chicks still in the kitchen

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Okay, remember when I posted the question about when should I put my chicks out? I got the chicks in January from Strombergs. I think it was the 4th. Well, they are still in my kitchen. They are cute and seperated and getting big. If you remember, they are a heavy breed mix. I am in central Va and I am VERY curious as to when I can put them out without a heat lamp. I'm getting kind of anxious! They are a conversation piece, but wow what a mess. My bro in law calls them pocket chickens...real funny, but time to go out????

-- julie britt (jbritt@ceva.net), February 08, 2002

Answers

Uhhh, Julie? Didn't you get a suggestion to post this on www.poultryconnection.com? You will have people help you there that are from your area and local conditions mean a lot. Maybe someone here from your neck of the woods, who also specialize in chickens can help. I know there are people like that on the specialty forums. Good luck, LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 08, 2002.

Dear Mother Hen (Julie),

getting a little messy and smelly? notice the dust from the feed settling in on your kitchen cabinets and ledges? tired of cleaning up after them?

What is your hurry? they are happy little cluckers! throwing the little chicks out of their nest! what kind of Mother Hen are you!?

at least you aren't raising goslings! in a kids swimmiong pool in the dining room! (one of my DH's [the D doesn't stand for dear!] moments of weakness when Mother Goose asked her Daddy for baby geese!)

I would put the babies out as soon as they have feathers but if the place with the heat lamp is draft free and warm, no reason they can't go out now. They also need a place they can move away from the heat when they get too hot.

-- westbrook (westbrook_farms@yahoo.com), February 08, 2002.


uhhhhhhh quacker.... maybe I like this forum better. What a grouch.

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), February 08, 2002.

Julie, I would put them out as soon as they have feathers, like westbrook said, they will need a heat lamp and a draft free place. Also protect them from cats, dogs, etc. Best of luck!

-- cowgirlone in OK (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), February 08, 2002.

just last week put my latest, greatest batch out after 2 months+ in my kitchen/dining room. westbrook sure got it right about the dust! long story, but I had a string of hatching occurring over 2 weeks. was shooting for 8 weeks on all before going out but broke down at 7 weeks on the stragglers. all were feathered out and are now (mostly) adjusted to the coop and the mean old ladies who live inside. they have two 100 watt standard light bulbs in the coop from morning till 10pm then rough it over nite. quite cold here but all seem to be doing well. good luck and enjoy the elbow room.

-- B. Lackie - Zone3 (cwrench@hotmail.com), February 08, 2002.


I've also raised many chicks in the house, but it doesn't take long for me to get tired of them there. Is there someplace in your coop or your garage that you can put a heat lamp? If so, I'd move em out right away. If not, go ahead and take the heat off them in the house, and let them out for awhile on sunny afternoons if you can. Is there someplace outside they can go when it's kinda warm? Maybe you have children who can help you bring them in and out? By the time they're all feathered (soon, I should think), you should be able to leave them out, depending on how extreme your temps are and whether you have a heat lamp.

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), February 08, 2002.

raising chicks without a heat lamp and not in the house!

In a draft free area, lay down on the floor old leaves, manure, peat moss, manure, more leaves, more peat, more manure and some more peat or leaves (or what ever organic stuff you have needing to be composted). Dampen it all down and wait for it to start heating up and composting

Now you have a nice warm environment to put your babies in. As the chicks poo and scratch all that expensive chick start out on the floor (chicken coop/nursery area) it tends to maintain itself. As the babies get older and are able to scratch around it helps turn the compost. By the time the chicks are out and about, you have very nice compost!

As a side note.... a standard size chicken gives off 8 BTU's an hour. But since this isn't a how to keep a green house heated...I will stop.

-- westbrook (westbrook_farms@yahoo.com), February 08, 2002.


My 2 cents. I always start plant to early. Always buy chicks to soon. Will not do it again. Chicks that are cute at a couple of days arent so cut at a month when they stink. Move them out of your house, out building, heat lamp. Next year buy later. I hate chicken smell in my house.

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), February 08, 2002.

That chick dust sure does get to be a pain in the behind doesn't it? It wasn't so bad the one time I brooded chicks on the tile floor of my living room. The time I did it in the guest bedroom was something else. Man, I cleaned that room like I've *never* cleaned a room before!

Like the others above said once they're fully feathered out they're ready to go outside. Their roosting area needs to be draft free and dry. If the temperature is going to go into the low teens then it might be advisable to put a hundred watt light bulb in with them. Their feathers are very good insulation but at only a month or two old they won't have much body mass to hold heat. At full growth even in the teens they won't need additional heat if they're dry and out of the wind.

........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), February 08, 2002.


Alan,

I have spent as much as 3 months dusting and vacuuming and dusting again, then there was carpeting shampooing. Oh no, I will not raise 'our feathered friends' in the house again.

having banty chickens are my choice for raising day old chicks..in my case Silkies are my favorite.

-- westbrook (westbrook_farms@yahoo.com), February 09, 2002.



Julie, wasn't fussin". Just trying to tell you that there are specialists around who have lots of experience with your questions and live right in your area. It's not a question of "liking" one forum over the other. I love this place, but if I want experts on something in particular, no matter what it is, I go to a specialty forum that has people on it who are just the ticket to answer questions. TPC has chemists, biologist, etc. people who teach in Universities and Vets whos' specialties are poultry. I guess it's hard to take someone seriously who isn't all that interested in the pursuit of knowledge from many different directions. I love learning about subjects that involve animals or plants and get as much info from as many sources as I can. That is what learning is all about. If you don't, that's OK, I don't mind and it's cool. LOL LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 09, 2002.

Know what the best way to make sure that 8 high school juniors DON'T

-- Stacy (KincoraFarm@aol.com), February 09, 2002.

Oops...

As I was saying. The best way to make sure that 8 high school juniors don't use your house to get ready for the junior prom is to have 25 chicks in your bathroom! I bought 25 chicks on 5/31/01 and the prom was the next weekend, worked like a charm--the gaggle of giggling girls infiltrated someone else's house.

DD and her date stopped in for pictures and such, we set them up on the lawn everything was perfect--then the rooster started crowing. Rosie's face was as red as her gown. She says her biggest embarassment would be if one of her friends had to stop their car to allow a chicken to cross the driveway. Poor kid.

Stacy in NY

-- Stacy (KincoraFarm@aol.com), February 09, 2002.


I've read and posted to the poultryconnection forum as well as several others and about that many poultry mailing lists. If you've got an involved technical question then you'd be best off to find the technical poultry specialists. For simple questions like the one Julie is asking then you don't need to seek out an electrical engineer to ask how to screw in a light bulb. There's plenty of folks with experience right here who can and have answered the question.

There's a lot of good info on the poultryconnection but I don't post or read there terribly much because I find the format annoying. Nothing at all to do with the people, everything to do with the way the forum software works. The Greenspun server goes up and down like a pogo stick but when it works it's very easy to use which lead many of us to hang out here more than other forums.

.......Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), February 09, 2002.


Julie, the birds can go outside as soon as they're all feathered, about 2 months old. I don't use heat or lights outside.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2222@hotmail.com), February 09, 2002.


Forgot to mention when you do get the little peepers outdoors, chickens do carry lice and mites. Be aware of that when getting things back together inside. Just a thought. LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), February 09, 2002.

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