My 1st attempt at chickens. Help, please! :-)

[TXmama4boys]

What is the main point of having a bachelor coop?

 

[Free Feather]

If you have too many boys in with not enough girls, the males will fight and the girls will get injured. People who do not want to kill them make them their own home if they cannot afford to get more girls.

 

[enola]

Aquariums are a very poor choice for brooders. They are too easy to over heat and very hard to ventilate or provide fresh air in.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Just order sexed pullets, not straight run unless you like butchering and eating your own birds. If you want a rooster down the road, they're a dime a dozen.

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[TXmama4boys]

I found a farm in my area that sells pullets. They have "1 week old pullets for $4 each." Does that seem right? Can you sex a chicken by that age?

 

[enola]

If they know what they are doing........ Just notice all of the posts on this site of people that are waiting for their "girls" to start laying, only to find out they had been raising a whole flock of roosters that were "guaranteed" to be hens........ Just saying........

 

[TXmama4boys]

Oh, well that would be a bit frustrating!

 

[bobbi-j]

What is the main point of having a bachelor coop?

It can serve two purposes. It can be a grow-out pen for your extra roosters until they're big enough to eat, keeping them from harassing your pullets. Or it can serve as a separate pen to house one's pet roosters if they choose not to butcher them. Personally, I can't justify keeping non-productive birds around, spending money to feed them. But mine aren't pets. They are livestock. I think the idea of getting sexed pullets is a good one if you don't have a definite plan for extra roosters. If you want to raise some for meat, good for you!

 

[lazy gardener]

While 5 gal buckets sounds like a nice easy clean option for nest boxes, my girls wouldn't step foot in a bucket. (I tried!) I recommend that you go with a standard nest box. You might want to check the threads in the "coop and run design" section. Check out Henderson's chicken breeds chart to help you pick the breeds of birds you want. If you want to raise roosters for meat, YOU WILL need separate housing for them. They get hormones before they are table ready, and the rooster drama is truly vicious to watch. Welcome to BYC!

 

[henless]

I bought my chicks at the end of February. We had a few cold snaps come through while they were little, but everything worked out alright. This year, I think I will wait until end of March or first of April to get some. Just so I won't have to worry about the lights going out while using a brooder plate.

I kept mine out in my DH's shop in a box brooder for a couple of weeks. It's a watermelon box I got at Walmart for free! It worked great, and was big enough for 21 chicks for 2-3 weeks. If you need it longer, or have more chicks, you can always get more than one and connect them.






Be sure and put some kind of cover on it. They will try to get out before you know it! DH and I finished the coop brooder and moved them at around 3 weeks.

The 5 gallon buckets should work well for nests. Chickens are funny. You never know what they will/will not like. They also work really well for waterers and feeders once your chicks get older. I love my feeder buckets. They have been a real time saver for me.