Our First Chickens

Date sort Score sort
Lexie

Lexie

In the Brooder
5 Years
Apr 19, 2014
19
3
26
Greenfield, IN
Greetings Chicken Lovers!

My name is Lexie and today my daughter and I got our first chickens. We have two Americaunas, two Reds (otherwise unspecified, and I'm not sure what that means? They are bright yellow with white on the wings) and two Rhode Island Reds. The Reds and Americaunas are supposed to be Pullets and the Rhode Island Reds are straight run so we have our fingers crossed for Pullets! They are about a week old. Here is their first photo soon after we got them settled. I have since moved the food and water after reading some posts here so they have to travel to get to each.



BYC has already been invaluable to me. It is 3am and I couldn't sleep because I was worried about our babies. They are in a brooder in my daughter's room because it is a little too cold in the unheated garage at night right now. I was worried because I thought they might get too warm. I went in to check on them and sure enough they were all huddled in the corner furthest away from the light so I raised the light a bit and within a few minutes they began to spread out and chirp happily and eat. If not for everything I have read at BYC I'm not sure I would have been concerned or moved the lamp. I have used this site to determine what I needed to buy to get everything set up and how to do it as well and we are following the socialization tips as well. Buttermilk (a Red) ate out of my hand and none of them are scattering when I put my hand in and we've only had them since about 6pm.

Thanks to everyone who posts and makes this easier for newbies.
 
Hi and welcome to BYC from northern Michigan
big_smile.png
 
images


Welcome to BYC!

Your babies are adorable!! It is never advised to brood babies in an unheated area as they temp changes are too harsh. So keep them in a room that has a stable temp. Keep the heat off to one side, the food and water off on the other. Temp around 90 to 95 the first week. Lower this temp by 5 degrees each week for 6 weeks. Don't cover the brooder with anything but a screen or wire for good oxygen and heat exchange. Right now they need about 1/2 square foot per bird. But in a couple weeks, you will need to make more roo and offer them 1 square foot per bird. Even more as they grow.

Here is the link to our learning center here on BYC. Lots of good reads on all the aspects of keeping your new brood...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Enjoy your new babies! Make yourself at home here on BYC and welcome to our flock!
 
I was wondering...since they will need more space before they are ready for a coop will separating them into more than one brooder cause a problem when they come together again? I was thinking maybe if I rotate them in and out of two brooders when they need more space it might be okay but I'm not sure. Any thoughts?
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Cute babies! Ya, you can split them into different brooders, I do what you are suggesting, just exchange some of them from one to the other when you handle them (which I assume you will be doing many times a day :)
Were all of the "Reds" pullets that color?
 
Greetings from a fellow newbie from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! Your yellow "reds" look exactly like the ISA Browns I just got this week! (I believe they're a RIR cross, hence the "Red" classification). :) I have four of the ISA pullets, four black sex link pullets, and ten straight-run Barred Rocks (hoping for plenty of pullets cuz I'm only keeping one roo) There a week and a half and growing quickly. :) The ISAs definitely seem dominant so far, though, even though they're all the same age. I think I'm going to have to split them into two brooders now and do the same "switch up" tactic as they're getting antsy in their one playpen brooder.
 
Actually I went back to TSC today (where I got my chicks), and they had Amberlink Reds that look just like yours (my ISAs are just a tad darker) :)
 
I actually got it wrong. The bright yellows are the americaunas and the "Reds" were all a reddish color....it should have been obvious.... ;)
This is one of the "Reds" but you can't see "Nugget" very well because he is posing under the egg :)
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom