how much room do 2 dozen chicks need?

[mopinko]

antsy to get them, planning to brood them inside, then move them to a closed porch once they are feathered. thinking of getting a recycled baby play pen for them.
they will have a well sheltered coop. at what age would you put them outside? we are having a super mild winter here, but they should be fine outside in march anyway, as long as they are feathered, i think.

i have raised budgies, but these are my first chickens.

[Tsiyu]

1. When chicks, they don't need much room at all

A small cardboard box or cage will do inside. But be careful as they can escape some cages with wider slats.

You need to keep them warm with a lamp for a while. After a few weeks, they start jumping out of the cage, so you'll want some sort of outdoor brooder then, and they will still need heat for a few months til they completely feather out.

I have a brooder outside that I use to raise the babies. Just a small wood structure that I built and keep a heat lamp in. You could use a small doghouse but it needs to be critter-proof, maybe up on legs as mine is.

Also will add: the deep plastic storage bins they sell work great indoors. That's what I used for my last batch. You will love their little birdy sounds!

[mopinko]

2. i am on the hunt for a few big bins anyway

to use for planting containers. will put "good chick basket" on the criteria.

[WheelWalker]

3. My 25 just arrived this morning.

They're got a large dog crate inside a play pen in the kitchen.

[jwirr]

4. We have 15 chickens in a building the size of one of those storage sheds. I would not want to put`

more in there. But we also live in a very cold climate and they stay warmer that way.

[Tsiyu]

5. My experience: Right now I have six grown hens in a 10x8? foot military mesh enclosure

It would accomodate up to twenty five birds without crowding if I could move it more easily, but it's heavy. They have some roosts and nests (which need cleaning arrrg) .

If I were to brood chicks in it, I would block off a place inside it, but it's pretty far from an electrical source right now.

The brooder is wood lined with tarp roofed with sheets of old mobile home underskirting, separated a couple hundred feet from the main chickens, about 3 ft x 5 ft and up about 3 1/2 ft off the ground. it's got ventilation at each end.

The OP was wondering about the chicks, but I think he plans on building a chicken tractor, and you may know better then me the ideal dimensions for that number of grown birds.

I have used a chain link dog kennel, where I wrapped the bottom and half the sides in chicken wire and put an old gazebo cover over it (with a pole in the middle of the pen to hold up the point of the gazebo) and then covered that with a tarp to help the rain shed off. You can also buy covers for them but I'm cheap and poor. It was easy enough to move for two people.

And I have built some cages that were big FAILS.

I want to build a tractor this year, still studying designs.

I like reading how others raise theirs.

What size is your storage building, BTW?

[mopinko]

6. right now my storage building is

0' x 0' x 0'. not built yet, fighting with zoning right now. so stupid. i can build a 4 unit apartment building, but i can't build a stand alone garage.

[EFerrari]

7. Sounds like the planning department is waiting for you to hire an "expediter"

aka, one of their buddies whose palm needs greasing.

How much would it cost for the cheapest permit that would allow you to put up a "contractor's" trailer on the lot? The kind that gets power and water and cable tv?

[mopinko]

8. lot of that going on here.

i have a pop up. i wonder if i can get water to that.
it'll be ok. i don't have a blue print yet, so the battle has not really begun. the alderman's guy is supposed to talk to someone in zoning. i sent him my (idiosyncratic) site plan yesterday. i plan to do my own "expediting". they hate having citizens hanging around city hall.

[EFerrari]

9. Mom went to an older trailer park and told them

if they had a pull out, she'd take it off their hands. She got it nearly for free and it was in perfect shape, just too old to be moved to another park.

We have a hate - hate relationship with the county planning office. Sometimes we fantasize about being able to hire an expediter but they're really expensive and all they do is smooze and walk paper around.

When I finish this tax job, my helper and I are going to fence the garden finally. I need about 215 feet of fencing and to tune up the roto tiller. It will be on the gentle slope behind the house, facing the hollow between us and the nearest neighbor. The slope will make watering more efficient and it's a southern exposure. The soil isn't as good up here as it was in the little hollow on the other side, where I used to live, so it's likely I'll have to amend it. Luckily, there are stables mucked out every day here.

[hedgehog]

10. If I recall correctly, you're in Chicago, so don't get cocky!

Young chicks do love to run around on grass, but you may have to shoo them into the coop if it starts to snow. A late season wet snow storm can be devastating to young birds. Make sure they have a warm dry place to retreat to as need be.

It seems to me that the young birds have a tendency to try to take cover outside and need to be shooed into the coop the first few nights.

Your other hazards are predators: dogs, cats, rats, raccoons, hawks, owls, so keep an eye out for those as well!

[mopinko]

11. gonna get them 2nd week in april.

should be fine weather by the time they are fledged. will make sure they have an enclosure of some sort. they will have a cyclone fence enclosure that should keep dogs and coyotes out. my neighbor has a salmon net for me to cover the pen.
rodents will be the worst of it, but if need be i will send the terriers to stand guard, from the outside.
just caught my other neighbor, who has a playpen she would like to get rid of, as i suspected she might.
so, on our way, one way or another.

[hedgehog]

12. OH - you should be OK by then - I thought you

had the birds at home already!

Be warned - it seems that two or three of the chicks just go feet up for no apparent reason. I've had some deliveries where they all survived, but I never relax until after the first week.


You might have to train the terriers to leave the birds alone. Most dogs need to be trained that they're not to mess with the chickens. I still have trouble with my hound mix if he gets loose. We had some birds that insisted on flying into the dog pen; they didn't fare well! In general, I've found that Huskies are the worst for tearing through a chicken yard trying to take out every single bird!

[mopinko]

13. the dogs live with parrots.

not only have i trained them that all of the birds are belonging to me, the birds have taught them the meaning of the word "beak". there will be a lesson or 2, tho.
bullies mostly don't give a shit.