Our first Biddies have arrived!

[NewGuineaChooks]

Their 'grown-up' feathers make a somewhat waterproof covering for them---gives them a chance to shake the water off and/or run for cover. So, you're right; at that young age, while they still have chick fuzz, the water can go right on in to their skin and get them really cold really quickly. Shelter is good. Without a mama hen, don't know how fast they would learn to run for the coop. ?

-maureen

 

[Rebel Chicken]

Congrats on the new chicks! They are super duper cute!

 

[bamagirl68]

I have enjoyed reading your post! I just received my first order of chicks 3 days ago and I am in absolute heaven! This is my first venture at chickens of any kind. I was wondering if anyone could tell me how long to keep them in my brooder under the heat lamp indoors. I have a very secure coop that is more like a bunker!My husband (and the rest of us)did a great job on it. I will bring them into the coop at night and lock them up tight .

Some of my new babies.I have 12 in all from Meyer Hatchery.

This is our coop we built.

 

[arlee453]

Wait to move them out until they are well feathered, (around 4-5 weeks, usually) unless your temps are still really hot where you are.

I moved my girls out at 3 weeks, with a brooder light at night in the coop, but the lows here at that time were still around 80 degrees.

Now that it's cooler, I wouldn't have moved them out so soon.

The coop looks great - congrats on your chickens. We're having so much fun with ours too!

 

[bamagirl68]

Thanks Arlee! That helps alot! I was planning to move them out next week but the night temps are currently in the 60's with the day just reaching the high 80's so I will wait to take them outside.

 

[schlitch]

bamagirl,

I'm in central MS, and let my chicks out for their first excursion during the day at 3 days old, on September 8th for about an hour. I continued that until they were about 1 1/2 weeks old. I started putting them outside at around 10:30 am and bringing them back in around 6pm. This was about September 16th-19th. They were doing so well that I wanted to get them outside for good. So on the 20th, at 2 weeks and 1 day old, I connected their red heat lamp up into the portable coup and turned it on around 6pm. I went out to check on them around every hour until about midnight. They started out huddled up directly under the light, and I was worried they might be getting too cold and was prepared to bring them back in. But by midnight they had started spreading out. I checked on them again at about 4am and they were still spread out. At 6:00 am (dawn, all but 2 had flew up onto the roosts) This was also the coolest the outdoor temps had been. Around 75F. Every night since then they they spread out around the light and appear to be all comfy. They will be 3 weeks old the 26th this week.

I noticed from your brooder pic that you appear to have a larger light, mine is only 75 watts. So, even though your chicks are a couple of weeks behind mine, you probably have some options to work with because of our locale. You could set everything up outside, check on them like I did, and plan to bring them in only if they appear to be getting too cold. I did that, but things worked out fine.

 

[schlitch]

Four weeks/One month

Wow they are growing so fast now! I've uploaded both week 3 and the four week old images onto 'The First Month' page. I want to put them into some kind of a grid so that the progression can more easily be seen. I just need some time to redo it all.

 

[JenniferJoIN]

Did you order the specific breeds from Ideal or did you get a pullet surprise pack? Did you get an extra chick or did they just send you what you ordered?

 

[schlitch]

I ordered 5 pairs of pullets: Golden Sex Links, Rhode Island Reds, Black Australorps, Ameraucanas, and Delawares. They only sent the ones I ordered as it was plenty warm enough when they shipped out to me with highs in the 100s.

The only one I'm suspicious of is one of the GSLs. I started a thread with a picture in this BYC post .

 

[Corey NC]

If you don't mind, about how much was your portable coop? And how long did it take to make? Also how tall is it?

I am thinking I building something similar to it as a grow out pen for the 20 chicks I have now. Do you think that size would hold about 20 chicks (mix of batam and standard) from the age of 4 weeks to 9 weeks?