Eglu Cube Coop For Sale

[snailsandchickens]

Hi all,

We are hoping to get three hen chicks this week, we have made a DIY brooder to put in the kitchen.

I was wondering for how long should the little things be in there for and do I just put them out side then? I have other chickens but we got them at POL so from the "nearly" beginning we need some advice

[Redwing]

Firstly its worth reseraching your breeds as some cannot be sexed early and you dont want to end up with males by mistake!

 

They will need to be in the brooder with heat night and day (unless its REALLY hot) until they are about 4 weeks old then just heat at night for another week or two. Then outside in the day for a week or so before going outside full time at about 6 weeks or so (these are summer rough guidelines, if it was winter they would need to be inside till 10 weeks at least)

 

They need chick crumb for the first six weeks then growers pellets after that (mix those with the crumb on transition) then layers pellets at about 18 weeks if they are hybrids but they can stay on growers for longer if they are very large or heavy breeds

[Shirl]

Just to add I don't think I'd want them in my kitchen for weeks as they are messy and quite smelly. Even a day of poop makes quite a smell. Also I use hemcore on the floor and it gets everywhere even if it's enclosed when cleaning out, refilling the water etc little bits end up everywhere. There's also the dust that comes from the chicks as they lose their chicks down and get proper feathers. Mine spent 3 weeks in an unused room indoors and have now gone into the garage. I can't wait to get them outdoors so they can have more space. They really enjoyed going out when we had the hot weather and I think they are feeling a bit deprived by their confinement now.