New chick

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MrsWagley

MrsWagley

Chirping
5 Years
Jul 30, 2014
45
1
69
Hello all. I am new here and new to raising chickens. I get my first chicks in a couple weeks. I plan on using a cardboard box to start my chicks. I will be keeping them indoors and am thinking of getting a red 75 watt heat light to keep them warm. I have heard newspaper with kitchen cabinet/drawer liner works for a while to cover bottom of brooder. Any suggestions would be gladly welcomed. I have read the warnings of pasting and sprawled leg and how to identify if they are comfortable with heat level. This is about all I know. Thanks for any help.
 
Welcome! It is better to use pine wood shavings. Make sure their pine.
How many chicks are you getting? If your using a cardboard box then make sire they have enough room to get away from the heat lamp. I got a huge box from a recycling place and made it bigger by attaching another box to it. My chicks loved all the room! I wish you luck with all your chickies!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Congrats on the soon to be new chicks! Definitely follow the link that Petrel has included here on raising your new chicks. That will tell you all you need to know about caring for them.

Enjoy your new babies and welcome to our flock!
 
Thanks for the warm welcome and advice. I am only getting six chicks for now. I'm checking the dimensions of the box today. My husband works in food service and is bringing home a large bread box from work.
 
I found the best thing with the heat lamp is to give them enough space that they can move away or closer on their own, basically self regulate. I did this for two batches and you can see that just like different people handle hot and cold differently, chickens are the same. You'll see some right under the lamp and others a couple feet away. Good luck!
 
We did the same thing - connected big boxes together with overhead heat lamp, so they had lot of freedom to move around.
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. You been given some good advice by the other members, and a good link by petrel. Feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your chicks.
 

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