Question about a bigger area to keep my chicks in

[pcosmom]

Ok so we are new to chicks and mine are about 7-10 days old and doing fine in a temporary box for now. however I am trying to figure out where to keep them till I can move them to our chicken coupe. I have 26 baby chicks so I know I am going to need something large. I have 2 large wire dog kennels I can put them in but I am not sure how I would keep the mess down if I moved them into that.

So I am wondering if we build them a large wooden box with solid sides other than 2 screened areas on the side for ventilation ( these would be up high to keep them from getting drafty) and made a solid top with holes for the heat lamps and made sure the temp was maintained by watching for a few days first if I could keep them on my porch. My husband is pretty handy with making things. I know that if I don't come up with something I am going to have chickens running around my house soon, which would not be good.

This week we have had some really cold temps but we should be getting to where it stays in the 40's-50's at night if that makes a difference. I know that if we needed to we could put plastic on top and blankets or sleeping bags to help hold in the heat ( the breeder I got some of them from had plastic and blankets on top hers but it was inside a barn area).


Thanks Jenn

 

[Gypsy07]

It doesn't really matter where you keep them as long as it is secure and mostly draft free and you can maintain an even temperature in it. A large purpose built brooder on your porch sounds like a good idea. But with 26 chicks, it'll have to be really big if you're planning to keep them in it for more than a couple of weeks.

Do you have adult hens in your coop already? If not, you could put your chicks straight out into the coop, with a heat lamp. I've just put 8 six week old chicks out into my new coop and they're doing great.

 

[pcosmom]

We don't have any adult chicks, but we have no power where the chicken coupe is. It is out where we are keeping our horses and everything out there is ran off of solar. Plus we are finishing the coupe. It is an old large single room building that is raised off the ground. It has 2 doors and we need to close them off and I want to make a ramp and fence off a section of the field out side for them to be able to come out. I have a solar power light so that we can have extra light for them but it is not hung yet.

Our other thought for a temporary pen was going to be to take our old wooden dog box raise it off the ground and then build an in the air run with the heat lamp shining into the box part, but that was when I only had 8 chicks. I went from 8 chicks on Friday to 26 by Sunday..

 

[Judy]

Your porch would be fine, and a wooden box would be fine, but I wouldn't put a wooden top on it. If you have a scrap of hardware cloth (wire mesh) that would be great. If your dog kennels come apart, you could use pieces of those. An old window screen is great. You might want a sold cover for part of it at night but I wouldn't cover it the whole way even then. This would also save putting screens on part of the sides for ventilation.

1 sq ft per chick will certainly hold them for 4 weeks, maybe a little longer. They will be feathered and ready for the unheated coop at 8 weeks for use, possibly 6 weeks. Anything bigger than about 5'x5' or 5'x6' would probably be too hard to move around if you make it out of wood.

At 2 weeks they're ready for you to start acclimating them to outdoor temps, especially during the day. It's quite simple to make a temporary pen for some time on the grass in the afternoon (if you have grass yet!)

My broody raised chicks are outdoors and running around all day within the first week, going under mama for warmth only at night, or on a very cold or windy day. I've seen them do this below 50 at less than one week. They need to be able to get warm but they can tolerate a lot more than we think they can, if you acclimate them and they have a way to get warm when they want to.

Have you seen our brooder thread?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=6233

 

[pcosmom]

I started looking at the brooder thread I think I have made it to page 6. I seen lots of neat brooders but hadn't seen any out side. I would love to keep them inside but I have a small house with 5 kids, and 1 of them is 3 and 2 are 9mnths, and I already know babies and chicks don't play well together..

I think the porch and a box is going to work great, now that it has been verified that it is ok. I have done really good with them so far I have only lost 1 and he didn't make it through his first night with us. He was blocked up and I had no idea but pretty sure he was that way when I got him, since I got them home at about 7pm and he was in bad shape by about 1-2am. That is how I found this sight and learned what pasty butt was. But he was more than that his little vent was swollen and he had poo that you could see but was still on the inside..i felt so bad that we lost him, but everyone else is doing great.

