New to baby chicks

[riversedgefarms]

We are new to getting chicks and are getting 30 at the end of May. From what I have been told they will be day olds. Does anyone have any tips? We have 18 laying hens already but I'm nervous to get chicks as we've never done them before.

 

[cajun chicken]

What do you have planned for a brooder? 30 chicks are going to get big really quickly and outgrow most brooding spaces before you know it. Best advice I have is to always be thinking a month ahead of what you are currently doing. I usually keep them in my 4x8 brooder box for a few weeks until they feather out then I have an A-frame tractor that I can put them in for a few more weeks. I usually cut them loose with my other hens at 8-10 weeks and they do fine. Be careful when you first put them with the older ones and make sure that they get along. When I have a mixed-age flock, I feed 20% all flock feed and have oyster shell available to my layers to eat as they need it. Hope this helps -

 

[Pork Pie]

These links should be helpful:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-and-raising-chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/raising-your-baby-chicks
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...ks-the-first-60-days-of-raising-baby-chickens

 

[azygous]

The best plan would be to rig a safe pen in your run, ideally 60 square feet, but you can get away with 30. You would need to provide a cover and sheltered sides to protect from drafts and weather. You can also rig up a brooder in your coop, but the run offers a better exposure to the adult flock, which is crucial for flock cohesiveness.

Outdoor brooding has many advantages over brooding indoors, especially when you have dozens of chicks. The biggest advantage is that the chicks are integrating into the flock from day one, and they can begin to mingle with the adults by the end of the second week. Another advantage is hardening off against cooler temps early on, eliminating the need for acclimatizing from an indoor brooder to outside later on.

By age five weeks, they can move into the coop with the adults, cutting in half the time it takes you to raise the chicks. Since I've been brooding outdoors, quite frankly I don't see why anyone still broods indoors in a brooder box. There are simply too few advantages to doing so.

See my article linked below on outdoor brooding. it explains all the many advantages.