Hey everyone! We just ordered day old chicks!

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Beth8889

In the Brooder
May 6, 2018
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Hi everyone! My husband and I just ordered day old chicks. My husband has experience with baby chicks, horses, and other animals, but I don't. We are a homeschool family of 6; we have 4 children ages 3 months, almost 2 years old, 7 years old, and almost 10 years old.
My sister in law has a horse barn that has an area for chickens on the other side including a well fenced-in area behind it to keep predators out. She has raised many chickens there but now has a chicken coop in her back yard as she doesn't live as close anymore. We, however, live less than a minute from this barn.
We have baby chicks coming in a few days and although I've been reading a lot about them, I don't feel completely confident about this new responsibility we've taken on. I think it will be a great opportunity for our older daughters, but I came across some info about chicks spreading diseases to babies easily that honestly has me questioning this whole thing.
We have ordered 10 chicks. I'm not sure if this is a good amount but didn't want to take on a lot. The area for the chickens has been empty for a couple years so we'll definitely be cleaning it out tomorrow to get out ready for the chickens' arrival. We got the Americauna (unsure of spelling) breed.

I'm kind of afraid to be a part of the cleaning process and even handling the baby chicks because I nurse my 3 month old. I don't mean to sound completely paranoid, but I do have anxiety and she is my rainbow baby so my anxiety is much worse when it comes to her health and safety.
We have a huge thing of hand sanitizer there and I plan to have the kids keep separate shoes in that barn to wear when they're in there feeding the chicks.
If anyone has any information that would be helpful for beginners, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you
 
Welcome to BYC Beth! Don't worry too much about germs, my mom is nursing a four month old baby and we have ducks, chickens, cockatiels, dogs, goats, horses, sheep and so many other critters running all over the place. As long as you set boundaries as to what the kids can do with the chickens ie; no kissing them, no licking them(I'm sorry but my much younger sister actually did this) and make sure they wash their hands after handling the chickens.

Chickens are a big hit with most children (Looking back at the pictures that I am three to five years old in, I'm carrying a creamy coloured silkie bantam cross in almost all of them) Give your (older) kids a few responsibilities to do with the chickens (Cleaning, feeding, that sort of thing) and it'll help them learn about caring for animals.

Good luck with the chicks, and feel free to ask questions on BYC! The only 'stupid' question is the one that is never spoken!
 
Hello Beth and welcome to BYC

On this link you'll find lots of information on almost every aspect of keeping chickens - from coop building ideas, to incubating eggs - https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/


There’s a link on the page above to the Learning Centre - it’s a great resource. If you have a specific topic in mind, just type it in the search box - there's a wealth of information on past and present threads.


Each week, various topics are discussed, which can also be a great resource - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive


You can use this link to contact members in your area - Find Your State Thread

Best wishes

Pork Pie
 
Welcome @Beth8889! I hope I can set your mind at ease a little bit. This will be a long post (most of mine tend to be that way!) but I think I can help.

We got our first chicks in 2014. We were so excited, but we had a concern. I was our granddaughter Kendra's full time day care provider. Kendra has Spina Bifida, hydrocephalus, a weak immune system, bowel and bladder dsyfunction, seizures and autism. She was 2 when we were expecting the chicks, and at that time they only way we knew to raise chicks was in the house, in a brooder with a heat lamp. Kendra's big sister Katie and her cousin Evan, also in my care most of the time, couldn't wait to see the chicks but they decided that Kendra should get to see them first, before they did. Big hearts, those two!

But Kendra was facing major leg surgery the week after the chicks arrived. So I called her surgeon. His nurse told me that Kendra shouldn't be around the chicks at all pre-op. She said that was far too much risk to take for a baby with a compromised immune system facing surgery. I was disappointed, and kinda trying to rethink how I should do things to keep things clean enough for her. Katie and Evan were disappointed as well - they'd been talking about how much fun it would be for Kendra to see those cute babies.

Later that evening Kendra's surgeon called. He told us, "You let that baby see and hold those chicks! She has a lifetime of "no's" ahead of of her and she needs as many "yeses" as we can possibly give her. There's nothing she can get on herself that won't come off with soap and water." He also said he knew that we would be washing her hands and she'd be getting her special baths, and she would be scrupulously cleaned before, during and after surgery. Risk to her from those chicks was not anything he was concerned about.

So when the chicks arrived the next morning, Kendra got to see and hold the chicks! We had them in a basket with a cookie cooling rack over the top to make sure that they wouldn't jump up and scare her, and that she wouldn't grab one and accidentally hurt it, and her love affair with chickens began at that moment.
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She's now 6 years old, and that love affair continues, even to the point of her favorite chicken (a huge Light Brahma named Tank) sitting in her lap and riding around with her when she's outside in her wheelchair. We put the egg gathering basket on her lap in her chair and she loved to bring in the eggs. And one day when she was 5 years old and her PTherapist and I were outside helping Kendra learn to use her little walker, she wanted to see the chickens. Our ground is too uneven for her to use the walker well when off the sidewalk, so her therapist took her by the hand and by the waistband of her braces, walked with her out to the coop, and Kendra stood outside at the chicken run, chatting with the ladies and having a wonderful visit. Then, wonder of wonder, she walked all the way back to the house carrying her little egg basket with three eggs in it! Kendra was helping with the chores!

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She gets around the house by crawling most places, although she can stand and walk short distances with a lot of support. Whatever is on the wheels of her chair or on the floor is on her hands, and her hands spend a lot of time in her mouth. So we use separate coop shoes to work on outside and change just off the deck before coming in. When she's outside with the chickens, we keep a wet soapy cloth in a plastic bag hanging off the back of her chair to wash her hands, and her hands are washed frequently in the house, too. You CAN raise kids - even kids with disabilities - around chickens as long as you have a healthy respect for the power of the germ, and while there's no need to disinfect things to the point of obsession, just use your common sense. You've got this, and the kids will LOVE it, as you can see by the shared snuggles between Kendra and our Silkie roo, Smudge!

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Hello and Welcome to BYC! We moved to our farm when my son was 3 months old. My in-laws moved here about 10 months before we did and got started on chickens. We now have over 100 birds. As @rjohns39 said, soap and water are your best friends. I have outdoor shoes and when my son was younger, I would put a large t-shirt over my tank top when I go outside to deal with the birds. I've relaxed that aspect a bit. If I am handling the older birds and holding them against my body, I'll change my top, but if I'm just feeding and watering or handling chicks, I don't change. He's 22 months now and hasn't had any issues surrounding the birds.

One tip, in the summer, if you have the right heat source (a Mama Heating Pad or Heater Plate) you don't need to have the birds inside as all. @Blooie helped pioneer the Mama Heating Pad and she can give you the info on how to make one for far less than you can bet a heater plate. If you want a heater plate, I suggest Premier 1. They are cheaper than Brinsea's plates and they can withstand colder temperatures than Brinsea's plates.
 

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