Should I order baby chicks, and when

[Gypsi]

OK, my flock of 6 is going to be a year old some time in January or February, guessing, they had feathers when I bought them on March 2nd. I gather they will all start to molt at 18 months, give or take, so next July or August? And they won't lay eggs. Should I order a few chicks, and if so, how on earth am I going to keep them separate. Guessing I should build a new coop first? Is there a page on here for all these silly questions? I'm in North Texas. It will eventually get cold, but right now it's 80 out, dropping to the 50's some nights. Much colder in February than in December usually. So I'd think if I got babies, earlier is better than later. My existing coop and run are posted on my page.

I have more cattle fencing (2x4 heavy wire fence), have greatly been admiring the hoop run. I'm out of hardware cloth but it's probably doable by the budget, god-willing, and Fence posts, lumber and enough plywood for a 2nd small coop, raised. I learned a LOT last year. Already have a warmer bulb, do not have an incubator...

 

[dieselgrl48]

What breed do you have?Are you just using them for eating egg's?.Most hen's dont even begin to lay till around 20 week's old.So even if you bought chicks in Jan by the time they were old enough to lay the other girl's would surely be laying some again.

I don't understand the whole "Molt" thing myself and have been raising bird's over 6 year's.We had some Layer Big bird's lay fair almost one whole winter.I guess depend's on breed etc.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Yes, please do some searching and reading. There is a whole section on raising baby chicks.

1. Your babies will need to be kept somewhere heated and dry for approx 6 weeks before they could even go outside with the rest of the hens. (In a brooder)

2. Most hatcheries are getting pretty low on stock for the rest of year. Usually people buy chicks in the spring. Myself, and a bunch of others got some this week, to raise (basically inside) during the cold months. But again most hatcheries are very low on their selection by now. It's pretty much the end of the season, you may be able to find a small selection, but probably not if you wanted (for example) a bunch of different brown egg layers.

3. You might consider getting some young pullets instead. You would need to quarantine them from your current flock for about a month before you could integrate them, but it might be easier than worrying about babies in the winter.



Just some ideas.

 

[wildeflowers]

Quote:
Yes, I just barely made it in getting newly hatched chicks in September. Just in time to get them acclimated to cooler weather and my two other chickens before cold weather. I'm sure trying to get chicks out of the brooder in winter is annoying.