Preparing for our new baby chicks!!

[StepfordCuckoos]

(I linked pictures of our chickens via the names, I hope that's okay and if it's not then I'll delete the links!)

Last year we got chickens for the first time (first set: 2 silkies, 2 barred rocks- we got two roos and two hens...our roos are so mean D(second set: 1 exchequer leghorn, 1 EE, 1 white crested blue polish). We learned our lesson after the first time lol. The first time we got four and all of them were from straight run bins at TSC. We named them Moses(BR), Spinach (BR), Tweety (Silkie), and Pigwidgeon [Piggy] (Silkie). Piggy is incredibly sweet and timid and we knew from the start that we'd have to really look out for her because the boys were not very nice with her. We added three girls onto our flock and this time, eager to avoid getting boys, we ordered them from a hatchery (Meyer). We got Raquel (Exchequer Leghorn), Ladybug (EE), and MJ (Polish). Once the younger girls were old enough to go outside, we put Piggy in with them. She loved it! Eventually we had to move Spinach over too because the boys were terrible to her. Then we had to separate the boys, so we put Moses in with the girls. He is so mean, but since we don't cull our chickens...he's just sort of staying until we get these new babies. My dad is getting a large chicken coop that can hold a large amount of chickens, and once we have that then Moses will get his own space away from the girls just like Tweety has.

So the (FEMALEEEE) chicks we're preparing to get are 1 White Maran, 1 Partridge Penedesenca, Lavender Orpington, 1 Frost White Legbar, 1 Cream Legbar, 1 Blue/Black/Splash Blue Andalusian, 1 Assorted Rare Female, 1 Brown Egg Layer Assortment Female. We took a while to pick them out because we wanted to make sure we got an array of different colored egg layers. I think they're all beautiful and I'm SOOOO excited to get them and watch them grow. Do you guys have any experience with any of the above hens? What do you think? We kind of splurged on the Frost White Legbar, I know- but she's going to be so pretty and lay beautiful eggs! My mom is most excited for the Andalusian. We really wanted a Green Queen or an Oliver Egger, but there weren't any available for the week we searched. I've heard good things about each breed, but I'm wondering what you guys think! Please be honest!

We raised our chicks inside until they are ready to go outside in the coop (then we transition them slowly so it's not all at once and super overwhelming). Right now we have one chicken living inside until further notice (Piggy). She was injured by our mean roo and is recovering (she's doing great, I'm honestly shocked. Her wound looked SOOO bad, but I've been spraying Vetericyn Plus on it for a few weeks and it's almost healed. She'll most definitely be in there when the chicks get here, but she's very sweet so we don't think she'll try to do anything to them. That being said, I want to make sure she can't get to them just in case a freak event occurs. I was thinking of purchasing one of these and retrofitting it to be a brooder for them. I'm going to cut chunks out of the top and put mesh or hardwire cloth there so they can't get out but can have proper ventilation. I'll also add some things inside to keep their food/water supply clean. What do you guys think about this? Our other chicks were raised in an inside brooder, but we were still completely new so things got a bit messy.

 

[DobieLover]

(I linked pictures of our chickens via the names, I hope that's okay and if it's not then I'll delete the links!)

Last year we got chickens for the first time (first set: 2 silkies, 2 barred rocks- we got two roos and two hens...our roos are so mean D(second set: 1 exchequer leghorn, 1 EE, 1 white crested blue polish). We learned our lesson after the first time lol. The first time we got four and all of them were from straight run bins at TSC. We named them Moses(BR), Spinach (BR), Tweety (Silkie), and Pigwidgeon [Piggy] (Silkie). Piggy is incredibly sweet and timid and we knew from the start that we'd have to really look out for her because the boys were not very nice with her. We added three girls onto our flock and this time, eager to avoid getting boys, we ordered them from a hatchery (Meyer). We got Raquel (Exchequer Leghorn), Ladybug (EE), and MJ (Polish). Once the younger girls were old enough to go outside, we put Piggy in with them. She loved it! Eventually we had to move Spinach over too because the boys were terrible to her. Then we had to separate the boys, so we put Moses in with the girls. He is so mean, but since we don't cull our chickens...he's just sort of staying until we get these new babies. My dad is getting a large chicken coop that can hold a large amount of chickens, and once we have that then Moses will get his own space away from the girls just like Tweety has.

