Splitting Chick Order With Friends

[bernadette-peepers]

Hello, just joined this forum and I'm so excited to be here! I've been researching chickens for over a year, but will be a brand new chicken owner starting next week. To save on shipping costs, my friends (who inherited a coop and adult chickens when they bought their house) and I ordered some chickens together. They arrive on Tuesday. My question is, once they arrive, what would be the best way to split them up so as to cause them as little stress as possible? I know they need to stay extra warm. My first thought was to bring them all to my house, and get them settled in the brooder right away, then we can sort them and my friend can take her chicks home to her house. Does this sound like a good plan? Is there anything I'm not thinking of? Thanks so much!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
Are your chicks arriving by mail? If yes, have you talked to your local post office in person, you must do that soon, making sure that your phone numbers are there, and that you want a call any time of the day or night, and you will pick them up immediately on arrival! If there's a central post office site nearby where you can get them sooner,. that's even better.
Have your brooder already warm, set up and ready to go, the night before they arrive, so you aren't scrambling around at the last minute. Have a thermometer on the floor under the heat lamp, so you've got the temp. regulated, a warm area and cooler on the other side of the brooder, water and food in there, and all that.
Pictures of your brooder set-up here would be good too.
Yes, get them all in your brooder immediately, and your friend also has their brooder up and running, then do the 'division' when everyone in settled and has eaten and warm.
We do love seeing chick pictures!
Mary

 

[WishingStar]

My first thought was to bring them all to my house, and get them settled in the brooder right away, then we can sort them and my friend can take her chicks home to her house. Does this sound like a good plan? Is there anything I'm not thinking of? Thanks so much!

I'd do this, but give them a day or more all together in one brooder, sounds like yours in this case, to recover from the shipping stress.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I frequently split orders with other local chicken keepers. It's a great way to meet minimum orders, and allows folks to pick up a bird here and there that want without having to place an entire order to get them.
Yes, the most sensible approach is for the person who places/picks up the order get the chicks settled, warmed up and started on eating and drinking.
When I have had people tag onto my orders, I let them know once I have everyone home, unpacked and getting settled. If there have been losses along the way , I identify the breed and let the person who ordered that breed know, I also will do the same with any chicks who seem to be not doing quite as well as the others. We generally give them several hours (pickup at the pist office is usually around 6 am and most folks come at the end of their work day...) to rest and recover before packing them back up.
If you are each ordering specific breeds that might look even remotely similar, be sure to ask the hatchery to mark them. This is generally done either with colored leg bands or with colored spots placed on the chick's heads. It may also be helpful to discuss ahead of time how you will handle any losses or struggling chicks if you are both ordering some of the same breed, even with friends it's good to have a clear understanding ahead of time what that will look like for each of you to avoid any hard feelings or disagreement as far as who ends up with the weak chick or who ends up short birds

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Congratulations on starting the chicken life!

When your babies arrive, have some warm sugar water in the waterer. I think it's 1 tsp sugar per cup of water plus a pinch each of salt and baking soda. Some of the Educators may correct me, that may be too rich. @Ol Grey Mare, what mix do you use? Anyway, when the chicks arrive, as you take each one out of the shipping box, pick it up and dunk its beak in the sugar water. Then dunk its wet beak in the chick feed and set it down, and do the same with each chick. It will initially protest and then go, Oh! That's yum! And start drinking and eating.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I should add, the sugar water is a good start for shipping stress. Later in the day you can switch to plain water or water with Nutri-Drench, or better yet, two waterers, one with ND and one plain.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined.

You should receive a phone call from the post office when the chicks are ready to be picked up. Different post offices do that differently. Some call before the post office is open, some wait a bit. When they call, ask them what their procedure is, where do you you need to go to get the chicks. For most people that is probably get in the main line but mine is a small town post office where we know each other. I get mine before the post office is officially open and need to go to a back door.

Have your brooder set up and warm before you get them home. Take them, one chick at a time and dip their beak in the water to show them where it is. I use plain water and reserve sugar water or electrolytes to treat chicks that aren't doing well. Some people immediately give them sugar water or electrolytes.

