Chicks are finally out!
Homesteading in the suburbs
It’s been fun having baby chicks in their brooder tubs in our family room to watch & interact with for these last 7 weeks, BUT…they create a LOT of dust!
We spent a couple of months before getting chicks, doing our research online and on YouTube to learn all we could about caring for chicks and raising them to adult chickenhood. We learned everything we could think of: what to feed, how to provide heat, when they should go outside in their coop, etc.
A HUGE amount of time was also spent on researching coops; both the henhouse and the run. We love the look of Carolina Coops, but could nowhere near afford one. So we learned from their videos how they make them, so we could make that style ourselves.
Carolina Coops build beautiful coops which look great in a town or suburb setting. So you don’t have the neighbors complaining, as well as providing chickens with a large enough place to wander around.
We were also able to find an automatic door, that opens at daylight and closes at dusk. Making it easy (once we train them) to not have to go let them out and in each day. There’s also a great rodent-proof, rainproof step-on feeder, that will hold several days worth of feed at a time. And a roll-away nesting box so eggs stay protected from pecking or getting dirty. So MANY innovations & inventions to make having chickens easier!
We got the chicks 7 weeks ago, as tiny little balls of fluff; and they’re pretty much grown! It’s amazing. At 3-4 weeks they were so big, they were crowding each other. Not many people had discussed this in all our research. So we went ahead and set up a second brooder tub. Thankfully a friend gave us a used chick heater, so we didn’t have to buy another. Then we put half the chicks in the new tub (4 chicks in each tub appears to be the limit for 6-7 week size). That first evening, as we watched tv before bed, they just cried and cried for each other! It was so sad! But right before bed, they settled down and have been fine ever since.
Everyone, on both websites & videos, talks about using the deep litter method. So we tried it in the brooder tubs and will be using it in the henhouse. You have several inches of bedding, and as the chickens poop and it starts to smell, you just add more bedding. Well, as quickly as chicks grow, I felt bad to keep adding bedding and shrinking their height space with them getting so tall. But when it starts to stink like ammonia, you have to add more material or clean it all out. And we kept hoping to finish their henhouse & run, but you know- we don’t get things done as quickly as when we were younger. 😜
We’d hoped to finish everything and have them outside by or before 6 weeks, when everyone says they’re usually ready (yes, even in cold weather!) But with the daylight gone after hubby gets home from work, we were really limited on what we could do outside during the week. And with the holiday season, weekends were somewhat limited on available work time.
God has blessed the weather every time we need to do work outside though, these last 6 weeks! I’ve learned to accept that if the weather is rainy, we’re supposed to do inside work or have a rest. When we’ve really needed to do outdoor work on this project, the weather has been great. Yesterday was the first day we had to work outside that it was just SO COLD! But with help from our son- we FINISHED!
We put the chicks in their henhouse with a chicken heater and now that the run is predator-proof, we’ll set out their ladder and open the door for them to have full access to outside!
Now to clean my house of all the dust they created! Boy do they love to scratch and make a mess! Between the chick feed dust and their scratching and “dust” bathing in their bedding, the whole family room was coated with dust and so hard to keep clean! Now I need to dust everything, sweep & mop (probably several times!)
These 8 chicks are an adventure! And it’s been a great, fun project for my husband and I to work on together! They’re not fully grown yet, they don’t have their red wattles or combs yet, but they have all their feathers now and are showing personality. It’ll be fun to keep learning as they grow through the winter and hopefully start getting wonderful, fresh eggs in spring or early summer.
Anyone who has tips to share about raising chickens, I’d love to have your comments!
On a side note, this is the last week for December Deals: Christmas Bundle and the Jam 3 pack.
