New chicks How long do I keep them in the brooder.

[barkinghills]

I think chicks in the tub would make a huge, hard to clean mess. A few years ago I started a batch of 20 chicks in my finished attic---I had them in a kiddie pool with a light----I will never again brood in the house!! The amount of dust was staggering, and there is still tons of chicken dust up there on books etc. What a mess!

We live in Oregon, with nighttime temps 35-45 degrees, only occasionally below freezing. Now I start my chicks outside in an unheated cold frame/greenhouse in a 40 gallon tub with a red light. Within 2 weeks they seem antsy to stretch their legs so then I block off a 4 x 8 area in the greenhouse with a chick corral and the light, and they love it. After a couple more weeks I give them the whole cold frame (8 x 12) and access by choice to the garden area, and they will go back under the light at night only. By 8 weeks or so I turn off the light, and they integrate into the existing flock around 12 weeks.

Have fun with your chicks!

 

[chefchick]

I use puppy pads for about a week instead of shavings...prevents spraddle legs and lets them lear what is food and what is not

 

[dutchlion]

Our 15 chicks (about 1 week or so old) are currently residing in their brooder in our spare bedroom. How do we know when they need to move out to their coop?

They are so small and some have more wing feathers than others at this point- making me think they are older than the others. We live in central NC and our nights are still pretty cold under 35 at night on a fairly regular basis.

 

[Spanishchick]

Barkinghills, mine are 2.5 weeks and in the house. I'm working on getting them in our huge coup by this weekend. They get cold so easy its scary. I have 10 silver laced Wyandotte chicks. I think three are roosters. I also feel I need to integrate early....especially since I will keep one rooster and have a 9 month old rir already.....will make great sex links!
I don't have much of a dust problem but they're also very small still. I use hay.

 

[New Momma]

Like I said we have our chicks in the garage I could not stand for them to be in the house!

 

[KuroKitsune]

most of my current chicks are in a brooder in the basement but 6 are in the living room in a tub for awhile as they are tiny serama and duccle chicks and i want them to have some feathers before i move them into the second brooder in the basement as the basement can get chilly and i dont want to put them with my big LF chicks and have them get picked on or smothered cause their so tiny

 

[Spanishchick]

I moved them. I started another thread with pic. I'll never brood inside again either. Hope they'll be ok.

 

[aropp87]

Ours are in the basement and I haven't noticed too many issues with the dust yet, we have 9 in our brooder, but once they're fully feathered they'll go into the coop. I just don't want to have to set up a light out there.

 

[neecy911]

I have 4 in our spare bedroom, and so far so good. We raised chukkar a few years back, and they were so messy, I think I still have dust from them...Im sure I will have a mess to clean after they move out, but Im ok with that...

 

[kris10c]

Glad to read this. I've actually only ever heard of people brooding indoors and I was struggling with that thought. We've got a garage though and it sounds like that would be the better space.