I had ordered my chicks during February of last year. In NJ, we do have a fair bit of cold days, usually in the 20s and low thirty's, sometimes in the teens, so we ordered them later in the winter. I kept them in an unused room; with a very large pen, until they were at least 6-8 weeks old. I had ordered about 16 (this number increased because we bought a few more chicks a few weeks later). A stock tank won't really fit all of them after a few weeks, so you should try to get a bigger enclosure. My chicks were in a pretty cold room, about 45-54 degrees, so once they were around 5 weeks old, we started moving the heat lamp away gradually until there was no heat. We then opened a window gradually to get them used to outdoor temps. This worked well and by the beginning of April, we had them outside full time. Some people do brood their chicks outdoors using a coop or shed with a heat lamp or chick heat plate, but there are the risks of fires. We ordered from Cackle Hatchery in Missouri, which is closer to you than it is to me. I got them in about 24 hours after hatching. Chick casualties during transit is higher that it is in another season, partly because chicks need a lot of warmth, especially during their first few days. I would suggest that you order your chicks around maybe late February, towards the end of winter, so that they can go into their coop when things start warming up, because keeping them in for even 8 weeks is a lot of dust and stink.
