moving chicks to barn, questions about brooder

[tygab]

ok my 12 almost 2 week old chicks are outgrowing brooder 1 which is a plastic tub, and this weekend I plan to move them to the barn. The barn has a concrete foundation and box stalls (empty, for now). It is only a few years old and has thick solid walls in great shape. There is no ceiling on the stalls. It is also very dark (not so good) and stays cool all day (good).

Here are the questions.

My husband built a frame for more of a pen to keep them in the stall. It is about waist high, and would be surrounded w/hardware cloth including the top. Can we use this? It would be sort of awkward to get in and out of. I was thinking a little more conventionally like a large feeder tub or cardboard box, nothing over the top, and shutting the stall door. He is worried they will fly all over. Will they? They are just learning to fly to the lip of the clear plastic tub.

Also is a predator likely to get in somehow? I really think not but the chicks are so vulnerable and I know I'll worry.

Last of all, should I leave a light on during the day since it is very dark with the doors shut?
They will still have their heat lamp.

Thanks... I know these are newbie questions (well, I am!).

 

[tnkinhunting]

I use a barn but my stalls all are box stalls with wire and I keep lights on during the day even with both ends of the barn open - just too dark for hens to lay, etc.

 

[tnkinhunting]

- I forgot! I would pen them as tight as I possibly could, I worry about mine all the time.

 

[ChickNLittle]

Well shucks...I hate to tell you this, but I wouldn't put them in the stall unless you make REAL sure that nothing can dig under and it is completely covered with hardware cloth, including the top. Believe me, I lost 25 Leghorn Babies and 6 hens within a 3 day period. We couldn't figure out how they were getting in there. So my husband sat in the truck in the dark and that coon crawled straight up the hardware cloth and over into the pen in a 4 inch opening. My husband jumped out of he truck to scare him off and he actually tried to attack my husband over and over until he finally got out and ran away. Also....with baby chicks especially, snakes can get in very small openings as well. So my suggestion is; if you have a "Tight" brooder, you need to keep them in it, especially at night. You can just put the whole brooder in there. Better yet, make a tight chicken coop. It don't have to be very big. As long as you attach a two foot high fence to one end, with a door you can shot at night. Make sure there is a top on the fence too. Made of Hardware cloth. Just trying to help. We have had double the amount of predators this year, and I believe if I didn't have a "Tight" coop, they would all be gone by now and I have over 50 chickens.

 

[tygab]

ok, thanks... making me rethink the move. Maybe I'll keep them in the house longer with a big box.... I don't want to lose any.... gotta get the run around the coop up.

 

[WrenAli]

I brood all of mine, from day olds out in my box stalls. The windows are covered with chicken wire and the walls are about 8 foot tall with openings in between.

We have coons, skunks and opossum and I don't have a predator problem *Yet*

I have an enclosed brooder but they get kicked out at 2 weeks to run around the stall.

We don't have issues with snakes here so I wouldn't know about that.