So I had planned on getting some chicks in mid- April but today my brother went out and got us a "present"...20 chicks from tractor supply. I am so unprepared. No coop or anything, I've done my research and think I know what to do but I am completely unprepared. What do I need for these chicks immediatly?
Congratulations on the new babies! You'll need a box/brooder to keep them in (draft free), a light for heat and a waterer and feeder w/chick starter. If your chicks have not been vacinated, you might want to consider the medicated feed to start with. The instructions that came with my chicks said to cover the shavings with newspaper for the first couple of days, then you can remove it and just have the wood shavings for the bottom of their brooder. Good luck!
If you need to read a chick care page, here is McMurray Hatchery's: http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chickcare.html Congrats!
If you need a big sturdy cardboard box, UHaul sells them! I might separate them into two groups of ten in large Tupperware containers with a heat lamp for each to make it a bit more manageable if you plan to keep them in the house. This is what I do since it is sooo cold here still, but I don't get them 20 at a time... Then just add water! (and food and pine shavings)
Don't cover the wood shavings (use pine, NOT cedar) with paper towels instead of newspaper. Newspaper is too slippery and can cause leg problems. Make sure they have water and chick starter food. And make sure that the temperature under the heat lamp in the brooder is a constant 95 degrees 24 hours a day. That will get you started. Next do lots of research in the "learning Center" and in this forum.
They were on shavings at the feed store -- skip the paper. I'd get a brooder lamp, heat bulb, a very large cardboard box, a bag of shavings, a chick feeder, a waterer, and a 50# sack of chick feed. That gets you started. Then, start building because they'll outgrow it quickly. I'm just floored that a person would bring you a box full of chicks as a gift without providing at all for their care! It would have been a whole lot nicer to spend the money on the basics, take you to pick out some chicks, and then donate his time to help build the coop.
Thanks everyone! All the chicks are doing great! Now I'm a proud mommy to 10 brown leghorns and 10 rhode island reds. I've got them in a large rubermaid container with pine shavings, a feeder, waterer, and 2 heat lamps (one wasnt big enough for everyone to get under, it still keeps the temp table and one side of the container is not lit) Debib- At first when i heard he got them i didn't think he had provided anything but after i saw them last night he did provide a waterer, feeder, and bag of feed