So the (FEMALEEEE) chicks we're preparing to get are 1 White Maran, 1 Partridge Penedesenca, Lavender Orpington, 1 Frost White Legbar, 1 Cream Legbar, 1 Blue/Black/Splash Blue Andalusian, 1 Assorted Rare Female, 1 Brown Egg Layer Assortment Female. We took a while to pick them out because we wanted to make sure we got an array of different colored egg layers. I think they're all beautiful and I'm SOOOO excited to get them and watch them grow. Do you guys have any experience with any of the above hens? What do you think? We kind of splurged on the Frost White Legbar, I know- but she's going to be so pretty and lay beautiful eggs! My mom is most excited for the Andalusian. We really wanted a Green Queen or an Oliver Egger, but there weren't any available for the week we searched. I've heard good things about each breed, but I'm wondering what you guys think! Please be honest!

We raised our chicks inside until they are ready to go outside in the coop (then we transition them slowly so it's not all at once and super overwhelming). Right now we have one chicken living inside until further notice (Piggy). She was injured by our mean roo and is recovering (she's doing great, I'm honestly shocked. Her wound looked SOOO bad, but I've been spraying Vetericyn Plus on it for a few weeks and it's almost healed. She'll most definitely be in there when the chicks get here, but she's very sweet so we don't think she'll try to do anything to them. That being said, I want to make sure she can't get to them just in case a freak event occurs. I was thinking of purchasing one of these and retrofitting it to be a brooder for them. I'm going to cut chunks out of the top and put mesh or hardwire cloth there so they can't get out but can have proper ventilation. I'll also add some things inside to keep their food/water supply clean. What do you guys think about this? Our other chicks were raised in an inside brooder, but we were still completely new so things got a bit messy.

Your post would work far better if you directly uploaded the pictures to it.
That tote will be too small for your chicks to be in for more than a week or so.
For the safety, happiness and health of your pullets, you are going to have to have no more than one cockerel in with them. That means either rehoming the rest or giving them their own living quarters. I would get rid of the cockerel that so severely injured one of the pullets. Period. A good rooster just doesn't do that.

 

[StepfordCuckoos]

Your post would work far better if you directly uploaded the pictures to it.
That tote will be too small for your chicks to be in for more than a week or so.
For the safety, happiness and health of your pullets, you are going to have to have no more than one cockerel in with them. That means either rehoming the rest or giving them their own living quarters. I would get rid of the cockerel that so severely injured one of the pullets. Period. A good rooster just doesn't do that.

What size would you suggest that would be big enough for the chicks to grow into until they are old enough to go outside?

About our rooster, he will be removed from them as soon as we get the new coop and my dad puts up his new run. We moved from the city last year, and aren't accustomed to farm life in the way of culling chickens. We bought them as pets, so the idea of killing one of them is something we just can't bring ourselves to do. He will be getting his own place like our other rooster, though. After that he won't have access to the girls. He loves my dad (he will sit on my dad's leg sometimes so my dad can feed him). We're not sure that he meant to hurt her (it's an injury under her wing that's on her side, so we think it came from when he was mating with her), but it still happened. He's very protective over his girls. He loves his MJ and lets her eat first. He does have his good aspects, but he just can be very rough and he doesn't like my mom or I.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What size would you suggest that would be big enough for the chicks to grow into until they are old enough to go outside?

8 chicks? I'd say aim for at least 8 sq ft, that should last them first 4 weeks maybe? Plastic totes, while popular, aren't something I'd use. They're not ventilation friendly and can trap too much heat, like an oven.

A better choice would be a very large cardboard box, like an appliance box, or you can take apart smaller boxes and tape them together to make a bigger box.

 

[StepfordCuckoos]

8 chicks? I'd say aim for at least 8 sq ft, that should last them first 4 weeks maybe? Plastic totes, while popular, aren't something I'd use. They're not ventilation friendly and can trap too much heat, like an oven.

A better choice would be a very large cardboard box, like an appliance box, or you can take apart smaller boxes and tape them together to make a bigger box.

Do you think it would work if I created my own brooder with plywood? Would that provide enough ventilation?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do you think it would work if I created my own brooder with plywood? Would that provide enough ventilation?

Plywood walls and a mesh top should work fine.