another chick question

I was in the greenhouse today moving out plants and I got to wondering if my chicks can go in the greenhouse (confined to their brooder of course) when they arrive in May. This greenhouse has two fans circulating the air all the time. It's about 60 degrees at night (but they would have their red light) and goes way up to high 90's on sunny days. I would put their brooder near the floor so they wouldn't be in the direct path of the fans (both are up high).

What do you guys think? I'm getting static from Paul at the thought of chicks in the house.

MollyD

Well, as soon as our chicks hatched, we put them first into a brooder with a heating pad, and as soon as they were dry and fluffy, we moved them to the garage where we had the brooder set up with a 100watt light, not red. We did have some heat in the garage from the wood stove, but our night temps were down in the teens and twenties. If you have consistent night temps in the sixties, they should be perfrectly fine in the brooder with the red light. As long as the brooder isn't too big.

GG

understand the static with my babies in the house and some we are expecting to hatch by this weekend.....i guess i just focus on the cute :-)

they will get to play outside today with temps in the 80s, so that will be nice for everyone :-)

Thanks guys. That gives me an alternative if he gets too vocal about them being in here. I'm going to try to keep them in the house at least for the first week so I can keep a better eye on them. That seems to be their most fragile period.

I had a laugh at myself yesterday thinking back those many years to my last batch. I knew next to nothing about raising them. Only what I had gleamed from an old book. This is pre-internet days so you couldn't just hop on the net and ask questions. Those babies arrived from Agway and I popped their box under the wood stove to keep them warm! They kept escaping from it LOL I bet they were really WARM!! Happily they all survived to make it into pots.

MollyD

;-)

btw, the greenhouse is a great idea! if i had one, it would be used for critters in the off season...

tf

molly, i kept mine in the spare bedroom for 3 weeks. you should have heard my husband. thought he was either gonna divorce me or have me commited!

jordankittyjo,

ROFL! I heard similar rumblings when I mentioned using the spare bedroom! You'd have thought I was trying to spread an infection or something LOL

MollyD

men just don't unerstand!

They sure don't! Now if it's parts from their motorcycles or cars that's different ^_^

MollyD

yes, tools get left everywhere for me to pick up and return to their place, but for my incubators to have a temp home in the dining room is now on the list of deadly sins. so i guess i will be a sinner for a while longer now LOL...

DH casually mentioned it will be nice when these chicks hatch and the incubator can be moved from the bedroom. What part of "I am expecting more eggs in May" did he miss?

Actually he is coming around nicely--at first he thought dogs should stay outside, now he shares the house with five. And he let the first roosters stay in the bedroom unitl they were nearly six weeks old.

I chose him because he will move a snail rather than step on it--and my faith has been rewarded:0)

DH is trying to ignore the fact that I am currently collecting eggs. i have not broken the news to him that i also ordered chicks for about the same time, so i will have a full brooder regardless of how many hatch!

six week old roos? he IS a saint!!! my dh was such a dear, took care of his dogs pups when she died, and built a nice pen for me. how could i let such a good man and friend get away? i had to propose to keep him here! now he cooks to keep ME here lol

um, you remember you are also getting more eggs in APRIL too, right?

Too funny! My DH was deprived, and never had a
pet until he was in his early 30's. Someone must have
tainted his mind, poor thing. Now, we have had all the
quail and chicks in the house to brood, plus our 2 cats
when they decide they want to be in, 2 dogs all the time
they decide they don't want to be out, and one 25 cent
goldfish that has grown to pan-frying size. He has taken
over one end of the kitchen. I do give him the space he
needs, though, no one but us in the bedroom. Now that
we have started the chicken's house, he is more confident
and the next project is a 'Man Cave' for he and his tools.
His tools are taking up a quarter of the living room. Hmm..
nope- the bedroom is still just for us. for now

OMG, we are still building our bedroom. it is so nice to be in it [try sleeping on a futon with a bnew baby!], but i have no room for my furntiure with all that lumber in there!

i just broke the news to him about the 18 chicks i ordered. so now he has another new dealine for the north chicken yard. these are show and breeding birds, so they won't free range as much... need a BIG yard LOL... i first reminded him how much he likes me...

he has been doing so much work out there that many of his tools are in the poultry shed. i look forward to them going back tot he man cave. which gets a new roof and an expansion this year, if he is a good DH...

