I have chickens at home but I have never raised them from chicks. I teach at a great school that has decided to get 6 chickens, which we will be training the kids to care for. I will be raising the babies in my classroom and supervising care for their first weeks, which I am excited about! Once they move into their coop the garden educator and students will start taking on more of their care (although I suspect I will still be hanging out with them a lot). I feel well prepared, but have a question about how much moving them around I can get away with....
I don't want to sleep at school, so my plan was to take them home every night for the first few weeks (and of course for the weekends!). Obviously I will have to worry a little about them staying warm during transit- I live about 1/2 hour drive from school- but I figured a few towels over the cage & the heater would help. Am I crazy?
Second concern: I have a great cage/carrier that should work well for the first few weeks, but as they grow larger they will need a bigger brooder. This will, of course, make it harder to transport. At what age can I leave them at school overnight? If people who live near school agree to check on them a couple of times a day on the weekends could they stay over a weekend at 3.5 weeks? 4.5 weeks? I suspect I would have a hard time leaving them, but I need to be realistic.
We have a great maintenance worker/carpenter who converted a play barn into a super deluxe coop, which I was thinking I would move their brooder into at around 4-5 weeks. I could leave the door open so they can free choice exploring their new home, and I might hang a second heat lamp over the roosting bars so they can hang out and stay warm in multiple spots....
I appreciate any thoughts you might have!
I don't want to sleep at school, so my plan was to take them home every night for the first few weeks (and of course for the weekends!). Obviously I will have to worry a little about them staying warm during transit- I live about 1/2 hour drive from school- but I figured a few towels over the cage & the heater would help. Am I crazy?
Second concern: I have a great cage/carrier that should work well for the first few weeks, but as they grow larger they will need a bigger brooder. This will, of course, make it harder to transport. At what age can I leave them at school overnight? If people who live near school agree to check on them a couple of times a day on the weekends could they stay over a weekend at 3.5 weeks? 4.5 weeks? I suspect I would have a hard time leaving them, but I need to be realistic.
We have a great maintenance worker/carpenter who converted a play barn into a super deluxe coop, which I was thinking I would move their brooder into at around 4-5 weeks. I could leave the door open so they can free choice exploring their new home, and I might hang a second heat lamp over the roosting bars so they can hang out and stay warm in multiple spots....
I appreciate any thoughts you might have!