I had success last year with my first brood of chicks being born at the end of August. Cold was not a problem then. They kept each other warm in the winter overnights and come spring they began laying. I recommend the timing.
7:35 I think it’s because a lot of people confuse raising chicks with a broody hen and a brooder. My experience is that chicks under a hen harden off fairly quickly and is being looked after better than humans can. They can hatch in the winter, but from a brooder you have to be careful and keep a close eye on them because there isn’t an Hen giving them warmth when needed.
Hey lady! First time chicken mama here and I did something similar to this. Hybrid of sorts. The first two week I kept them in the brooder and then had them outside during the day for a week and then moved them to their coop a week later. I keep the heat plate on at night! They were definitely happier babies.
We love raising chicks in the fall. They start laying eggs as soon as spring starts, which I love. We have never raised chicks inside and have raised them between March-November in Northwest PA. We have only used heat lamps in the chicken coop for them. We have raised over 300 chicks in October.
I am raising lavender orpington chicks this fall and they hatched on Sept 21, so they are just a smidge over 2 weeks now. We have them in a small metal storage building in a stock tank. We have a large plate heater on one side and we have a hanging heat lamp BUT it has a ceramic terrarium heater bulb for reptiles in it instead of a red bulb. This has made a huge difference, and we don't worry nearly as much about fire with the ceramic bulb as we did with the red incandescent bulb. We also have them on crushed corn cob instead of shavings. I can hang the light fixture pretty low and keep the far side of the stock tank warm for a more consistent heat. If it gets close to freezing at night I have brought them in, but they seem really happy. They have surprised me with their resilience.
I moved south this year and got chicks the first week of September. They are fledged just in time for cooler weather. No stress, no worries about temps.
My Jersey Giants hatching day was Aug 26 2022. Last batch from Hoover's Hatchery. Built the coop through September while they were in the house. Worked out well.
Our spring chicks started laying in the fall and haven't slowed down any this winter. We live in the northeast US. We started a new batch in October and another batch in the beginning of December. We keep them all in the kitchen until feathered out. We use a large dog crate and some cardboard with deep litter for the brooder. Once they're big , I have a couple raised garden beds in our greenhouse I'm not using until spring so I've converted them into simi brooder/run. They can spread out, forig on the cover crop in the beds as well as the starter feed. Come spring they'll move out and join the rest of the flock.
I got my first flock of chicks on May 3rd and never brought them inside. They went directly into a small temporary coop with a heat source. They could go directly under or get away if it was too hot. The lowest temp I had at night was 39 F. But all 5 chicks are happy and healthy. They stayed in the small coop until July and they had grown so much so quickly we built a large coop. I went larger than needed just because I knew I wanted to add more chickens.
Eastern Canada here, first week with meat chicks temps went down to 3’ and 2 days later they all started sneezing and wheezing. Brooder lamp was too hot during the day and not warm enough at night. Brought them in the house for 5 days and kept temps consistent. Gave acv and electrolytes in water (used one every other day) and added kelp and stinging nettle to food. They’re all better and back outside. The extremes in temps is what’s hardest on them.
Omg I just ordered them yesterday and then googled this today and here you are! You've helped me so much in the last couple years and this is yet another example! TY!
I have always raised chicks in the fall, by the first week of October I attempt to have them in thew coop and run. All my older ladies are fall chickens and they are Armour coated. They hatched 2 eggs in January this year and both roosters(lol) are still alive.
I raise them with ducklings. The ducklings will take care of them as they grow faster. The trick is to separate their feeding area. Or have their watering area elevated to catch all the water.
As a new chicken mama I really enjoyed this because I got my chicks August 23rd & it was warm enough in the morning (95 ish)& at night (85 ish) and we still had them inside. Experiences was lacking lol😊
I just had a broody hen hatch 11 healthy chicks in october, and its now November and all the chicks are still alive and well. I live in Virginia and the temperatures get to a low of about 30 degrees at night.
So happy I came across this. We just picked up 4 chicks in the beginning of October. It'll be a while before they'll be big enough to join the flock. We're keeping them in the kitchen for now and soon plan on moving them out to our greenhouse until they get more size on them. Like in this video, we'll be seeing eggs come spring.
We have a Broody hen raising chicks. They hatched October 1st. 2023. So far babies are doing great. Being in SC helped us agree with her broody demands to hatch s few eggs this close to winter for us.
