Time to move outdoors

[Tdubg22]

5 weeks old tomorrow, time to get out of my garage. Tomorrow is the big day, gonna seperate into groups and put them in the outdoor cages. Followed by a big cleaning of the garage. Everything is covered in dust and fuzzy little feathers. Now time to start waiting on eggs.

 

[Blooie]

5 weeks old tomorrow, time to get out of my garage. Tomorrow is the big day, gonna seperate into groups and put them in the outdoor cages. Followed by a big cleaning of the garage. Everything is covered in dust and fuzzy little feathers. Now time to start waiting on eggs.

Don't you love that dust? It's like somebody opened a can of creme colored talcum powder and let fly! It took forever to get it all out of my husband's office which is where the brooder was set up. By 5.5 weeks I was about ready to make Rock Cornish Game Hens out of all of them, since they weren't big enough to make a chicken dinner~!

Once they went out to the coop, I found I was enjoying them again. Caring for them became a relaxing thing to do instead of a stressful "I HAVE to get this done" episode every day. But then, I had 22 of the little boogers, so they really had outgrown their facility before we had the coop done and ready for them. That was my mistake, not theirs, so I had to live with the consequences.

 

[Tdubg22]

I was in the same boat with 50 of them little buggers. Had them in the house for three weeks until the wife evicted them to the garage. Ready to get em out where the dust will just blow away. Only problem is I have too many roos. Gonna have to send a few to the freezer.

 

[BackYardQuail]

I don't know how you guys keep so many in your house, I bought 13 quail last week and had them in my room for 2 days. My room smelled so bad it took 4 days to air it all out... How do all you keep the smell to a minimum?

 

[Gayleyy]

Good luck! I am going to miss my babies when they go outside! The smell really does not bother us, we keep the chicks in a spare bedroom in their brooder. I clean it every two or three days, and started using straw when they hit 1 week. Of course I only had 8 chicks to start with, 5 got a new home so I am down to just 3 in there. I really love listening to them though, and being able to hold them whenever I want.

 

[Blooie]

I don't know how you guys keep so many in your house, I bought 13 quail last week and had them in my room for 2 days. My room smelled so bad it took 4 days to air it all out... How do all you keep the smell to a minimum?

Well, I cleaned. Then I cleaned, and just when I thought it was clean enough I cleaned again just to make sure! Actually, truth be told it wasn't the smell - with the pine shavings and changing it out every day it was barely noticeable - until that last week. Then we COULD smell it, and even though it still wasn't that bad it was enough!

My next batch of chicks will be in the coop almost from day one. I'll put a divider in there, and use the heating pad/straw cave method I saw somewhere on here. And I won't be stupid and over-eager enough to order chicks when we are still having temps of 20 below zero. Lessons learned hardest are those longest remembered!

 

[Tdubg22]

I agree with above. Clean clean clean. I used paper towel in the brooder and changed it three times a day. Cleaned the surfaces with water and vinegar once a day. Smell never got too bad, but enough they had to go. I will never hatch out that many again, smaller batches from here on out, and only in the warmest part of the year so it can all be done outside.