Need some eggs to put my green chile on

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Also, what are you using for a brooder? Those plastic rubber maid storage bins make great brooders or even cardboard boxes. I would shy away from glass tanks and all 3 sided things. The babies need solid flooring and solid walls to keep drafts down.
 
TwoCrows said:
So sorry for the loss on your baby. Your thermometer may not be reading right as new hatchlings need to be started at 95 degrees. You do not want to cover the lid of the brooder with anything but some hardware cloth or something similar. You need good heat and oxygen exchange at all times. Keep the heat source off to one side, with the thermometer on the floor directly beneath the lamp. The food and water off on the other side so they have to leave the heat to get to the goods. Lower the heat 5 degrees each week for 6 weeks.

I think your thermometer is not reading right. 87 is way too cold for new babies. And if they are still trying to run from it, there is something going on there.
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It's probly your thermometer like TwoCrows said, mine was reading 110* way too hot, but they were always huddled under the light, so I went to DG and got another on and it read 80 so I adjusted and now everyone is happy and warm.

I also keep a reading on the farthermost corner. it is running at 80*, and it is working.
 
That's some good food for thought.

My brooder is a 5-sided plexi-glass tank that used to be a home for a chameleon (5 years ago). It is 36" X 36" and 24" tall. The only part of the tank that is open is the top, which is covered with expanded metal hardware cloth intended to keep the cats out. The heat lamp is sitting on the screen lid in one corner and the food and water are in the opposite corner. Before I put any bedding or chicks in the brooder, I cleaned it with soap and water and then bleached the inside of it.

My thermometer is a digital thermometer that I normally use to tell me the outside temperature. It has a temp probe on the end of an electrical wire. The probe is hanging in mid air, roughly 12" above the floor and about in the middle of the box, not directly under the heat lamp and not completely on the other side of the tank by the water and food either. As a test, I put the temp probe directly under the lamp, about 6" below it, and it was reading about 94 degrees. The chicks are now about a week old since I bought them from the feed store on Thursday, 2/27.

The chicks do not spend any time directly under the lamp, but rather seem to lay in the middle of the box, just on the edge of the light that the lamp is projecting onto the floor. It's a red-type heat lamp. I've been heating the room the tank is in with a space heater to try to keep the ambient air warmer so that the heat lamp doesn't have to work as hard to keep temp in the brooder. Normally my house is at 58 - 64 degrees this time of year. But that room is closer to 75 degrees right now.
 
Now that I'm down to 3, I was thinking about going back to the feed store to get a 2 more chicks. I really want to make sure I get plenty of blue/green eggs to go with the brown and it was one of the 2 Ameracauna that died. There's a chance they will have chicks from the same hatch as the ones I bought last Thursday and thus be the same age. But I may also have to buy chicks that are a week younger than the current 3. I've searched on the forums and there seems to be plenty of experiences both good and bad. Just thought I'd see what folks who are following this thread thought about it. Any other breed suggestions I should look for if my goal is to have friendly chickens that are good egg layers? I think I recall they had some Buff Orpingtons, Speckled Sussex, Australorp, RI Red, Ameracauna and a few others I can't recall.
 
Black Australorps are very good layers and are super friendly. Mine follow me around like drooling puppies looking for goodies or a nice warm lap. Huge lap babies and just love attention. My Australorps are 3 years old and still laying well.
 
I ended up getting a golden and black sex link because my choices were limited. They had just gotten in a batch of day-olds but I was reluctant to put them in with my week-olds, and there weren't any Australorps in that shipment. The sex links were from the same shipment as my original 4 so I decided just to go for them since they are generally described as friendly and good layers. The other two options were Minorca and Iowa Blue, neither of which appealed to me when I read their general traits.
 
I've noticed a couple of the chicks like to 'roost" on top of the feeder. I was thinking about taking a couple blocks of wood and a round dowel and making a small roosting bar about an inch off the ground. But then when I watch them sleep I'm thinking they will probably just fall off it, considering how they usually are spread out, beaks down in the wood chips. Any thoughts?
 
When they are little, I use 2x4 pieces and to start I put one on the floor. Then I put it up off the floor about about 6 inches, using 2x4 pieces for the "legs". I also take pieces of poster board and make a cone shape and using packaging tape, tape it to the top of the feed and waterers to keep them off so they don't poo in them.
 
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