OK Ripped off the band-aid Ordered the chicks.

[Xovan]

Oh my god! Oh my God! Oh my GOD!!! What have I done. Have not been this nervous since my children were born. I have 15+ BLRW's coming from Florida. I also have 5 SLW's, 5GLW's, 5 Red Broilers, and 10 Cornish X From Crackle Hatchery all leaving to come on the 8th of April. Now what? I have been reading so I hope I am good but, the number scares me a bit. I think I will buy a couple of the 250w heat bulbs from TSC in case it is cold when I have to move them to the garage. What are the MUST haves when they arrive? Food, water, what kind of vinegar (where do I get it) Is chick starter enough or do I need something for their gizzards too? What else? what else? What else? I am sure I will have a million questions before they arrive and 10 times that after. Thank you for and Input and help. Now and In the future.

 

[LaynaDon95]

They need to be kept at about 95*F at first, so they will probably need a heat lamp.
You can use an old sheet or paper towels at first for bedding at first to prevent leg problems. The you should swap to pine shavings or something similar.
Chick starter and plenty of fresh water, of course. BE CAREFUL with what waterer you use. It needs to be small so they cannot drown themselves. Put marbles in the base so they can't sit in it. (I almost killed some of my chicks the other day because the waterer base was too big and they sat in it and got chilled.)
They may need some electrolytes if they are stressed from shipping.
There are tons of things to think about, but don't be too overwhelmed. You have PLENTY of time.

Read the stickies here. This is a good article on raising chicks as well.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

How cold does your garage get? You may only need incandescent bulbs in your brooder lamps. You can purchase the tinted bulbs too. Unless your garage gets freezing temps I really doubt you'll need 500W of heating though with that many chicks likely you'll need two heat sources for area so say two 75-100w bulbs in metal hooded brooder clamp lights. You can always set it up before hand and see how much heat you need. Just takes a thermometer placed at floor level under a lamp. That way you can see if you can get away with a cheaper and less wattage incandescent bulb to provide 95F first week.

 

[BooksAreNerdy]

I read and loved Raising Chickens for Dummies. It will answer any question you have! I have 7 SLW and 8 GLW on te way too! I wish I had gotten some BLRs!

 

[Xovan]

Thanks for the replies. I have read through all 200+ pages on the brooder thread and changed my mind more times than I can tell. What I think I have decided on is this. I will have 3 brooders in the house. 1 with the 15 broilers, 1 with the 5 slw and 5 glw and 1 with the 15 blrw's. Then in 2-3 weeks move them to the garage Brooder. with a divider. I looked up the average temps here for the end of april and they are 55-60 highs and lows are 35-40 at night. I will have a role of carpet under the pool and the shavings in the brooder. I have 4 of those clamp lamps to use for heat (no 100w bulbs) I will also use the medicated food and the vinigar.in the water with some sugar. am I missing something? Oh would it be ok to mix all the wyandottes when I move them into the garage?

 

[BooksAreNerdy]

I think you are supposed to mix the birds in the brooder that will eventually live in a coop together. So only separate your layers and meaties if all layers will live in the same coop.

 

[Xovan]

Well The 5 slw's and 5 glw's are coming from cackle hatchery and will be vaccinated for mareks. The 15 blrw's are coming from Florida and not be vaccinated. I thought I should keep them separate for the first few weeks just to see that all was well. This is just my thought. If I am wrong then I hope someone will correct me before they arrive.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Don’t worry about mixing them because of the Marek’s vaccination. It’s totally a non-issue. They use Turkey Marek’s when they vaccinate the chicks. They cannot give it to the others though it would be great if they could. The Turkey Marek’s does not prevent them from getting Chicken Marek’s. It prevents the lesions from forming that cause the damage.

When setting up your brooders I strongly recommend you heat one end and make the brooder big enough and with enough ventilation up high that the other end can cool off. You do need to keep one area in the brooder warm enough, especially during the coldest time, but heat is a danger to chicks and chickens. The ideal brooder keeps one area warm enough and the farther reaches cooler so they can find the area they are comfortable. That way you don’t have to stress about keeping the entire brooder perfect. They’ll take care of that for you.

 

[Xovan]

I have a few of the 4' Rubbermaid bins that i was going to use in the house. Then when I move them into the garage I am going to use an old vinyl 18' pool draped over a sawhorse frame of sorts with a welded wire top. This way I can adjust the size as they grow. I do understand to keep the heat lamps on one side. I have thought about putting that sweet PDZ in there when they get bigger. that way I can just pick up the kids put them in with their sifters and a 5 gal bucket for clean up. ( OK KIDS, POOL PARTY TIME!) lol