I think my kennel will come apart but they are about 5-6 yrs old and only ever been folded down. I am pretty sure DH can make a top that is solid on 1 side and mess or chicken wire on the other side.

as for being able to move it, we will probably just take it down after they are big enough to go to the coupe. I don't think DH will let me have more than the ones we already have here.

 

[Judy]

Sounds great! I promise you, people keep them on the porch, in the barn, in the coop -- you name it -- even from day one. I believe people lose lots more chicks from too much heat than too cold, or from not enough fresh air/ventilation. There's an article at the top of this section that talks at length about why baby chicks die. You did well to lose only one -- I know even that doesn't feel good, but it does happen, as you've learned. There may have been other things wrong with that chick, too.

Lots of people won't brood them in the house at all, including me. Way too much STUFF floating around. In the old days they would have a metal dome with lights under it and open on all sides so the chicks could get out from under it. In the barn. You'd see pics of a couple hundred chicks both under and far away from the dome, with the food and water outside the dome.

In a way, taking it down when you're through is better. If there is a next time, you might want something different, and you won't have that huge thing to store and move. Maybe by then you will have a couple of broodies to do the work for you. You will want more, eventually, if you want eggs forever -- they don't live all that long!

 

[pcosmom]

Thanks for the help. I only have them inside because everything I read kept saying they need to be inside no drafts ect. But That new brooder will be built this weekend, as one of the little yellows I got from TSC has decided to practice flying and was roosting on the side of the tub, and I really don't want chicks trying to fly around my house..

I'm sure we will want more eventually but probably not this season, even if I have 5-6 roo's i will have plenty of girls. I didn't intend on keeping any roo's but I have 3 little chicks that are different from the rest that I paid a couple extra $ for each that I can't remember what they are that are so cute that I think I would keep them.

1 is grey and his feet are yellow but have grey down through them

1 Looks like chipmunk but he wasn't a sexlink

1 looks like a barred rock but he wasn't I got some of those from the breeder, he doesn't have the spot on top of his head.

I also have RIR, 2 Hampshere reds ( it is either hamshere or New hampshere) and then the Barred rocks, oh and 2 little tiny Banty chicks that are black and I have no clue, my daughter wanted them

 

[Fred's Hens]

Perhaps I missed it, but can you run a heavy duty extension cord out to the coop? If you can, that's their destination.
You say your night time lows are now near 50?
That is very mild and with a heat lamp, the chicks would do fine.

If your nighttime lows are near 50, does that mean your daytime temps are near 75?

At this point, given the temperatures, you could easily finish their growing out in the coop, if you can string a power cord out there and have a warm lamp positioned some 16-20" high. You could keep them in a specific area by fencing them using wood or even stiff cardboard. These "side panels" would also keep drafts down to minimum. Just thinking out loud.

 

[Judy]

It's New Hampshire Red. I wonder if the one that looks like a Barred Rock but no spot is a Cuckoo Marans, since it came from a breeder? (I'm awful on breeds.) If she is, you will have some very dark eggs.

When they're a little older you'll have it all figured out, from looking at pics here or Feathersite, or posting pics and we'll tell you. Maybe in a year or two you will have some broodies and can hatch some more. I love having a roo or two around and hearing the crow. They are gorgeous, and it's such fun to watch them take care of their girls.

I know, a lot of sources say keep them inside. I really don't understand this. In the old days it was in the barn under a 100W bulb or two. But we all have our opinions.

 

[Rooster61]

I just built this brooder a couple days ago, and I'm sure your DH could do the same thing just make it a little bigger to handle 26 chicks, and they will be fine on the front porch, I have mine in the spare bedroom for now because their only about 5-7 days old, but they will be going in the garage next weekend since it still gets below 30*F here at night.