They are getting a little stinky....in the house....

[Egg Rookie 2010]

So they are just over a month old now. Mostly feathered. I clean the brooder out but they are still getting a little...noticeable. They are kinda stinky and SO incredibly loud you cant hear the tv. SO I guess it is time I get the shutters put on the coop and drag the heat lamp out there. They are getting too big for the boxes anyway. But I feel bad even with a heat lamp putting them outside. I dont think Ill let them access the run yet. They are at 70 degrees now which I know is low but I had a blow out in the heat lamp in the house and they seemed to do fine without it. The coop is 8 x 10 and I have enclosed the area under the nest boxes and will put heat under there for them. They can get out of there if they want to and roam around the whole coop. I hope they do alright. Im kinda worried.

 

[gmendoza]

we are going to attemp( 2nd try) to put our 2 week old chicks under Gruesome(surrogate hen) in the aquire box we made. Hopefully it works out for both of us.

 

[Egg Rookie 2010]

What A Name! Lol

 

[gmendoza]

Shes not really 'gruesome'.We hatcher her here out of a barred rock roo and a black sex link hen.She had a sister that hatched the same day.So we saw they both always hung around together so we named them Gruesome and twosome.Sadly last year twosome died suddenly,maybe from dwarfism.Gruesome took her surrogate job and raised the guinea keets that took to twosome.

Its just her name,but shes anything but gruesome.

 

[terrilhb]

That they do. Get stinky. We have done 2 hatches this winter. 1st time we did 12 eggs and have 5 2 month olds. They stunk. Then we did 24 eggs and got 13 chicks. And they really stunk. They are going on 2 wks old. I moved them all to the shed. Took the light off the 2 month olds during the day but still put it on at night. Wrapped a sheet around the 2nd brooder with 2 wk olds and they have their light. They are doing great. I am not hatching in the house nomore. LOL. Good luck.

 

[THough1956]

They will be fine!

 

[chicmom]

I'm always so excited for new chicks, and then.....after a while........I'm so happy when it's time for them to be outside!

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

How old are they? As long as they have most of their feathers and no drafts they will be fine!

It doesn't really get that cold here in Cali anyway.

 

[Egg Rookie 2010]

This is Kate this morning. She is one of my EE's. She is so pretty. You can see she is nearly fully feathered. They will be 5 weeks old on Tuesday.
I should add here that the weather is still rainy in the foothills, average 55-60 in the daytime and 30-35 at night...

 

[gritsar]

Time for them to go out and unless it gets below 70* I wouldn't bother with a heat lamp. My 5 week old chicks have been kicked to the curb by mama hen and they are doing fine in the coop with temps. as low as the 40s.