Our babies.. Keep track of our progress here! NEW COOP PICS & BY BREED

[Serrin]

At first I thought you were crazy for putting such huge water troughs for brooder facilities in your home..and then I remembered that you said you were expecting FIFTY chicks!

Woman, you have my sincere sympathies when those chicks hit about three weeks old, let alone SIX

Wishing you the best of luck and all the patience and strength in the world! You're gonna need it! The largest clutch of chicks I ever tried was 12 at a time. Thought I was going to die after about week two! And they were out in their coop!!!

Oh, and good luck on the revamping of their coop. Better not wait around for good weather. Those little babies grow so incredibly fast! You're going to need that space long before you hit the six week point.

Anyone wanna take bets on when the new chickies get their eviction notice?

 

[steelersfan43]

Quote:
Taking bets on the chickens?? What about IF hubby gets an eviction notice for starting this craziness?? I am trying to be supportive though. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy our chickens we have now.... BUT....all this started as me trying to be supportive and since he was so excited, I figured cool, maybe I should get more involved and then we can have something we can do together.....

Maybe I've lost my mind...and seriously...I HAVE to be the reasonable one....Like when I said Happy Anniversary..here is your hovabator you wanted so bad...but sorry youre NOT getting eggs right away because I will strangle you if you dont stop with the adding to our already large baby chicken numbers

So basically my post is supposed to be help for us with good ideas from all of you..AND..support from anyone out there with a spouse that gets a little carried away

All I have to say is that he better know I love him cause the excitement is very mixed with nerves everyday that comes closer. I'm sure we'll have fun with it all..........Right???

LOL

And you all can look forward to cute pics of babies soon

I'll have to get the list out tomorrow and post the kinds that are coming. Thankfully there are some bantams on the list!!

 

[kathyinmo]

CANCEL THE ORDER! Really ... if they aren't there yet ... that is way tooooo many! You must be reasonable, right? Cut that order in half, and you are still gonna have to get them out before they are a month old, I suspect! Honestly, I think the health department would not be toooo happy if they knew a family with children had 50 chickens in the house!

Chicks grow into chickens VERY quickly! 6 weeks? No, no, no, no .... really, no!

Again .... Good luck to you! Really, this can be a fun adventure. But not that many! Try a dozen, and call it good. At least in the summer, you can keep them outside ..... Can you wait until summer for this fun?

 

[steelersfan43]

Ok guys, don't worry.

We don't plan on keeping them all. Part of the reason we got so many is to see which breeds we like. Most of them will be sold before they're very old. Its all worked out.

 

[DAFox]

You really, really don't want the chicks in the house. Delay that order until the coop is repaired. Chick dander is a terrible allergen, so if any of your family members or friends are allergic or have asthma, they shouldn't get near the room let alone in it. There is also the possibility of salmonella or other diseases. And then the cheeping of 50 chicks in your classroom for 6 weeks! I've had chicks in my garage and that is bad enough!!! Who is going to scrub that room down on a daily basis? Buy masks for everybody and ear plugs, too.
Dale-Ann

 

[HEChicken]

I brooded chicks in my living room and loved having them there! (I had 30 for the first week and then sold a few. By 3 weeks old, I was down to just four). The four who were left stayed in the brooder until they were four weeks old and were so cute. I had a laundry tub similar to what is in your picture, and over the top was some chicken wire, to keep them from hopping out. But in the brooder, I had a shelf for their food and water (they had to hop up to the shelf to eat and drink but that kept them from knocking pine shavings into the water all the time) and they would get up on the shelf, then stick their heads through the chicken wire to see us and watch what we were doing. It was so fun to be sitting on the couch watching TV, then look over and see a little chick curiously staring at us.

Having them so close to us made it easy to watch their antics, talk to them, check on food/water, and handle them. I moved them outside only because they were starting to need more space at that point, not because I was tired of having them. So enjoy! It will be an adventure and I look forward to seeing your updates.

 

[steelersfan43]

Thanks for understanding

Our classroom is a closed off room so the noise doesn't really get that bad, but the peeping doesn't bother us, we think it's cute

Our plan is to move them out a little sooner than six weeks, but we are being very careful to do what's best for our family as well as the babies. Our existing coop has an area that we used for a creeper coop last year when our babies were old enough to be moved outside (from the same room) but were too little to safely interact with the full grown birds. We plan to start redoing the old coop on our property as soon as possible. If not all the way right away, at least have is closed up and weather proof so that we can have an area to finish brooding the babies. It's not like we are going to be "stuck" with a bunch of babies and not have an alternative if the plan doesn't work out. I wouldn't do that to my family. And the kids are more than willing to give up their classroom for a few weeks. They are actually excited to get to have a change of scenery during their school work for a few weeks.

Like I said, we did use that same room for our babies that we got from a swap meet last year, so we aren't going in blind (it's work, but everything stays clean, this is in my house).

Thanks a bunch everyone who is supportive

I'll be taking pics of the progress of redoing the old coop too, so there will be lots of updates to see

 

[steelersfan43]

Oh, I forgot to tell you, the breeds we are getting are Silver Penciled Wyandottes, Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, Blue Silkies, Blue Cochin Bantams, Birchin Cochin Bantams, Black Frizzle Cochin Bantams, Salmon Faverolles, and Ameraucana/EE's. These will be our first Bantams so we are pretty excited to have some "little ones" Since these are straight run and not pullets, we'll have to thin out the group so we don't have fighting, so our end group won't be as big.

Can't wait to see them!!!

 

[chaneg78]

I think its a really nice setup, and will work great with a little cleaning every day. I have also kept chicks in the house to brood and its not that bad if you clean up after them, especially when they have there own room. And I have read many posts on here about addicted chicken owners buying way more chickens than they initially had room for, and figured out what to do with them as they went. I don't see anyone giving them grief over it, in fact they "egg"

them on. It sounds like you have it figured out pretty well and I can't wait to see pics of your babies.

 

[specklesmom]

It is going to be great and I'm sure your family will all have fun and learn a lot!! You seem to be very organized and just a little "go with the flow" will make it all work out. Photos will be fun to chart your progress!