What are the most common mistakes?

[bawkbawkbawk]

aidenbaby, thank you!

My husband is dead set on using cedar because we have a fence made of it next to where the coop will be. Looks like we need to have a powow about this...

 

[NJbirdlover]

sorry to hijack but how about a plywood house with cedar shingles...I wonder if that would be ok???
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[Davaroo]

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Heres the deal with cedar -

You dont want to shred it and make a litter out of it. This releases some mildly toxic phenol compounds which can mess with a chickens respiratory functions. In close proximity, as with a cedar litter, this can make them very ill and possibly kill them. This is especially pronounced with chicks, but can affect birds at all levels of development.

Cedar siding, shingles, and fence posts, on the other hand, should be okay.
People have been raising chicken, and using those building materials to do so, long before we came along

 

[silverlining]

you will be fineeee. i got my first babies (just 3, im getting 6 more soon) almost a week ago, and they have been absolutely wonderful.

im just a newbie, but if i've learned anything it is this: if you want healthy chicks, pick out healthy chicks to start with. i got mine from the feed store, and even to a first timer it was clear which ones were healthy. some were huddled under the light or lethargic (we got to see them put them in the feed store pens the minute the box from the post office opened), and the healthy ones were RACING around the pens happily drinking water and eating food like there was no tomorrow. I bought 3 of the perkiest, and they have had no problems except one tiny instance of pasting up. just give them plenty of medicated chick feed, water (i used a little electrolytes because a lot of people recommended it, but you probabably dont have to. momma chicks have been raising babies forever without it!) and a heat lamp (red) and you will be FINE. watching them grow is the absolute cutest thing.

final thing, dont be shy about being "firm" with your babies. my 3 havent been picking at each other much, but when one started to peck at another on my lap, i tapped the offender on the beak gently a few times with a "no!" and she cut it right out, without getting afraid of my hand later. they are really much smarter than i expected.

 

[deerman]

Not that hard to start chicks.

Give sugar water first day.
Keep them dry,and out of the water.
Heat 95 first week, reduce 5 each week.
Start on a medicated feed first 4 weeks.
wire floor,or clean pine shavings,paper towels


Main killer of young chicks, is getting cold or wet.

 

[Judy]

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It is highly unlikely you will kill your chicks! You may have some die, but that is often not preventable.

Wrong brooder temps and drowning are probably the most common causes of preventable deaths -- and maybe insufficient room.

Putting some marbles or similar sized pebbles in your waterer for a few days will prevent drowning.

Temp recommendations are just that, recommendations. Your chicks will tell you if they are too hot or cold, if you watch them and give them enough brooder room to get away from heat or move toward it. If you ordered more than one breed, it is likely they will vary in their desire/tolerance for heat.

If you are using a heat lamp, use red light. White light stimulates them and interferes with rest, IMHO. If you clamp a brooder light onto something for them, make sure there is a backup system to keep the light from falling into the brooder in case the clamp fails. A heat lamp can certainly set pine shavings on fire. I like to cover the pine shavings with paper towels for 2-3 days, so they can learn what is food and what (pine shavings) is not. Personal preference.

Probably the next most important thing is simply to observe them. Check them several times a day if you are home to do this. Again, they will tell you if they have a problem. If you are not at home, be sure there is plenty of water.

Sugar water, vitamins, and electrolytes are good if they were severely stressed, but not necessarily necessary, although shipping is certainly stressful for them.

All they really need is food, water, and warmth for a few weeks. Unless you live somewhere really dry, or you had them vaccinated for coccidiosis, I would go with medicated feed. Med feed is not med with an antibiotic. The drug is Amprolium, which slows the growth of cocci, but does not interfere with their developing an immunity to cocci. When they are old enough for grower or layer, they should not need med feed any longer.

If you can provide a heat lamp in the coop, you can put them there as early as 2 days, depending on where you live. You did not give your location. Likely you could brood them in their coop in June, almost from arrival, or within a few days. Again, their behavior will tell you.

My minimum for brooder space is 1.5 sq ft per chick, which will hold them for 8 weeks at most. It can be as little as 0.5 sq ft per chick if they will move to a coop in 2-3 weeks.

However, at any age, more space is always a good thing. In a couple of months, I will have about 20 hens in a coop that provides about 6 sq ft per bird, and they will have access to their run all day, which will provide over 250 sq ft per bird. This is a lot more than the recommended minimum here, which is 4 sq ft per bird in the coop, with a 10 sq ft run per bird. I understand that 87+ sq ft per bird in the run is the minimum to maintain vegetation in the run. Have not had my chicks long enough to know. My older small flock is true free range, and ranges over about two acres, though they could go much further if they chose. At 10 sq ft per bird, there will be no grass/weed growth after a short time.

More info than you were looking for, no doubt, but thought maybe I could help.

 

[wings]

When I raised my first clutch of chicks, I didn't have any clue what I was doing. All I had was Storrey's Guide to Raising Chickens. (I reccommend it...) Most of this whole chicken-raising thing is common sense: the rest you have BYC and chicken books for. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT! If your chicks are happy, sleep, eat, drink, poop, and run around, then RELAX!
Spend your time with your adorable chickies: not with chicken books! Enjoy them when they are still little babies!


Good luck! Have fun when you get them!

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

ddawn - not too much information - all very helpful!

wings - yes, I plan to spend a lot of time with the chicks - that's why I'm waiting until June to get them so I'll be around for a full month in between travel commitments as I want to tame them as much as possible.

Thanks so much for all the great info - I'm copying it all!

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Thanks for all the great info., I am not getting my chicks until June also, and all this advice is very needed. I am hoping only to keep the chicks inside the house for a couple of weeks, then move them into the coop....is this to soon? I am gettin 27 and I can probably put a heat lamp in the coop, which is 8x12 and insulated.
Sorry for the hijack!

 

[gimme sum eggs]

Spend at least a good earnest hour searching and reading posts in this forum. Any more than that, and you're just making it harder than it has to be. Raising chicks isn't high tech or hard to do.
One tip from me, the fluid in my thermometer faded after 2 weeks and I couldn't see what the temp was. After that, I just watched the chicks and they let me know if it was too hot or cold. No need to buy a new thermometer. Especially in our house where we still burn wood on cooler days. Temps can take some big swings inside here, so I just watch the girls (and boy) to see if the light needs to be farther or closer to them.