Proud new owner of six baby chicks

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McFall4

McFall4

Hatching
6 Years
Mar 30, 2013
1
0
7
Hello all. I am Matthew from Alabama. Our family has had the urge to get a few chickens since building our country dream home a little over a year ago. I have spent many hours on this site reading forums and articles. I wanted to be as prepared as I could be before starting this adventure. This week we bought 6 baby chicks at TSC. In our area this is the best option to get a small number of chicks. The other option is trade day, and you never know what you might get there. We got 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Red Pullets, and 2 Tetra Tint Pullets. We currently have the chicks in a brooder that we built. Things are going great so far. The person at TSC couldn't tell us their age. I am going to assume they are 1-2 weeks. I have read that they can come out of the brooder and away from the heat lamp at 6 weeks. Is this correct? I look forward to all the great knowledge I can gain from everyone on this site.
 
McFall4 said:
Hello all. I am Matthew from Alabama. Our family has had the urge to get a few chickens since building our country dream home a little over a year ago. I have spent many hours on this site reading forums and articles. I wanted to be as prepared as I could be before starting this adventure. This week we bought 6 baby chicks at TSC. In our area this is the best option to get a small number of chicks. The other option is trade day, and you never know what you might get there. We got 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Red Pullets, and 2 Tetra Tint Pullets. We currently have the chicks in a brooder that we built. Things are going great so far. The person at TSC couldn't tell us their age. I am going to assume they are 1-2 weeks. I have read that they can come out of the brooder and away from the heat lamp at 6 weeks. Is this correct? I look forward to all the great knowledge I can gain from everyone on this site.
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Chicks need to be protected from drafts until they are fully feathered. Different breeds will feather out at different rates. What I have always read is 1st week - 90-95 degrees, then reduce the temp 5 degrees each week until you get to 70 degrees. By that time they should be able to maintain their body temperature (barring extremes). I moved mine out of the brooder box at three weeks but my henhouse has no pop door yet (no drafts) so it is basically a big brooder. I kept a heat light on in the house so they could choose whether they wanted to be under it or not. I took them outside for the first time yesterday. They weren't sure what to do but after a few minutes they started pecking around on the ground.
 
Greetings from Kansas, Matthew, and
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! Great to have you with us! Good luck to you and your six chicks!!
 
Hello and welcome to BYC
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Glad you joined us!
 
Hello from Sonora, CA!

This story could be mine. Brought home six chicks this past Thursday.

Similarly I have contemplated having chickens or a couple years and finally decided to take the plunge. They are doing great and I've been surprised with how much water/feed the six of them go through in a day...big eaters!

i got 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Cuckoo Marans, and 2 Light Brahmas...

Good luck!
 

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