New chick mom who needs help, please.

[MeowCluckBark]

congratulations!! Welcome to the world of chickens. I swear It's a gateway drug to other livestock pets. My daughter is begging for pygmy goats now.

The grit won't hurt them at all I sprinkle some in the bottom of the brooder for them to find when they scratch around. I have a thermometer in mine but could never get that 95 perfect the first week. Plus they never wanted anything to do with that much heat. this is my 3rd round of babies now and they are all around 80 in the warmest zone at 1 and 2 weeks. I adjusted a lot at first if they looked cold or too warm. I also keep my bathroom door closed and they are in the brooder in there. It's pretty warm in there most of the time so I think the temp is consistent for them. Not saying that you should do that, just saying that you should use the guidelines and monitor what works best for your birds. A thermometer is about $2-4 at the pet or feed store.

 

[chickiemomeredith]

Thanks! Yeah, right? No kidding. Can you say...alpacas?

This site is great. This is like Facebook for chicken freaks. Chickbook! I'm so happy I found ya'll. You're so helpfull. I really appreciate it. I'm gonna get the thermometer just to keep an eye on the temp. I just hope they're good through the night aka the first night. We have them in kitchen which is 70. They're kind of doing that outside thing right now where they're by the edge of the brooder. This might keep me up tonight.

(Btw, the brooder is what you're keeping them in, right?) Ours is a galvanized tub. They have lots of room and sawdust/wood chips underneath.

 

[MeowCluckBark]

mine is a giant blue rubbermaid box with hardware cloth on top. i use horse bedding cause we have cats and bunnies and we use it for their litter too. it's little wood pellets

 

[chickiemomeredith]

Oh yeah. I think I know the stuff you're talking about. I love the idea of spreading out the grit - just a little - in the bottom of the brooder. That seems more natural?

I just picked poop off the butt of Hot Wing. It's official. I'm a chick mom. That's gotta be some kind of initiation? Thank you so much to Penny for bringing that to my attention. I see how that could become a problem and quick!

 

[MeowCluckBark]

lol a warm wet cloth will help if its really sticky. I do poop check twice a day lol. it's just a habit now. i was told after about 2 weeks not to worry. I still check. it gives me an excuse to cuddle them.

try moving the light up just a bit or angle it more. the first day or two is a lot of watch and wait then adjust. my first 2 never got their water soiled but these girls always poop in the water. I put their water dish on a pie tin and that helped.

 

[chickiemomeredith]

We angled it just a bit, so they'd have a little bit of a bigger area to escape the heat. But it's still directly hitting one whole side. I hope the brooder is big enough. It's 3' x 3'. When do we have to move them to a bigger one?

They're all sleeping right now. How freaking cute.

 

[MeowCluckBark]

that sounds like enough space to me. direct in one are is ok as long as they can get out of it. also algae will grow quicker in warmer areas like a brooder. We have well water so I wash the water bottle out daily.

I love how they just sort of slide down and sleep face first lol. For 4 i think you'll be fine for a few weeks. Mine went out between 4 and 5 weeks with heat outside in the coop since it was chilly

 

[chickiemomeredith]

We have a heat source in our coop as well. So about a month or so? That was also another one of my questions. They can stay in the brooder til then? Or a newer, bigger brooder? I can't believe I'm using the term "brooder" now. Haha. HOw big do they get? I guess that's my question.

Yes. We thought we'd change the water a couple of dtimes a day as they already have made a mess of this one in just a matter of hours.

I keep hitting my fiance, saying Look! They're doing it. And their little heads just slowly slide down and land...in the wood chips, against the water dish, on another one's butt.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your chick wisdom.

 

[MeowCluckBark]

They can stay in the brooder until you get them in the coop. If you really can't get them out in the coop when you think you are ready for them to bet out, make something that will work. A lot of people keep theirs in from 4-8 weeks and then out they go. Just depends on the weather I suppose and the housing you have setup for them. If they seem really discontent with their housing arrangements you will probably be a dutiful chicken mama and go about searching for new real estate for them as they command it.

Henderson's chicken Breed Chart is really helpful for the different breeds. Mine were still reasonable small up until they hit the 4 week mark and then they just started growing by leaps and bounds. The first ones I got were Light Brahmas and they are a heavy breed in the standard size category so they are larger birds averaging 9lbs for a hen. Those girls are 6 weeks old now and definitely happier outside. They were just too cooped up (pardon the pun) in the brooder box in the house even with just the 2 of them. I also have 3 9 week old Black Jersey Giants out there with them which are also a heavy breed that averages 11lbs for the hens.

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

RIR - Standard not a heavy breed and they average 6.5 lbs
Wyandottes also are about the same as the RIR I have 2 Silver-laced Wyandotte girls that are 2 weeks old along with a black sex-link (aka a black star). I have 2 more light brahma chicks at 4 easter eggers that are 1 week. So I'm really new but I've been really grateful to learn a lot here too and want to make sure to share that if I can.

I'll get some pics for you for comparison.

 

[MeowCluckBark]

These were my 2 older Light Brahma chicks when they were less than a week old. About 5 days old I think.

This is the girls just yesterday at 6 weeks.

I am noticing they SLW and Black Sex-Link girls aren't feathering out as fast or getting as big as fast. I know the Brahmas slow down their growth and take quite awhile to get to full size compared to SLW.

This is all the chicks a week and a half ago of the new batch. 2 Light Brahmas, 4 Easter-Eggers, 2 Silver Laced Wyandotte, and 1 Black Sex-link. The 2 SLW and 1 BSL are 1 week old here and the other 6 are just a day old. This is a small 1x2.5' box I used while cleaning up their bigger box. They are in a box that is about 2.5' x 4' now.

This is my SLW - Sparrow. She was named after Capt. Jack Sparrow cause the eyeliner lol

This is my other SLW - Chloe. My daughter named her.

For size comparison I put the big girls in when the other ones were 1 week old. The big girls were 5 weeks here.

This is Autumn, one of my Black Jersey Giants. She's almost 10 weeks here. She was chasing around the Brahma girls trying to be their friend.