What to do with baby chicks

[mdbucks]

Quote:
dont use newspaper it is too slippery, use papertowels, when soiled just roll up soiled section and put new down. after a couple of days they will know where the food is and paper towels can be removed

 

[Queen of the Lilliputians]

Honestly (hope I don't get booed off here)... they do start to smell "chickeny" as they get older. I'm not talking about the brooder smell, since the clean pine shavings smell like pine shavings. But the chickens do have a certain, distinctive smell. Just want you to be prepared.

Personally, 1st week I love having the babies inside. By week 3-4 though.. I'm ready for them to move to a much bigger box in a much less used place. That's when they move to the huge brooder box with the heat lamp in the garage. I love my chicks, but they do get rambunctious.

So... personally I'd keep them in for the first 4wks, then move them to the henhouse (if they are your only chickens) with the heat lamp. As long as it is the correct temp under the light, they will gradually spread out further and further.

I bought my group in mid spring, and here there are some similarities in temp between that time of year and this. And I moved the 'kids' out at 4wks. They were fine (but I was a mess at first!!).

-Meghan

 

[momoftwinsinwi]

I used a kiddy pool about 4' across and put 4' chicken wire around the outside of the pool, put a wooden horse right in the pool to attach a "shop light" and then put a couple of dowels across the lower horse braces for roosts but by week 4 I was sure ready to get them out of my attached garage, but my coop wasn't done, I think they finally went out about week 6 or 7, it was definitely TIME, the smell was getting pretty bad and they started flying over the chicken wire and next thing you know, I'm chasing chickens around my very cluttered garage! I had 16 of them in there so I'm sure it was getting pretty crowded. They were very happy to get into their 20x20' run!!

 

[JenniferJoIN]

A word of advice... I decided that it would be cute to give them some dirt to take a dustbath in. (While they were still in the house) Bad Idea. Yes, it was very cute... but they put dust in every nook and cranny possible. Argh.

 

[crysmom]

What a great time to read all these answers
I have some fertile eggs coming mid oct so will have new chicks in the first two weeks of November. I plan on brooding them inside my laundry room in a big rubbermaid bin or two (depends how many hatch) then moving them out to my mudroom which is part of the house but no heat in it. from about weeks 2-5 Then out to our "coop" which is a metal shed wrapped in plastic with a heater in it lots of shavings on the floor

of course this will all work if quite a few of them hatch they'll be able to heat up the shed themselves

but if I end up with just a couple they'll probably live in my garage until spring

 

[fdnick]

We used a 300 gallon plastic waterer we found on craigslist under farm.. it is about 5 ft in diameter and 2 1/2 foot deep,we put the shavings in it,. it is really easy to clean out and scrub down with disinfectant a couple times a week, and it has high sides, we have 56 chicks in it they are 3 weeks old and still fit more than comfotable in there :O), and if they spill water (which they do) the carpet or clean up is not an issue
Denna