New to baby chicks.......help!

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trgrace68

trgrace68

Hatching
Joined
Apr 28, 2015
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Location
MO
Hi my name Teresa. I have had chickens before, but this year I'm diving into 6week old chicks. I'm so excited but scared too.....I pick them up this Saturday and need to get ready for them asap. First question since I am new and just now found you all and joined....how much feed do I give them and what kind? Where do I put them? Do I keep them in coop or a box in the house? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Congratulations on getting your first flock! You might like to check out the BYC Learning Center, lots of good articles on all aspects of chicken keeping you’ll find useful with your new flock. https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
The chicks should be on Chick Starter crumble until they are around 18 weeks old or they start laying eggs, then most people switch to Layer feed for convenience, you may also want to offer them oyster shell separately at this time.
They should have food available to them all the time, regular chickens (not meat birds) generally should be free-fed their chicken feed as much as they will eat at all ages.
Do you know where the breeder was keeping them? At six weeks they should be pretty close to fully feathered and will probably be OK in the coop unless it is really cold in your area or the breeder was keeping them in a really warm place... if the breeder was keeping them where it was a lot warmer than your coop would be, you may want to keep them inside with heat for another couple of weeks to gradually wean them off the heat. The Chick section of the Learning Center has some great articles on raising chicks the first few months, and how to set up brooders etc if you need to
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks
 
Hello Kelsie2290....Thank you for the much needed info....I will ask the lady those questions when I go to pick them up. I'm in MO and temps have been around 50s...and pretty rainy so far. I need to do some fixing up on my coop since the cows got to it last year....so will probably go ahead and keep them in house for a couple weeks then. I'll check out those links that you sent too....I need all the help I can get... Seems like baby chicks are harder to maintain then adult chickens...but I'm very excited.
 
Chicks may be harder to maintain at first but, you have a chance to socialize them which buying an adult bird does not afford. You're going to love these babies. Please have a safe enclosure for them - away from pets that would find them appetizing. The Learning Center is a great place to start you chicken education. Good luck with your initiation to chickens 101.
 
Thank you drumstick diva. I can't wait to learn all about them.
 

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