Please help! Raising baby chicks NOW in a cold climate!

[LynneP]

Do you have a dog exercise pen or something similar that would 'capture' the heat under the lamp for them, but allow them to move out if they get too hot? Some people call this a heat well- it means that the perimeter, often sheathed in wood/cardboard, captures the heat. I guess you could make a similar perimeter of bales of hay or straw so long as you set it up for fire safety. I remember seeing a pic of something like this at BYC, made from a huge flower put, inverted, with the base cut out...and a small opening around the rim for exit...

 

[texasbartrambaby]

Well us crazies can be in the same boat together. Got my chickies today and of course the temp was 19 this morning. I just went and checked on them and put another lamp on to keep it nice and toasty. Mine are in the garage in a "stock tank" so they are a little protected ---

 

[Solsken Farm]

Quote:
Cottage Rose, I think Lynne's idea is the solution. Making an area to house the two heat lamps and the chicks can go in and out from it. I still have to get this going for my babies. They are in the house still but it is very apparent that I will have to move them out by Christmas (most of them anyway). So I am going to make a covered area for mine, hopefully out of metal to conduct heat.

Let us know how things are going.

I LOVE my heated bases for our waterers in our coop. Definitely worth the money.

 

[sandyj]

What's chocking/impaction? I'm just learning. Thanks!
Sandy J.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Living in the Southern end of Missouri, the winter is fairly cold, but not what you are going to get up north.

This is what I use as a Nursery, shop, storage and supply shed. I have it sectione off with heavy moving blankets and the chickens now occupy about a 8 by 10 ft. area. They are located in two seperate "coops". The bigger ones in the bigger section, the little ones in the littler section. I make SURE that there are at least 15 chicks per side. They have a white heat lamp on all the time and a quartz heater (my oil/electric bit the dust, it was old) and this is on a temperature contro of about 60 degrees and is directed at the babies.

 

[chandasue]

I put mine out this week with 3 heat lamps in an insulated coop. I was really worried but they're happy as clams out there. I needed 3 heat lamps because one group of chicks was getting pushed out into a corner by the bossier chicks so now there's plenty of heat to go around and no one is fighting for heat. What a relief to not have them in the basement anymore!

 

[FrChuckW]

Wow Rimshoes! that is a neat coop! Wish I had something like that to work with. Guess I'll have to get busy and finish my building projects around here even in the cold and snow!

 

[A.J.'s]

I had 7 chicks in a large card board box in my back room of my house for 3 weeks. could not stand the smell or the noise anymore.. I did work hard to keep it clean. it just cant be done.....
I put them outside yesterday in a dog house. about 3 feet square and about 2 feet high. Metal roof.
I put the dog house inside a metal pen exercise pen I guess you would call it. 10 feet long. 4 feet wide and four feet high. I covered that with clear plasitc tarp. I secured the plastic tarp with bricks all around the pen.
A heat bulb supplies their heat. They seem perfectly content and comfy, only problem I have is I get out of bed about every 3 hours to go and check on them. Which means getting down on my knees to look inside the dog house and kicking the pen to wake them up to make sure they are not baked.
at 24 degrees temperature that is not the way I want to spend my nights. There will be a better way figured out before tomorrow night. trust me.
The reasoning here is that the chicks can go out and jump ar ound on the grass..yes i said grass that is inside the pen on the ground.
and then go inside to the heat if they chooose.
The heat from the heat lamp warms the inside of the pen some and the heat of the sun heats it wonderflly in the day time. in fact even on cold days if the sun is shining i have to open a vent.

 

[walkswithdog]

A.J.'s :

I had 7 chicks in a large card board box in my back room of my house for 3 weeks. could not stand the smell or the noise anymore.. I did work hard to keep it clean. it just cant be done.....
I put them outside yesterday in a dog house. about 3 feet square and about 2 feet high. Metal roof.
I put the dog house inside a metal pen exercise pen I guess you would call it. 10 feet long. 4 feet wide and four feet high. I covered that with clear plasitc tarp. I secured the plastic tarp with bricks all around the pen.
A heat bulb supplies their heat. They seem perfectly content and comfy, only problem I have is I get out of bed about every 3 hours to go and check on them. Which means getting down on my knees to look inside the dog house and kicking the pen to wake them up to make sure they are not baked.
at 24 degrees temperature that is not the way I want to spend my nights. There will be a better way figured out before tomorrow night. trust me.
The reasoning here is that the chicks can go out and jump ar ound on the grass..yes i said grass that is inside the pen on the ground.
and then go inside to the heat if they chooose.
The heat from the heat lamp warms the inside of the pen some and the heat of the sun heats it wonderflly in the day time. in fact even on cold days if the sun is shining i have to open a vent.

You know I grinned like an idiot for a full minute at the image of a human on their knees in the middle of the night, in 24 degree weather with their moon pointed at the moon. It is SO ..... well... US. Dignity take a back seat I need to check on the chickens...

I would try adding hay or whole bales around your critter house and since they're small make a pen of them just outside the dog house entrance. Fill that area with deep shavings and straw, you can even hang a second lamp to there. That way they can choose how warm they want to be, or jump the hay and bang around the whole thing. If they have a more open area to retreat to if the dog house gets too warm, they'll be fine. Two lamps are a pain to buy but they do add peace of mind.

Or use what I did, I use a programmable kennel heating pad under one section. It goes up to 100 or down to 70. They really like laying on it. I like the fact that it's not going to start a fire, stays the heat I set and is bird proof. Half my brooder area has a red heat lamp, half has the kennel pad. They pick dependent on their needs. Or they spread out into the main coop like real birds now. But mine are lots older (7 weeks). Even the grown birds will get above the heat lamp side to perch on really cold nights.

I have three ages in there. Four weeks, seven weeks and about four months. With that set up I finally rest easy all night. But boy I remember the nights of dignity to the wind -- are the babies okay????​

 

[QBRanch]

Ok, so i ordered my babies. They will be here on the 22nd. Now I am in limbo of how I am going to make there little warm home. I have convinced DH to give up a shed or at least partial of it. He was so nice to give up part of the insulated one. Wooohooo. So, I went threw some of the material I have outside to try and figure out what I am going to be building. I want to make sure it is the best and that it can also grow with them. Oh, thank goodness I have a little bit to try and construct something good... And now we just found out our baby girl (goat) is pregnant and is due this month. ::shaking head::: and all this time i thought I was missing her heat cycles... LOL Hope all in the same boat figures out there places!