I know this is off-topic from the other are talking about right now, but...
Have any of you that live in NY state raised chicks starting the end of March or beginning of April?
I might be combining an order of layers and Freedom Ranger chicks with someone else (they ordering more than me), and they were thinking of the end of March to the first week in April.
Last year, I got Cornish x April 1st and they stayed inside for 3 weeks, until April 18th or so, when the other "layer" batch came, which stayed inside for 4 wks, due to finishing their coop.
They all did fine, although I wondered if the colder temps at night for the meaties slowed down their growth. Other people's weights and pics seemed larger than what mine were,
and they weren't that much bigger dressed out at 12 wks than those who did that at 8-10 wks!
Anyways, I guess it would be fine to get them that early again, except for I don't think I'll be able to keep them inside for 6+ weeks. Don't have space in my room anymore and the chicks were very messy.
We don't have a garage, only my brother's shed & the chicken coop. The basement is carpeted and I'm not sure if the family would want the chicks in there for more than 2-4 weeks.
We do have an roof overhang on the back side of the house, that would provide protection from the wind and weather. What if I built a brooder that would be appropriate for colder weather,
but also, ventilated? I thought, depending on the weather and temps outdoors, once they were two weeks old or so - putting them outside in the brooder under the "eaves" during the day and inside during the night,
since there is a sliding glass door that would make it "easier" to bring it in and out. On sunny, warm days, once they were feathered out, I could try putting them in a "pen", since the other meaties started going outside at 4 wks or so, the mid of April, and seemed to do fine temp wise.
I thought I'd ask you, if this idea is okay or not, since we live in the same state. We're technically a zone 5, according to low temps, but our first/last frost dates are more like zone 4.
So, in April and May, we can still have temps 20-30 at night and sometimes it's only 40s during the day. Other years, it's been warmer in April/May than it's been in June! We just never know.