Seeking advice for getting flock started

[The Cool Chick]

I am wanting to start my flock and am looking for some advice from seasoned veterans. Here are some questions I have:

1. I live in south east Texas where it is very warm right now (upper 90's in the day, upper 70's at night). Do I need a heat lamp for day old chicks?
2. Do day old chicks need a run?
3. What coop do you recommend for 3-4 hens?

I look forward to reading everyones advice!

 

[Spartan22]

1. Yep, you still need to keep the temp to 95 for couple of weeks then gradually drop the temp 5* every week since a day old chick can't regulate their temps.

2. Nope, room to move around as long as theyre safe from predators and can also move in and out to the heat source.

3. Coop size and style depends on your preference (your property set up), climate and type of chickens. Make sure to have lots of ventilations regardless.

 

[Impatient]

1. I live in south east Texas where it is very warm right now (upper 90's in the day, upper 70's at night). Do I need a heat lamp for day old chicks?
2. Do day old chicks need a run?
3. What coop do you recommend for 3-4 hens?

1. Day old chicks need a fault constant temp of 95F and for the temp to be reduced 5F each week until you hit roughly room temp or the lowest temp of their planned location. So if you know for certain day time will have them heated properly, then you can get away with just a heating them at night, but monitor the brooder temp carefully.

2. No, day old chicks need to be kept in a brooder or brooder room until at least 6-8wks, after that you can move them out to a coop with run, but it is recommended to keep them in the coop only until about 10-12wks and then they can have access to the run. However, many people will periodically put their chicks outside while contained and supervised for short periods of time, but still, not until about 6wks.

3. The bigger you can build, the better, can't have too much space . Ultimately your coop/run size will depend on many factors:
- how much space you have to work with.
-do you want to build it yourself, buy it pre-built, or a mix of both.
-what features you want it to have.

There's much more to consider and there's a section of the forum dedicated to coop's so o recommend checking it out. Hope this helps.