Our first chicks ever!

Gtownallie · Sep 26, 2020

Sorry, long first time newbie post! We moved out to the country a couple of years ago. This year we were finally settled enough to start getting the chickens we wanted. I had planned on waiting until spring, but with how crazy everything is in the world lately, I decided (after much research) to try some fall chicks. I ordered them from My Pet Chicken and they arrived this week! When we stopped by the post office to pick them up, my 6 year old said “This is the best day of my life ever!” After making it home (with lots of driving advice from the kids on avoiding potholes, not crashing, etc

), I unboxed the chicks and put them in the set up brooder. We are using a plastic storage tote lined with puppy pads and paper towels along with a brooding plate. I gave them all a drink of water and showed them where the food was. At first I thought something was wrong with one of the girl’s legs, but then realized she just has 5 toes! I am such a nervous Nellie, hoping we are doing everything right and scared I will let one of them die. But they seem happy. So quiet at night under the plate, I then worry they are all dead! But they are already getting some wing feathers and trying to hop on top of the brooder plate. I did notice one of them is having some diarrhea, so I added the Corid (using non-medicated feed) to the water along with Nutridrench. But everyone seems perky so hopefully that fixes it. The only other problem was that I had the brooder in the garage where it was almost 90 degrees. I had 2 chicks with pasty butt and they were laying down spreading out their wings, looking like they were trying to cool off. So I brought it into the house last night which will hopefully help.
This weekend they will be 1 week old so I’m planning on moving them to a bigger brooder and switching to sand in the bottom. We may also try some outside time this afternoon as it is supposed to be almost 90 here today!
One quick question: I have 6 more chicks arriving the week of October 5 ( so 2 weeks apart). Can I put them in the same brooder when they get here or do I need to keep them separate? My biggest problem is that I only have 1 brooder plate. If I absolutely have to I will get a second one, but would prefer not to spend the money if I can raise them together. (I have coming 2 buff Orpington, Lavender Orpington, 2 Salmon faverole, and a Welsummer).

Thanks!
Meet the girls:
Lucy (Black cooper maran)
Pearl (olive egger)
Honey (golden laced Wyandotte)
Goldie (Green queen Easter egger)
Ethel and Beatrice (Easter eggers)

DobieLover · Sep 26, 2020

Gtownallie said:
Sorry, long first time newbie post! We moved out to the country a couple of years ago. This year we were finally settled enough to start getting the chickens we wanted. I had planned on waiting until spring, but with how crazy everything is in the world lately, I decided (after much research) to try some fall chicks. I ordered them from My Pet Chicken and they arrived this week! When we stopped by the post office to pick them up, my 6 year old said “This is the best day of my life ever!” After making it home (with lots of driving advice from the kids on avoiding potholes, not crashing, etc ), I unboxed the chicks and put them in the set up brooder. We are using a plastic storage tote lined with puppy pads and paper towels along with a brooding plate. I gave them all a drink of water and showed them where the food was. At first I thought something was wrong with one of the girl’s legs, but then realized she just has 5 toes! I am such a nervous Nellie, hoping we are doing everything right and scared I will let one of them die. But they seem happy. So quiet at night under the plate, I then worry they are all dead! But they are already getting some wing feathers and trying to hop on top of the brooder plate. I did notice one of them is having some diarrhea, so I added the Corid (using non-medicated feed) to the water along with Nutridrench. But everyone seems perky so hopefully that fixes it. The only other problem was that I had the brooder in the garage where it was almost 90 degrees. I had 2 chicks with pasty butt and they were laying down spreading out their wings, looking like they were trying to cool off. So I brought it into the house last night which will hopefully help.
This weekend they will be 1 week old so I’m planning on moving them to a bigger brooder and switching to sand in the bottom. We may also try some outside time this afternoon as it is supposed to be almost 90 here today!
One quick question: I have 6 more chicks arriving the week of October 5 ( so 2 weeks apart). Can I put them in the same brooder when they get here or do I need to keep them separate? My biggest problem is that I only have 1 brooder plate. If I absolutely have to I will get a second one, but would prefer not to spend the money if I can raise them together. (I have coming 2 buff Orpington, Lavender Orpington, 2 Salmon faverole, and a Welsummer). View attachment 2348915 View attachment 2348916 View attachment 2348917 View attachment 2348918 View attachment 2348919 View attachment 2348920 View attachment 2348921 View attachment 2348923 Thanks!
Meet the girls:
Lucy (Black cooper maran)
Pearl (olive egger)
Honey (golden laced Wyandotte)
Goldie (Green queen Easter egger)
Ethel and Beatrice (Easter eggers)

Congratulations on your new chicks!
A couple of things...
They would not have developed coccidiosis at such a young age so the Corid was not needed. Also, the active drug in Corid is amprolium which is a thiamine inhibitor. Adding Nutridrench along with Corid counteracts the amprolium basically rendering it useless.

Electrolytes in one waterer and plain fresh water in a second waterer would help with shipping stress. Consider making some of these for water bottles. The keep the brooder MUCH drier:

Placing their feeder at chest height also helps to minimize them kicking shavings into their feed.

I strongly recommend a much larger brooder and something that is not constructed of plastic. They need lots of fresh air and cool places in the brooder. You can make something out of a very large cardboard box, cut "windows" in it and tape screening or hardware cloth over the openings on the outside of the box. Make sure you have screening to put over the top of the box as they will start flying up to the edge by week three.

I do not recommend you switch over to sand. Chicks can become impacted eating sand. After they have learned what their food is (usually in a day) I switch them over to pine shavings.

Do you have your coop and run already built? If so, that is where they should be brooded.
When they are grown, your birds need 4 sq ft of space in the coop with about 10-12" of roost space each and I recommend a total accessible area of 15 sq ft per bird between the run and the coop.

Adding the hatchlings to the 2 week-olds shouldn't be a problem at all. I've combined chicks with a 3 week age gap without issue.

Your brooder plate should be able to handle 12 chicks. Just toss an old towel over it, drop the legs in the back so it is lower than in the front and make it into a cave. Any chicks that can't fit under the actual plate will stay warm on the perimeter under the towel. I've brooded 15 chicks under a brooder plate this way without issue.

Gtownallie · Sep 26, 2020

So I moved the chicks to their new brooder today. It is a puppy play pen with removable top and bottom. Back in the garage due to space and it should be cooling off this week enough that they won’t be too hot in there. Gave them a little baby roost to play on and hung some vertical nipple waterers with a plastic plate with rock under each one to catch drips. The birds seem to be enjoying their larger space- flapping and running around. It does have a zip on mesh cover for when I need it. Also the kids love the side zip door so they can pet and interact with the birds without having to reach over the top.