New to chicks - how am I doing so far?

[mommaBof7]

Hello!
My classroom was given several fertilized eggs to watch hatch, and watch them grow for their first week. I fell in love, and so did my son, so we decided to buy 5 of the chicks. I've always wanted a farm and I had chickens, ducks, pigs, goats when I was a child that I helped care for.
I'm also really good at Googling.

So I wanted to check in and see if I'm doing things right so far and if everything is proceeding as normal.
Our five little babies are 9-10 days old now (of the eggs that hatched, they hatched between days 20 and 23, so it was quite a spread of days. We have mostly the day 20 and 21 chicks).

Some have quite the developed wings and wing feathers already! Some are still developing feathers more slowly/shorter feathers. They are mixed from various hens, but all the same rooster (a Rhode Island Red).
Is it too early to tell gender yet?

So far I'm housing them in a large rubbermaid tote, with secure chicken wire on top. They have a red heat lamp, but it's been in the mid 80's here, so they haven't seemed to want the heat much and are mostly spread out in the tote, sometimes in groups of 2-3. They are all running around and making happy peeping sounds. They are drinking water from their small chick-sized water feeder and eating their chick starter/grower food I got from the feed/supply store here. That's all I have in there right now (for food). They are being kept on pine chips/shavings.

Some are already starting to fly out of the box when the lid is off so we have to watch that carefully. They seem to already be a bit tired of being "cooped up" as is evident by their constant watching of the lid and trying to escape or fly on top of their water container often.

They used to love being held (or so we assumed..haha) but now they are getting a bit more skittish and not enjoying holding as much. Should we keep holding them to continue getting them used to us?

Does it sounds like they are progressing normally? Everything right so far?
At what point should I transition them into their permanent coop/enclosure? I don't have any other chickens, so they won't be joining older chickens.

Thank you!
I'm attaching photos of them for reference! Notice the full developing wings on the yellow chick, but the gray chick has short stubby wings, with very short feathers developing.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

A bit too young to tell sexes yet, generally between 6-10 weeks is best.

Sounds,like it's time to wean them off heat at those temperatures, at least during the day and get them outside during the day on some grass, if not in the coop already. They may be ready for a bigger brooder if you don't have your coop ready yet.

Are you brooding in you house or outside.

 

[mommaBof7]

A bit too young to tell sexes yet, generally between 6-10 weeks is best.

Sounds,like it's time to wean them off heat at those temperatures, at least during the day and get them outside during the day on some grass, if not in the coop already. They may be ready for a bigger brooder if you don't have your coop ready yet.

Are you brooding in you house or outside.

Currently they are in the house, but only because I was a bit worried about putting their brooder outside with our four bird-eating cats. The top is secure, but I wanted to be sure it was really secure before putting them out. I may start trying that tomorrow though. The cats haven't bothered our rabbit who's outside, nor are they very interested in the brooder inside our house currently.
Do you typically transition them to a bigger brooder before the coop, or can you go straight from the first brooder to the coop?

 

[Fishkeeper]

Brooder straight to coop is generally fine. If it's cold there, you can hang the heat lamp in the coop, but mid 80s should be more than warm enough to just put them right out. Be sure it's shut up tight so they can't escape!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Currently they are in the house, but only because I was a bit worried about putting their brooder outside with our four bird-eating cats. The top is secure, but I wanted to be sure it was really secure before putting them out. I may start trying that tomorrow though. The cats haven't bothered our rabbit who's outside, nor are they very interested in the brooder inside our house currently.
Do you typically transition them to a bigger brooder before the coop, or can you go straight from the first brooder to the coop?

Depends on the temperatures. Yours will need some time to acclimate to the outside, generally I'm more cautious than most and will often move them to a bigger brooder at 2-4 weeks of age before moving them out to the coops at 5-6 weeks.

Spending time away from the heat will make them feather faster.

Here's a smaller set up I use to take mine out during the day so they are already used to being outside before they stay out permanently. I move the fence around daily. Chicks ride out in the bucket, than the bucket becomes a brooder in the sun. Provide shade, food and water. I've used a bigger set up with plastic fencing for larger batches, and older ones. I have used bird netting to cover that one.