New here and I've got questions

[DobieLover]

Can the chicks drink from the nipple immediately upon arrival or should they start with a traditional waterer?

Take each one to the nipple and touch their beak to it so a drop of water flows into their beak and they drink it. That's usually all it takes to get them using it immediately.

To clarify, it is better to have both brooding plates directly next to each other and not spaced out?

I would butt them up next to each other because they're all going to want to stay together.

What is the purpose of the towel?

The towel keeps them from pooping on top of the brooder plates and creates a cave so that overflow chicks can still say warm on the perimeter of the plates.

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, Lisa and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[chrissynemetz]

Hello, and welcome to BYC! It's very nice to meet you! Please make yourself at home!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hiya, and welcome to BYC!

Here's a forum where you can puruse other's having building questions or to post your own and get help: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance.9/

We raise/breed silkies and every single one from chick to adult is on a nipple bottle or bucket. The little ones start using the vertical bottle at around two/three days old. I use a little ceramic dish filled with marbles for those first few days.

At around three weeks, we introduce them to the horizontal ones. When moved to coops or growout pens, they'll have 5-gallon nipple buckets.