The first 60 Days

[substandardtim]

The Raising Chickens 101 section of the site says to keep them inside during the first sixty days. In two months I imagine the little peeps I'm getting in a few days will be pretty massive and I can't imagine having 8 chickens in my house.

I live in PA which can get chilly at night this time of year but even in 30 days it will be the beginning of June.

My question is, how much can I shave off that 60 day time frame to keep my house from becoming a chicken coop?

Thanks.

 

[countrygirlatheart]

I'm curious on this myself....so I'll bump. we have 7 RIR babies (aka chicken nuggets) that are 4 1/2 wks old now, almost too big for their cage, planning on taking them to the run this weekend and see how they do with the "teenagers" and big girls.

 

[joedie]

I don't know, I kept mine in the basement for that time and even though I cleaned and used DE, it smelled pretty ripe!

 

[substandardtim]

that's what I'm concerned about, I don't need my house smelling like chicken poop. I also don't want to endanger the birds either obviously.

 

[countrygirlatheart]

Quote:
and see that's the problem we have right now with the nuggets

, down here the temps have been in the 70's at night so we were thinking of moving them out asap (if the big girls wont mess with them too bad in establishing pecking order)

 

[gardenak]

I was reading a similar post earlier and had the same question myself. I'd like to move mine to the coop in a month and keep the heat lamp on them out there. If it's a nice day, wouldn't it be o.k. if they played in the run then went back in when the temperature starts to drop?

 

[Judy]

Quote:
60 days, IMHO. Draft free coop, 2 heat lamps in case one burns out, maybe the brooder partly covered at night, maybe some bales of hay against its sides.... Set it up and play with it, and see what temps you get. Of course, even little chicks will add to the warmth in there to some extent. At least you can get them out a lot sooner if you know ahead of time what you have.

It's not hard to find publications that recommend against brooding in the house; I think even some of the hatcheries say this. I'll never brood in the house again. I could live with the odor but I'm not putting up with (or breathing) that dust ever again.

 

[aidenbaby]

I moved mine to the coop yesterday. ATM they range in age from a few days to 3 weeks old. My coop is 3 feet by 3 feet by 3-4 feet. A 250 watt bulb kept them warm and comfortable last night and it got down to around 38 degrees. Now, during the day yesterday that bulb was WAY too much as far as heat (I opened their coop door and one of the windows) but today it is just right again. Today, our expected high is 54 degrees. So, my point is that the 60 day "rule" isn't so much as a rule but a guideline. I've been checking on them frequently and am fully prepared to move them inside if it gets too cold.

Oh, and my 3 week old chicks have played outside on the couple of 70 degree days that we've had. If they showed that they were cold and done, I just brought them back inside. I just have to check MUCH more often with the littlest ones because they aren't smart enough yet to go inside if they are cold or tired.

 

[aidenbaby]

The dust was my primary reason for booting mine out too. My son has a lot of allergies as do I. We aren't allergic to chickens (so far) but I didn't want to create yet another allergy for either of us.

 

[ksalvagno]

I am in Northeast Ohio and I have my chicks in my garage. This is a detached garage with no heat. I have a heat lamp on them and I'm always home so I check it frequently. My chicks are 2.5 weeks old and are already down to about 75-80 degrees. They are very healthy and feathering out very nicely.

Karen