I'm not sure how you are heating your brooder. If you have isolated heat like a heat plate you might want to set a chick under it. I use a heat lamp and just turn the chick loose after showing it the water. There are a lot of different ways to do any of this so it is hard to get too specific. People often think they are weak, helpless, and stupid but mine are pretty good at taking care of themselves with a minimum of help.

Your friend can come by and get her chicks at any time, immediately or later. Exactly when is just not important. I'd put them back in the box they shipped in for her to take them home in.
Congratulations. Welcome to the adventure.

 

[bernadette-peepers]

Welcome!
Are your chicks arriving by mail? If yes, have you talked to your local post office in person, you must do that soon, making sure that your phone numbers are there, and that you want a call any time of the day or night, and you will pick them up immediately on arrival! If there's a central post office site nearby where you can get them sooner,. that's even better.
Have your brooder already warm, set up and ready to go, the night before they arrive, so you aren't scrambling around at the last minute. Have a thermometer on the floor under the heat lamp, so you've got the temp. regulated, a warm area and cooler on the other side of the brooder, water and food in there, and all that.
Pictures of your brooder set-up here would be good too.
Yes, get them all in your brooder immediately, and your friend also has their brooder up and running, then do the 'division' when everyone in settled and has eaten and warm.
We do love seeing chick pictures!
Mary

Yes they are! Thank you so much for the great advice - I'll stop by the post officetomorrow and make sure they have my information and that I will be there to get them as soon as they arrive. I have all the stuff for the brooder, I just haven't set it up yet - will post here over the weekend! And I will most definitely be posting lots of pictures of our chicks!!

 

[bernadette-peepers]

I frequently split orders with other local chicken keepers. It's a great way to meet minimum orders, and allows folks to pick up a bird here and there that want without having to place an entire order to get them.
Yes, the most sensible approach is for the person who places/picks up the order get the chicks settled, warmed up and started on eating and drinking.
When I have had people tag onto my orders, I let them know once I have everyone home, unpacked and getting settled. If there have been losses along the way , I identify the breed and let the person who ordered that breed know, I also will do the same with any chicks who seem to be not doing quite as well as the others. We generally give them several hours (pickup at the pist office is usually around 6 am and most folks come at the end of their work day...) to rest and recover before packing them back up.
If you are each ordering specific breeds that might look even remotely similar, be sure to ask the hatchery to mark them. This is generally done either with colored leg bands or with colored spots placed on the chick's heads. It may also be helpful to discuss ahead of time how you will handle any losses or struggling chicks if you are both ordering some of the same breed, even with friends it's good to have a clear understanding ahead of time what that will look like for each of you to avoid any hard feelings or disagreement as far as who ends up with the weak chick or who ends up short birds

Thanks so much, I'll make sure they get a few hours rest at my house before they're moved again! I already called the hatchery, and they confirmed that they will have little leg bands. Luckily we're getting completely different breeds, so it will be very clear whose are whose.

 

[bernadette-peepers]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined.

You should receive a phone call from the post office when the chicks are ready to be picked up. Different post offices do that differently. Some call before the post office is open, some wait a bit. When they call, ask them what their procedure is, where do you you need to go to get the chicks. For most people that is probably get in the main line but mine is a small town post office where we know each other. I get mine before the post office is officially open and need to go to a back door.

Have your brooder set up and warm before you get them home. Take them, one chick at a time and dip their beak in the water to show them where it is. I use plain water and reserve sugar water or electrolytes to treat chicks that aren't doing well. Some people immediately give them sugar water or electrolytes.

I'm not sure how you are heating your brooder. If you have isolated heat like a heat plate you might want to set a chick under it. I use a heat lamp and just turn the chick loose after showing it the water. There are a lot of different ways to do any of this so it is hard to get too specific. People often think they are weak, helpless, and stupid but mine are pretty good at taking care of themselves with a minimum of help.

Your friend can come by and get her chicks at any time, immediately or later. Exactly when is just not important. I'd put them back in the box they shipped in for her to take them home in.
Congratulations. Welcome to the adventure.

Thanks so much! I got a heating plate, so after they eat and drink I'll make sure to set them under there. I will most definitely be watching them closely the first few days to make sure they're doing okay!