - to help support the site. I've gotten
way, WAY MORE than $25 worth of free information from the very helpful people on BYC.
OK. Baby chicks don't go into a coop for the first eight weeks; they need to be in a brooder.
A brooder can be as simple as a heat lamp (no Teflon coated bulbs) hung over a cardboard box. A red flood lamp is perfect.
Start by lining the brooder with paper towels for the first three days or so. Put chick scratch in the feeder closest to the heat; and chick starter in the one that is farther from the heat lamp. The reason for feeding chick scratch first is that if they have been chilled they can develop pasting of feces on their cloacas; chick scratch seems to prevent this. You won't need chick grit unless you decide to give them access to anything other than chick scratch and chick starter. On day three you can remove the chick scratch entirely. They will need chick grit if you feed them greens, table scraps, etc. The best food for young baby chicks is chick starter.
Take a deep breath, just change cardboard boxes to clean the brooder, and spend the next eight weeks building your coop.
To make life as easy as possible with your first chicks, consider getting a flock of the calmer, gentler, quieter breeds. Dealing with cannibalism and neighbor complaints is never fun, and I've found that keeping calmer, quieter, gentler breeds means far fewer issues with neighbors or chickens eating each other.
Sorry to interrupt but I disagree with some of this.
- OK so later you posted that where ever the chicks are is a brooder. I can agree with that BUT:
- Most people think of a brooder as a separate place to keep young chicks until they are big enough to go out to a coop without "support". Yes, you can brood chicks in a coop from day one.
- Chicks DO NOT need to be in the brooder for 8 WEEKS! They need to be somewhere safe with food, water, heat and no drafts. After they are fully feathered, they need everything but the heat. Obviously they will need heat longer if you get them in January than if you get them in July or live north of the 48th parallel vs south of the 32nd. Lots of people brood them in the house because that is where it is most convenient to check on them regularly (and they are CUTE!). Plus, some people don't have electricity in their coops for heat lamps. My girls went out to the coop at 3.5 weeks (mid July) because they wouldn't stay in the bathtub. They had a heat lamp at night for 1 week. I don't know if they slept under it or not, I sleep in the house . After that, they were "on their own" with their food and water. I don't give them grit because they have access to all the dirt and rocks their little hearts desire. They don't need oyster shell until they are getting ready to lay. Chick starter has extra calcium for bone growth. Too much calcium when they are growing is not good for them which is why you don't feed starter from hatch to POL.
Chick scratch.
- First NOT NEEDED.
- Second: scratch is "candy" do people feed candy to their one or two month old children?
- Third: If they have scratch they need grit.
- Fourth: Read this from a feed supplier:
Chick Scratch is not a complete feed and additional supplementation is required. Starting at 6 weeks, Chick Scratch may be fed on top of Chick Starter or in separate feeders. Consumption should not be more than 1part Chick Scratch to 3parts Chick Starter. Scatter insoluble grit over the feed once a week. Provide grit or oyster shell free choice, and keep water in front of chicks at all times.
http://www.ranch-way.com/products/poultry-feed/ranch-way-chick-scratch
and this from MyPetChicken:
"Q: At what age can my chickens begin eating treats?
A: We don't really recommend feeding your new baby chicks treats right away, because they should first learn what their feed is so they will be able to get a balanced diet. Treats do not provide a balanced, nutritious diet, and it's important to give your chicks a good start in life."
http://www.mypetchicken.com/backyar...can-my-chickens-begin-eating-treats-H119.aspx
im not sure if anyone has suggested this yet but
www.mypetchicken.com has decent prices and it has a small order minimum order depending on where your located (mine was 6) as for coops mine is a 16' x 16' box with chicken wire running up high. i used 4' x 8' plywood (im not sure how thick it was) it didnt cost anything as it was leftover after we finished building our house. all 8 of my chickens from mypetchicken arrived alive and well. 3 got killed by predators.
p.s. i ordered 8 chickens for 36 and the shipping was 36.
I looked at MPC plus other hatcheries and in the end ordered from Ideal. Their shipping is cheaper and they didn't have a 15 or 25 chick minimum. HOWEVER. some places only have those higher minimums during colder weather and the minimums are much lower after March. I also beat the odds, they were 100% on sexing my girls.
... as you appear to be a first time keeper, i would recommend you start off with POL's point of lays, then work out breeds, are you looking for egg layers, go for hybrids, breeding stock, choose a breed you like, or pets where eggs are a bonus,
- POL will be a lot more expensive to buy since you are paying someone else to raise them.
- Further, the shipping cost is much higher for adults and the mortality rate is higher. If one goes for POL hens, buy locally so you can drive them home in your car.
- And then there is the "integration" thing. Unless you get your hens all from the same place AND they were housed together, you'll have to deal with THEM deciding the pecking order. If you get a bunch of 2 day old chicks, they figure it out as they grow. no big trauma.
- Plus, you don't get to watch the little fluffy things grow up!
Other than getting eggs more quickly, I don't see a reason to buy POL instead of day old chicks. Well, the eggs and not having to sweat "is this one a boy or a girl" for weeks and weeks
Brooding for about a month is not complicated or difficult. I suppose it can be "expensive" in the same way your first tomato is expensive considering the cost of "tools", etc.
Minimally you will need a heat source, waterer and feeder. But a basic plastic waterer is about $5 as is a feeder base for a mason jar - we used a 54 oz apple sauce jar which was free (after we ate the contents
). Another $15 for the heat lamp and "reflector" with 8' cord. So if you have NOTHING, the "tools" cost about $25-$30. $8-$10 per chick if you get 3 chicks, but only $2-$2.50 per if you get 12
And if you get more chicks the next year, you already have the tools, just like with gardening.
Bruce
