Mama Heating Pad in the Brooder (Picture Heavy) - UPDATE

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aart said:
Quote: That could very well have been a factor as well; they were too curious about their new home to bother with each other. But this peaceful coexistence continued well beyond the initial exploratory period so it couldn't have been the only one. It's only a 48 Ft2 coop and they were locked up in it for 36 hours. And they're still getting along great two weeks later.
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tomfarin said:
Hello All,

Nine sex-link chickens were a birthday present to my wife. They were cheap. The coop is a different matter.
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But we won't go there. It was complete about 5 days ago. As of two days ago it is secure.

Our chicks spent the first two weeks indoors in a repurposed dog crate. This is their portrait at 3 weeks. As you can see, they already have mastered roosting.



They started out with a heat lamp. Then I came across this thread and ordered a heating pad. About five days ago i started putting them outside in the coop during day hours along with mama heating pad. As of two days ago, they are out all night. Right now they are 3 1/2 weeks old. Weather has been unseasonably warm for Wisconsin. That will change this weekend when nights will be in the 20s and daytime high in the low 30s. Tomorrow I plan to move mother heating pad up into the hen house. It is much more sheltered. They are readily climbing their ladder and seem to enjoy looking out the windows.

We had one pasty butt incident two weeks ago. i followed instructions in this forum. Problem solved. Other than that they appear to be thriving.

So why am I writing this post? I just want to thank you all for the support. We are first time chicken owners. We started with 9 peeps. Right now we have 9 young ladies.

Tom
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Glad everything is going well with your first ever chickens. It will seem like a long time but you should be getting eggs from your girls around the time people start getting their spring chicks in March/April.
 
Thank you for the encouragement. We are looking forward to eggs in March/April. I may have fibbed a bit on my "we now have 9 young ladies." We have 9 young chickens. But one red sex link is noticeably larger than the rest. We ordered 8 but there were 9 in the box when we picked it up. Could this be how our hatchery "rehomes" unwanted Roos? When I get him/her to pose, I'll pass a photo.

If it is a Roo, it creates a bit of a dilemma for us. While we are zoned country and are allowed to have roosters, we are surrounded by residential Madison. I'm not sure all my neighbors would enjoy a 5:00 wake up call.
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Mama heating pad is now in the upper hen house portion of the coop. The hen house is insulated on the three outside walls, the floor, and the portion of the roof we decide to keep open. The roof opening is directly above the ladder entrance. So with the exception of air moving in through the ladder opening and out directly above, the rest of the chicken house is probably cozy. I think we are ready for our first cold night, scheduled for Friday night.

Now that there are pine shavings in the hen house they are taking dust baths upstairs. The ground floor of the coop is still grass, but I'll be building up a layer of sand the next few days. When that is done, the whole place will be dust bath heaven. Nothing too good for my girls (and guy?)

Tom
 
tomfarin said:
Thank you for the encouragement. We are looking forward to eggs in March/April. I may have fibbed a bit on my "we now have 9 young ladies." We have 9 young chickens. But one red sex link is noticeably larger than the rest. We ordered 8 but there were 9 in the box when we picked it up. Could this be how our hatchery "rehomes" unwanted Roos? When I get him/her to pose, I'll pass a photo.

If it is a Roo, it creates a bit of a dilemma for us. While we are zoned country and are allowed to have roosters, we are surrounded by residential Madison. I'm not sure all my neighbors would enjoy a 5:00 wake up call.
celebrate.gif


Mama heating pad is now in the upper hen house portion of the coop. The hen house is insulated on the three outside walls, the floor, and the portion of the roof we decide to keep open. The roof opening is directly above the ladder entrance. So with the exception of air moving in through the ladder opening and out directly above, the rest of the chicken house is probably cozy. I think we are ready for our first cold night, scheduled for Friday night.

Now that there are pine shavings in the hen house they are taking dust baths upstairs. The ground floor of the coop is still grass, but I'll be building up a layer of sand the next few days. When that is done, the whole place will be dust bath heaven. Nothing too good for my girls (and guy?)

Tom
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You'll have time to figure out the gender. You don't need a roo to have a happy flock, but there are ways to keep neighbors happy as well.
- Talk with them & let them know you have chickens. If they ever have a concern, ask them to call you directly so you can take care of it.
(Offering a few free eggs, having fresh eggs for sale, giving away free garden compost, & offering jack-o-lantern recycling are fun ways to get your neighbors involved in your flock. Ours love throwing treats over the fence. In fact one woman buys watermelon, just so she can give the extras to our chickens. LOL )

- We move our roos to the garage every night & let them out at 8am with the hens. They can crow all they like, but can only be heard by someone standing right outside the garage.

_ For an extra loud roo, I made a crow-collar. It muffles the crow on those days when a neighbor is having a party , building project, or other event that may cause the roos to crow excessively.
 
@tomfarin I have 12 girls. 14 if you count my daughters
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Yes, the "extra" chick is often a cockerel, they don't sell nearly as well as the hens when you are buying layer breeds. BUT!!!!! Gender of Sex Links is visible when they hatch (maybe after they dry off???) so if the 9th chick looks like the other 8, she is a she. Sometimes they add an extra in case of a loss or as a "packing peanut" to help make sure there are enough chicks to keep each other warm when shipped in cooler times.

How far away are your neighbors? I have one across the road to the NE, they have a rooster or two. One thing I learned when we moved here is that roosters don't crow at dawn, they crow any darned time they like. Almost like they are saying "The sun is up" ... "The sun is still up" ... "The sun is STILL up". Still, there are MANY days of the week I don't hear them, even if I am outside. And I'm home most every day.

Those neighbors are about 500' from our house. The neighbors to the SW are ~650'. I would rather hear the first neighbors' roosters than the second neighbor's dog. He barks a lot and for an extended period, the roosters sound off for a short time then go about their business. At that distance they aren't all that loud.

One thing you can do to not have the "sunrise call" is to have it dark in the coop so he doesn't know it is dawn at 4 AM in June. Sunrise is when you let them out of the coop. That said, if you end up not having a rooster, I'm all for having windows for light in the coop. And if you do have a roo, make "blackout shutters" for the windows so you can close them from the outside at night.

Please put your general location in your profile. Likely you will make comments or ask questions that are climate dependent and it is nice if people know that as they read "I do this" or "How do I handle that".
 
It's also a pretty common mistake for hatcheries to send a Production Red in with a batch of what are labled "Red Sex Links" or whatever specific name the hatchery uses based on what they used to produce them. Production Reds are often bigger and taller, with slightly tighter feathering. It's possible that's what you have. Red Sex Link roosters are white with reddish patches on them, like my Charlie here...




These chicks are about 5 weeks old, and you can see how early Charlie's white plumage came in....as the other girls feathered in red, he was coming in white. If yours are 8 weeks and one ain't white, you're golden - unless the oddball one you have is of another variety. Then it could still well be a guy! The lower pictures are also of Charlie when he was a few months old.


 

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