Rural Gardening: Chicken Raising 101 - The How To Thread, 1 by Melissa_Ohio

Melissa_Ohio wrote:
I went and picked up new chicks last night, tragedy here, but I won't go into that. Anyway, the guy had the chicks in a box built into his barn, solid wood sides, about a foot wide, 4 feet long, with only the lid with wire mesh on it. These chicks are 5/6 weeks old, and he STILL had a heat lamp on them. Mind you, our temps this week have been in the 90's, terribly humid, just nasty. I went just to buy 10 buff orpington chicks he had, but when I saw these guys standing there looking at me and PANTING, I had to take them all.

We've got them in a large dog crate inside the barn, they've been here less than 24 hours, and have already went through 2 full pans of feed and 2 gallons of cool water. They aren't panting anymore either. :) Tomorrow, we're putting chicken wire around the section of the barn they are in, so they can get out of the crate in a few days and have more room to wander around in, but still be able to close them up at night. At least until they're big enough to move in with the rest of the gang.