Wool hen space required

[DigitalChook]

Hi all...
I have 7 chicks just hitting 2weeks, I have provided then with a heated styrofoam box (wrapped in contact plastic) and a form of a wool hen made of strips of linen hanging from a wire scaffolding. The heated box is heated from the floor by a reptile heat mat. I have temp sensors logging and the heated box is a steady temp (around 30-35 Celsius) day and night, the wool hen drops temp when they are out of it but rises to about the same when they huddle under it.

The funny thing is they only use the heat box during the day and use the wool hen at night even though it gets quite cool at night (10-15 Celsius). Oh they are in an outdoor brooder.

They have just started yesterday sitting on top of the heated box, they can all now get up there today. Tonight they went to sleep up there... The top of the brooder is open/chicken wire. I moved them to the wool hen.

I can see they will out grow the brooder (2 foot by 4 foot by 2 foot high), especially with the feeder and water and wool hen and heat box in there.

So, given they like height I thought I would make a raised sleep area. Likely to be only a wool hen in a styrofoam box and I'll remove the heat mat. They can play underneath and sleep up top.

How big of a sleep space (wool hen) would be required and how long am I likely be able to keep the 7 chicks in this brooder.

Thanks

 

[bluemtnwmn]

General recommendations for space are 1/2 sq ft space per chick until around 4 weeks of age at which time they're about ready for their coop or need 3/4 sq ft/chick until around 6 weeks of age, if I remember correctly. You have 8 sq ft, which is more than 1 sq ft/ chick which should be plenty until they are ready for their coop. Giving them things to 'play' with can help keep them from getting bored. The area to fly up to is good, I also put some small sturdy sticks in my brooder for my chicks to roost and play on.
What breed are they? They're adorable!

 

[DigitalChook]

General recommendations for space are 1/2 sq ft space per chick until around 4 weeks of age at which time they're about ready for their coop or need 3/4 sq ft/chick until around 6 weeks of age, if I remember correctly. You have 8 sq ft, which is more than 1 sq ft/ chick which should be plenty until they are ready for their coop. Giving them things to 'play' with can help keep them from getting bored. The area to fly up to is good, I also put some small sturdy sticks in my brooder for my chicks to roost and play on.
What breed are they? They're adorable!

I don't know what breed as they came from my youngest kindy as part of a chicken hatch program. I suspect hyLine or Isa Brown.

While the brooder may have enough space, it seems small now, I don't know how big to make the wool hen box for all 7 of them at 6 weeks.

Thanks again.

 

[bluemtnwmn]

I don't know what breed as they came from my youngest kindy as part of a chicken hatch program. I suspect hyLine or Isa Brown.

While the brooder may have enough space, it seems small now, I don't know how big to make the wool hen box for all 7 of them at 6 weeks.

Thanks again.

I'm sorry, I don't know how to answer the space requirement for the wool hen question. I can tell you that my 10 chicks, who are now 10 weeks old, have a coop that is about 10-12 sq ft (we're building a bigger coop that will hopefully be ready this weekend!) and they use about 4-6 sq ft of space at night because there isn't enough space for them to all roost and they still like to sleep huddled up together. When we first put them out in the coop at 5 weeks of age there were 17 of them (7 have since gone to their new, permanent homes) and they used about 1-2 sq ft of space because they slept huddled together. I have Delaware chicks which will grow into a medium to large sized (mostly large I think) chicken. Does that help?

 

[DigitalChook]

Well these chicks are just funny....or perhaps I know nothing about baby chicks which is entirely possible.

I built a platform same height as the huddle box, placed the wool hen strips in the huddle box and put it on the platform. They go in sometimes during the day but are spending more time on their low roost.

Come night, I had to put them into the huddle box as they wanted to sleep on the open ground under the platform... Tonight the same thing but 4 decided to hop down and sleep on the floor.

So I take the platform out, put the huddle box on the ground and they jump on top of the huddle... All of them... Start to snuggle to sleep...

Waited 10min and checked again and they are all down on the ground in the box.

Do baby chicks prefer to sleep on the ground then up higher? Do they just want to go up high during the day but at night like the ground?

Their only heat is the huddle box with heat plate underneath so I want to get it in the right spot for them.

 

[Justso]

Baby chicks learn from their momma how to roost. She'll sit on the floor at night on them until she's had enough sitting on the floor. Then she roosts on the bar and chick will follow. My experience is around 8 weeks. Don't sweat it if they're still huddling on the ground. Later when they're bigger you can train them to roost.
Also don't worry about the size of the box, when they outgrow that they should be moved to the big coop.

 

[DigitalChook]

Baby chicks learn from their momma how to roost. She'll sit on the floor at night on them until she's had enough sitting on the floor. Then she roosts on the bar and chick will follow. My experience is around 8 weeks. Don't sweat it if they're still huddling on the ground. Later when they're bigger you can train them to roost.
Also don't worry about the size of the box, when they outgrow that they should be moved to the big coop.

Thanks for that, no momma here though and they are working off of instinct (truly amazing how that works).

I should say I am in Australia and its hitting winter now and they are fully outside.

 

[Justso]

Yeah I guess you did mention that your brooder box is outside. They will need that additional heat for now. But they should be ready for a full coop and run once they get fully feathered out, as soon as 4-5 weeks depending on the breed. After they're fully feathered, you can provide a huddle area and they can keep each other warm.
Personally, I tend to baby my chicks, and provide them an indoor four-star bed and breakfast for way too long. Maybe don't be like me.

 

[DigitalChook]

Aren't they just the things to keep you confused.

5 have taken to sleeping on top of the huddle box (out in open) and 2 sleep in the box. The last two nights I moved the 5 to the huddle box and they sleep fine in there without issue.

Tonight I decided to leave them on top... Is that the right thing to do?

 

[Justso]

I don't think there's right/wrong here, I'm sure they'll be fine