Urban chicks during the day

[stockton]

My husband and I are wondering what do you urban dwellers that work full time do with your baby chicks during the day. My husband is close to home so he will check on them. We will have someone at the house full time during the summer. Do they stay in the kennel in the house all? Is that awful? Can we keep them outside weather permitting or is that to dangerous. Oh and we are picking our chicks up this weekend.

Thank you so much for any advice.

 

[NancyDz]

Well if they are chicks , they need to be warm, they can't really go outdoors until they are fully feathered unless it's really warm where you are. At a day old they need 95 degrees for the first week and then go down 5 degrees every week until fully feathered. I think most keep them indoors with a heat lamp and out of drafts. Maybe a shed or garage is okay but mainly they need to stay warm , with no drafts and safe from pets/ predators.

Nancy

 

[m2wandc]

our chicks are indoors all day and will remain either in our laundry room or the garage (when they get a smidgen bigger and need more space) until they are fully feathered and ready to move to their coop/run outside...

I'm home all day, so I'm not much help for your other questions about having them alone all day...I noticed that FOR ME, after the first couple of days of raising and lowering the heat lamp, it settled and I don't have to check as often because so far it's been steady at the same temp all day and night without any raising or lowering...and I'm guessing those first days were tricky because it was 100+ outside during the day and 50+ at night...which is a huge range...now we are back to a steady cool day of 68/70ish outside and our house is a 68/70ish range, so the added heat lamp is able to do it's job without interference of a heater/air conditioner going bizzzerk! LOL

 

[amyc]

I work full-time, and my chicks are home alone for 8-9 hours-ish. I just make sure they have a full feeders and waterers. If I think its going to be more on the 9-ish hour side, I have my son stop and check on them after school. And, I check their door like five times before I leave, just to make sure its shut tight.

So far, knock on wood, I haven't had any problems and they're about 2 weeks old.

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

I work full-time as well. I got my babies on a Saturday. I set up my brooder on Thursday with the heat lamp so I could get it adjusted so the temp in the brooder where the light hit was 95'. It took a couple days to get it figured out.

After a while, I angled the light so those that liked it warmer could be close and those that didn't would lay out a ways.

I started my ten in a rabbit cage but only had them in there for four days before I moved them to a big stock tank with red heat lamps. I was affraid one lamp would go out while I was at work.

Good luck with your new babies.

 

[augustmomx2]

I received our chicks in March. They were in a kids pool (total of 19) w/a heating lamp & a heated garage. At 2.5wks we put them out in the coop. First, they were growing out of their brooder (chicks grow waaaay faster than I ever anticipated) & began flying. Second, I wanted my garage back for my car (selfish, I know).

We ran the heating lamp out to the coop & they are all doing fine now @7wks (total of 13, 6 were roos). It got down to below freezing a few nights & they were just fine. I work full-time & would get my chicks all set-up in the am w/fresh feed & water. Then, as soon as I would get home, refresh them.

I try to remember that they are chickens, not newborn babies, who need constant attention & care. That if they were in the barn, they would venture out away from mama & return when they were cold, hungry or thirsty. So far, this has worked for us & our chickens