My first brooder set up

[Gwethrien]

Back and forth, round and round, rescues, local breeder chicks, local breeder grow outs, hatchery order, feed store, now or later in fall or in spring or in a year.

Well sometimes you just lean in and go for it. So we have feed store golden laced Wyandotte, Black Australorp and the Americana (labeled Amerucana but at $4.10 I’m guessing it is the still delightful Easter Egger mutt).

I have read so many of the posts here, bedding (I’m going with puppy pads to start), medicated or non medicated starter (medicated), heat source (pads and plates were unavailable lamp is default. I’m watching for pasty butt. Temp says 93.7 I could lower lamp but they seem to be avoiding warm side and I almost want to raise it a bit.

And still I wonder if I set this up right. First box was two short chick jumping almost cleared her head over edge.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Oh yeah, theyll clear that soon. Also, you paid 4.10 for 1 chick?! Where did you buy them??? I laid $4 for 4 chicks.

 

[Gwethrien]

A local feed store in Northern California, I think it is is a supply and demand thing- chickens are the new shiny. I was surprised my Wyandotte was the cheap one, that was the fancy one we picked.

 

[rosemarythyme]

There's no way they're going to stay put in there for long without a cover. By 2 weeks chicks can jump close to 2'. Overall the floor space is probably going to be too small as well after a couple of weeks. Some large cardboard boxes taped together with a window screen or hardware cloth on top would work better.

With a heat lamp, I didn't use a thermometer, I used chick's behavior to determine appropriate temperature. If they're actively avoiding the warmer spot, the lamp needs to be raised or bulb replaced with lower wattage.

 

[Gwethrien]

Yeah this is just the set up for first couple of days. I‘m debating a wood walled setup or just going with a big husky tote.