Shhhhhh, TF! I know nothing about eggs in April!;0). I told him I had ordered the May eggs way in advance and it was impossible to stop them. He is getting totally confused about what eggs are coming from where and when--and I want to keep it that way!

I did have to trade the garage and two upstairs rooms for the chickens. He needs the garage for all the tools he is buying and swears will be used to improve the house and build chicken things. One room is now the guitar room--with airconditioning, the only room in the house with it, but guitars are very, very sensitive to humidity and temp--unlike me I guess. The other room is in case I decide to turn the guitar room into a bathroom--someday! You have to know when to fight your battles.......

Catscan it's the curves on those guitars. They get those men entranced ^_^

MollyD

I think you're right, MollyD. He called me over the other day to look at the guitar he has designed with an online program--and he did talk an awful lot about the lines and how it looked. I tried to be impressed since he intends to spend the next year building it--but really a single feather on my Marans is far lovelier! To each his own:0)

TF, [quote]and built a nice pen for me.[quote]

How are you adjusting to your new pen? Do you have room to turn around in it? ROFLMAO

GG

This message was edited Apr 18, 2008 11:51 PM

i've been feeling a little cramped lately! [edit your quote line!] end = [/quote]

careful, i'm a little cranky too!

TF, for some reason I still can't get the quotes to work for me, so you will just have to imagine them being there.

GG

Oops, okay, senior moment there...lol.

GG

you gotta put the line in it! the slash by your right pinky...

Well, I went to bed then, and it is morning, and everything is working properly again. Like I said, a "senior moment".

Just you wait...you will get them one day...LOL

GG
♥^_^♥

Catscan my Paul arrived just as your post did so I couldn't answer yesterday. They really get so involved in their projects. Paul's thing right now is teaching tai chi. His master has convinced him he'll make a living at it. For now Paul is teaching 2 evenings a week. Now the only one I see making any money at this is the master cause Paul is barely making gas money on it! Oh well it keeps him off the streets at night ;-) LOL

Got to try that quote thing:

I just got in from tilling a new bed and started moving some plants into it. This is a seedling bed so they're lined up like a crop. I know you Texas gals are use to the heat but it's 81 here and this NY lady just can't take it!
I know I'm going to have to get a kiddee pool for my geese to take a dunk in! I think I may join them in there!!

MollyD

Yep, Molly, good idea...LOL

GG

We need a good soft warm rain for morels. C'mon God, it's that time.

Both...LOL

GG

Can you just picture me splashing in there with the geese LOL

MollyD

Of course I can...just like I can picture myself doing that.....LOL

GG
♠^_^♠

ROFL it's going to be fun having all these pets! Like a second childhood ^_^ Now if I could get him to let me have a bunny LOL

MollyD

you know bunnies with chickens is a GREAT ecosystem... i have heard of lots of folks who put the bunny cages in the chicken pen. the chickens scratch up spilled feed and scratch in the poo... when you turn the bunnies out they love the grass and many other things that the chickens don't eat... and the bunny cages provide shade for the chickens too!

you convince your DH, then i'll convince mine!

LOL I'll let you know how it goes! Right now we're ironing out where the goats will live!!

MollyD

Okay--I've been talking to DH about the bunny thing--we have two, Bugsy and Alice, who live in a big rabbit cage. From the beginning DH thought they should go in with the chickens. Now since the chickens went into his garage workshop yesterday and did ummmm--unmentionable things on his spotless floor, he is agreeing with my idea for a chicken yard. I think the rabbits should go in the yard, he is concerned that they will dig out. They wouldn't be there all the time and the chickens are getting very good at scaring away the local feral (and very pregnant) cats, so they should be safe. Has any one been able to rabbit proof a chicken yard? Do we need to sink wire under the ground along the perimeter? Or could I just put concrete blocks along the edge and monitor? It is going to be a very rundimentary fence--just wire and metal posts. New thread?

Catscan,

Doesn't bother me ^_^ !

My idea would be to keep them contained in their hutch instead of running loose. They can dig really fast and be out of there before you know it!

MollyD