My first Easter Eggers

[Passionfarms]

My girls will be here tomorrow! New to raising chickens, but went to visit my grandparents chicken farm every summer as a child. Wow, how much I didn't know or forgot. I have done lots of research to afford my girls the best possible start, but still have a few questions I'm hoping for some input from some experts. Have my brooder set up and ready, water resting to come to room temp. I have electrolyte gel coming with chicks. Should I give it to them immediately or water? How long should they be kept in the brooder before I can start letting them outside in the yard? Should I give them 24/7 food access? How much chick feed should I figure per chick, per day? What age exactly do Easter Eggers start to lay? my grandpa always had marans. Thanks for any help

 

[rides2far]

You should dip each chick's beak in water 1st, then food . You will love your Easter eggers! They are my favorites. They can start laying at 16 weeks, but that's pretty early. I give my chicks food 24/7. Can't help you with amount of food. Mine wasted so much at first with those little feeders

. Have fun with your chicks!

 

[Passionfarms]

Thanks for the reply! I'm looking forward to them. I hear they have great mellow personalities. How long in the brooder before they can start going out in the coop and the run. should I introduce them for short periods at a time? We have goats and Pigs, but haven't kept chicken since I was a girl. We have foster children. They are very excited. Hope I can make them understand not to much handling first day or so. Looking forward to the fresh eggs too, yum

 

[rides2far]

Put mine out at 4 weeks old, couldn't stand the dust & mess! I did keep two heat lamps on them for about a week & a half at night. I confined them to the coop for a week, then let them out in the run. Our tamest pullet is Hildy, a really pretty white with red lacing. One looks like a golden pheasant, & two are orangey gold with undertones of blue. Hildy is really tame. Hopefully you'll have a couple of tame ones for your kids

 

[TRMFAM]

We do not have our chicks yet but I have read several places they can begin going outside supervised after 1 week of age...depending on your temperature outside / your geo location. For example, at week two the brooder should be around 90* as a baseline...we get our chicks on June 4th and it will be upper 80's - low 90's here outside and they could have a few hours outside each day during that time.

Several warnings: temperature, rain (don't let them out in rain as it will chill them too much), windy conditions, predators, etc. I would not let them out if you are not right there with them and even then you may want to contain them somehow...I plan to use a temporary Dog pen we have that is 2' tall and you make it whatever size you need. This is the dog pen we have: http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-Exerc...qid=1431033858&sr=1-2&keywords=dog+pen+indoor

Again, zero experience but that is what I have read...

 

[rides2far]

I kept mine in the house until I put them out, but mine were here the beginning of March. I kept them warm & cozy. Gradually decrease the temp in your brooder before they go out. It was just too cold here to let them out at first. Then, we had a warm snap & I put them out. They were fairly well feathered, then after a week in the coop, they had really feathered out.

 

[TRMFAM]

I may have misunderstood the OP...I thought the question was about taking the chicks out of the brooder for a play day and going back in the brooder not moving the chicks out to the coop. My mistake...

 

[waterbrat]

depends on the weather but probably two weeks