4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[dame egna]

Well............. I think I have gone chicken mad I really fancy the idea of having some chicks, 3-4 maybe . Yesterday in my search I found a place not too far from here that sell hatching eggs, but also day old chicks - then I noticed they also sell day old silkie chicks! Ooooooooh, have always fancied a silkie! I have read a little about bringing up chicks, but I'm still a bit unsure what I will need (whilst trying to keep the cost down). I was thinking of having a couple of cream legbars and perhaps a couple of silkies - the only problem is, I'm not going to know whether the silkies will be boys or girls?! Which leads me onto my next question. Cockerals. If, I ended up with Silkie cockerals - what exactly happens to the eggs? Do they get fertilised, and then we can no longer eat them? Will the cockerals be very noisy-as in, will my neighbours be unhappy?! Would I be able to rehome silkie cockerals easily if necessary? We are detatched - and we only need to worry about my neighbours to the left of us really as we don't have any houses behind us. What if I end up with two cockerals - will they fight? Sorry for all these questions - but I don't want to make a mistake and do the wrong things! Any advice always welcome.

[Lewis]

Well............. I think I have gone chicken mad I really fancy the idea of having some chicks, 3-4 maybe . Yesterday in my search I found a place not too far from here that sell hatching eggs, but also day old chicks - then I noticed they also sell day old silkie chicks! Ooooooooh, have always fancied a silkie! I have read a little about bringing up chicks, but I'm still a bit unsure what I will need (whilst trying to keep the cost down). I was thinking of having a couple of cream legbars and perhaps a couple of silkies - the only problem is, I'm not going to know whether the silkies will be boys or girls?! Which leads me onto my next question. Cockerals. If, I ended up with Silkie cockerals - what exactly happens to the eggs? Do they get fertilised, and then we can no longer eat them? Will the cockerals be very noisy-as in, will my neighbours be unhappy?! Would I be able to rehome silkie cockerals easily if necessary? We are detatched - and we only need to worry about my neighbours to the left of us really as we don't have any houses behind us. What if I end up with two cockerals - will they fight? Sorry for all these questions - but I don't want to make a mistake and do the wrong things! Any advice always welcome.

You'll need a brooder (wooden/cardboard box, a storage box, old fish tank etc.), feeders, a drinker, a non-slip mat to go on the floor of the brooder and a heat source. A thermometer could be a good idea. They'll obviously need chick crumb aswell.

 

The eggs probably will be fertilised if you have a cockerel, but you can still eat fertilised eggs.

They can be noisy, depends on the bird, but you'd be best to speak to your neighbours about it.

Cockerels might not be the easiest things to rehome, but Silkies tend to be wanted - see if the place you get it from will have him back.

They probably would fight, so you'd have to re-home at least one of them.

[dame egna]

Yes I have asked if they would have any cockerals back - I think, as much as I rather fancy having a cockerel, I just worry too much about them being noisy! I think I will have a look for a second hand brooder cage etc as it might be easier?

 

What about vaccines/worming etc?

[Redwing]

Anything associated with chickens seems pricey so look for an indoor guinea pig or rabbit cage - that will be cheaper look for one with a hatch in the top so you can hang the brooder lamp through and net over any gaps, when they get older and the lamp is raised you can shut the hatch and hang the lamp above it

 

like this:

 

 

Lamps are about £20 with a bulb so quite cheap

 

A cardboard box would do the job as well though!

[Lewis]

What about vaccines/worming etc?

You can buy vaccines for them, but they come in high doses and so are expensive, so it's only really worth it if you have quite a lot of birds. Its been said that vaccinating isn't worth it just for chickens being kept in the garden as pets.

 

Have a look here for info and also here. I use Flubenvet, and dose it in with their layers pellets, 5g of Flubenvet mixed in with 4kg of Layers Pellets (at that dose there's no egg withdrawal).

[Griffin]

The Mareks vaccine costs around £30 for 100 doses. Obviously you're not going to have 100 chicks of your own in one go but if you have 10 chicks it works out only £3 per bird and Silkies are susceptible to Mareks more so than other breeds. My chicken vet advised me to advertise somewhere like the Practical Poultry forum for other people nearby who had chicks the same time as me so we could share a bottle because once mixed it lasts for only six hours. It's something I was seriously considering for my chicks that are in the incubator because there were 6 Silkie eggs in there but they're all infertile However in the future if I had any more Silkie chicks I would use the Mareks vaccine.

 

I guess also it depends on what you intended to do with the chicks. If you sold them as chicks then you're not going to recoup the cost of the vaccine. If I sell any then I'll sell them at POL so I can add a few pounds on to cover the vaccine.

[dame egna]

I think all I was going to do was have 3-4 chicks, possibly all Cream Legbars having now thought about the silkies (as much as I'd love them) and keep them all. I have asked if the breeder would take them back but they said they don't usually. Are silkie cockerels easy to find homes for? Or not? If I knew I could find a home, I'd chance a couple. They also have Araucana's, but again - are these auto sexing or am I likely to end up with a cockerel?

 

So what about grit - would they need that, if so I guess the grit I have would be too big? Also,what temp does it need to be - and does that have to be reduced as they get older? Last question (for now anyway lol) - at what age can they be put outside in a coop and run, and up until then - surely a box will get too small? Will I need a bigger box will netting over the top or similar?

 

Sorry for all these questions - I will be due to get them on the 23rd. Exciting!

[dame egna]

Redwing- sorry I meant to ask you a question! I notice you have your chicks indoors, is this ok? I read somewhere that it's not adviseable because of the dusty poo they produce?!

[Lewis]

I'd find a few numbers of childrens farm, petting zoos etc on the internet (try yell.com) and phone a few of them and see if they will re-home a cockerel. I've tried a few places on the internet and we also have people in school who can take cockerels .

 

They wouldn't need grit when tiny, but will when they're growing up, so should be ok with grit which is a bit bigger.

 

They can go outside from a few weeks old, (4-6), you could do with buying an indoor rabbit hutch for them to go in.

 

I don't think Araucanas are auto-sexing, but haven't had any so could be wrong!

I had my quail chicks indoors, which were alright, but yes they do give out a lot of dust, and it comes from when the feathers grow out aswell. Some people have outhouses for them.