New member, questions

[dimag333]

Hey, my name is Steve, finally got the wife to let me get some chickens, my 2/6 year old girls help convince to. Got a few specific questions.

I am sure this has been discussed at length, but couldn't find an exact answer based on climate ect.

I have a dozen 1.5 week old chicks I picked up today, I live in nj and the nights right now are about 65 ish at the coolest. Right now I have the chicks in the garage on pine shavings with 250 watt red heat lamp about 3 feet or so above them. Question is do I need to really leave this on for them overnight? Garage will probaky hover around 75.

Also I would like to get the Chics roaming the back yard and staying outside as soon as possible, any advice? Breeds are leghorn, ri red, silver lining Wyandot, barred rock.

 

[SIMZ]

You can replace the 250 heat bulb with a lower wattage red bulb, I think I use a 100 watt red bulb. Make sure you lower it so it's warm underneath for them. Definitely leave it on for them at this age - they will use it when they need to warm up. Once they're feathered in (around 4 weeks) you can start thinking about not using a light at those temps.

Letting them outside depends on what your set up is. In summer I use a small coop/rabbit hutch to raise chicks with a Ecoglow-type heat plate. After a few weeks I'll start letting them explore a VERY small enclosed area around it. (Be ready to chase them back into the coop until they "learn" how to go in at dusk.)

You could also move them at this age on a warm, sunny day to a small pen outside to explore.

 

[Ridgerunner]

1-1/2 weeks old and 75 degrees inside. You may need some heat but you’re getting pretty close to them not needing any inside. Another week should easily do it. You are already on the border. At 65 degrees outside you need to wait a bit longer. They can easily handle that at four weeks, actually even sooner.

If you had ever seen a broody hen raise chicks you would know they can handle temperatures lower than the 90 to 95 the first week and drop it 5 degrees a week that is often quoted on here. Some of that depends on your facilities and some depends on how they are acclimated. Until you get some experience with them it’s probably best to stay on the “safe” side, especially with young kids involved.

I don’t know what your brooder looks like but hopefully it is fairly large. They grow awfully fast and a dozen will fill up a brooder pretty quickly. What I suggest is that you heat only one area and let the rest cool down as much as it will. That way they can find their own comfort zone. You certainly don’t need or even want to keep the entire brooder one perfect temperature. One perfect temperature doesn’t exist anyway. Just as different people prefer different temperatures, different chicks prefer different temperatures.

Take a thermometer and put it on the floor of the brooder under the heat source. Adjust the heat by raising or lowering the heat and changing to different bulbs. A smaller wattage bulb should be plenty, certainly not a 250. As long as they have room to get away from the heat you don’t have to be really precise. I’d be real happy if it were about 85 degrees but as long as they can get away even warmer won’t hurt. A good way to make a fairly large brooder in your garage is top take some big boxes and tape them together. You might be able to pick up an appliance box or two at an appliance or furniture store.

After saying all that for background, since it is the week-end I’d put them in the brooder without any heat and observe them. See how they do. Have the heat ready but if they don’t need it don’t use it. Maybe only use it at night if it does cool down then. If the chicks walk around and act normal, they don’t need heat. If they huddle together for warmth and give a real plaintive chirp, they need it. When they are in distress they give a really plaintive chirp. Once you hear it you will recognize it as they are clearly saying something is wrong. They are social animals and like to sleep together in a group. That’s not the same as huddling together to keep warm. The plaintive chirp is the big clue though if they are always huddled in a group they may need a bit of heat.

Chicks put off a lot of heat. Hatcheries normally have minimum numbers they will ship because they need enough chicks in the box to keep each other warm in the box. They ship even in pretty cold weather. With you having a dozen they can really keep each other warm.

My brooder is built into the main coop with the adults. They go in there straight from the incubator whether the overnight lows are below freezing or in the upper 70’s. In the winter it’s wrapped pretty well. I keep one end toasty but the far end may have ice in it some mornings. The chicks stay where it is warm until they are a little older, then they start to roam, especially when it is a bit warmer than freezing down there. In the summer it is not wrapped nearly as well and the heat provided is a lot less. I normally have 15 to 20 chicks at a time. I watch them and let their body language tell me what I need to do. I haven’t used a thermometer in years but for someone starting out it’s a good tool.

During a ridiculous heat wave a few years back I turned the daytime heat off at 2 days and the overnight heat off at 5 days. They did not need it. During the winter I’ll probably keep the heat on for five weeks, hardly ever longer than that even if overnight lows are still around freezing. Each brood is different. I watch them and let them tell me what they need, but that comes with experience. With mine being in that big brooder and me only heating one end they get acclimated pretty quickly.

I don’t know what shape your coop is in. If it is ready and you can get electricity out there, why not brood them out there immediately? All you need to do is keep a small area warm, maybe only at night. At 1-1/2 weeks old they can self-regulate heat really well. As long as you keep the bedding dry and don’t let the poop build up in it too much it probably won’t smell, but there is some potential for a smell. Brooding them in the garage is a lot better than brooding them inside the house, but thinking about your wife, maybe you’d be better off with them out in the coop?

 

[dimag333]

here is the best pic I have of what I am using did a brooder

 

[dimag333]

 

[dimag333]

update

Today was really hot mid to upper 90's so I took them outside, they loved it, pecking around looking for food, it was cool to kind of see them acting like chickens

anyways I did notice the runt leghorn is very lethargic and does not even try to get away when you pick it up. did not try and peck and scratch around like the other chicks. I did get her to have some water, ideas?

Steve

 

[SIMZ]

update

Today was really hot mid to upper 90's so I took them outside, they loved it, pecking around looking for food, it was cool to kind of see them acting like chickens

anyways I did notice the runt leghorn is very lethargic and does not even try to get away when you pick it up. did not try and peck and scratch around like the other chicks. I did get her to have some water, ideas?

Steve

Is the chick doing any better? One thing I try is to give them some scrambled or hard boiled egg. I also dilute Poultry Nutri-Drench is water to the color of weak tea and give struggling chicks a drop or two every few hours to see if they perk up. If you do that be very careful that they don't inhale it and just place a drop on the side of their beak.

 

[dimag333]

nope shes gone
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1007061/swollen-crop-not-sure

 

[SIMZ]

Oh, sorry to see that.

I'm sure there was a reason your chick died, but sometimes it just happens. It sounds like you did everything you could. The swelling was most likely the crop. My guess is that it felt squishy because the egg was squishy. It will feel hard when full of hard feed....so that probably makes sense. The dark droppings seem unusual. Again, so sorry, but you did a great job trying to help your chick.