I can attest to this too, got my chicks in the beginning of August, raised inside and they never stayed under the brooder plate at night, probably because the house was already 80 degrees. Also got them outside by 4 weeks. My spring chicks, the house was too cool since it didn’t heat up til the end of Spring. I might just do this next year since it was much easier. Thanks for you info. 😊
I’m raising my first chicks this fall..they’re 3 weeks old right now and I’ve been using the brensea radiant heat brooder plate with them. In the instructions that came with it, it does say to use supplemental heat if temps drop below 50°F, so that’s what I’ve got to do tonight as it’s dropping to 44°F. I’ve got a heat lamp very well secured above their brooder box to keep them just warm enough. I do agree though I don’t really enjoy the heat lamp, it does worry me, but I have it to where it’s not going anywhere lol.
I’m raising 10 chicks right now in Eastern Wisconsin they are in my old milk house. They are 3 weeks old and doing great!!! I have a heat lamp with a temperature controller on it.
i have a silkie who went broody about 2 weeks ago loose momma privelages because i was put in the yard and saw a baby laying on its back kicking its legs i luckily had my brooder set up from chicks that just went outside and all warm put it in there warmed it up and it snapped back to life gave it back and she sat on it immediately the next day had the same problem
This video came at a perfect time! I cracked (haha) at the farm store and brought home a few new chicks last week and I was nervous about it but so far they’ve been adjusting really well. I’ve never raised chicks outdoors before but this year I happen to live in a smaller space where I couldn’t brood them indoors
Funny, I should come upon this today. A friend of mine was just asking me about chicks in the witer. We have 2 brooding hens that produced quite a few chicks this spring. Its great when they do all the work but was thinking about incubating some this winter for a friend of mine. Its good to know it can be done successfully. We also have several of the radiant heat brooders too because I got the idea from you 2 years ago and have loved the idea that I'm not going to catch the house on fire. The thought of cooking the chicks was horrifying to me. So thank you for that suggestion. Thanks again. Im going for it. We have a coop my husband built that is so tight a piece of paper couldn't slide through. We did that because of snakes in our area. So no drafts.
Girl! If you want a broody hen, get a silver phoenix hen!!! I got 11 chicks in February 2023, (hatchery picks, ended up with 4 leghorns, 1 brown hen with attitude problems , an Americana rooster and hen, 2 silver Phoenix hens, 2 silver Phoenix roosters) The ONLY hens to go broody for me have been both the silver Phoenix hens, we had 5 hatch in august and 4 hatch 5 days ago. I'm excited but stressing at the same time.
I remember you you were my first nice lady, shaking human I used to watch the weather in. I wish I have so much stuff to tell you it is everything I had kind of sad that we have to learn sometimes the hardest with our baby more, I learn, that actually 🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣Chickies can’t
I live in Ohio and our weather is going to take a huge drop tomorrow (today’s high was 70, and tomorrow’s high is 55🥶). I have 5 girls that were hatched in late June and early July, and of course my overprotective self wants to keep them warm and safe, but I’ve taken precautions to help with that. Two of them are Brahmas (1 Buff and 1 Dark), so I know they’re probably going to actually enjoy the cooler weather😅, and the other is a French Blue Splash Lavender Maran so I think her extra leg feathers will keep her warm too. My Blue Splash Lavender Olive Egger and Exchequer Leghorn are the two I worry for the most, especially the Leghorn, but Olive is pretty big and doesn’t seem bothered by the chillier weather. Sassy, the Exchequer Leghorn, is still developing her adult feathers on her back (though they’ve mostly grown in), so she’s the one I worry about the most; Leghorns already don’t like the cold (my White Leghorn, Pearl, really hates it😂), but I’ve given them extra bedding in their coop and moved their spot to an area that gets more sunlight to help keep them warmer when they’re outside of their coop.
If you hook up a hanging heat lamp properly with a barrier between it and the chicks then its not really a fire hazard.. it seems more risky to experiment. I would not use a heating pad at all, maybe something you would use for lizards? But I have not looked into that. You said yourself that its perfectly fine to raise them indoors; its somewhat warm already, you can turn the light off and you wont forget to interact with them. .-. If they don’t have a mom hen then you interacting with them often is important imo. I like hearing about your methods, there seems to be a lot of people new to raising chickens in your comments and fyi guys its not a good idea to experiment with baby animas, just go with the safest most tested option or it can get pretty sad, chicks are pretty sensitive esp without a mom. Ive been raising chicks all my life since I was a little kid.
Question on radiant heater, mine has 200 w setting and 40 w. I'm going with 40 watt unless you don't believe it to be warm enough. We will be in the twenties in the next few days, thanks enjoying your channel.
how old do they need to be before you can start feeding them GrubTerra? I have some 3 day old chicks and I've been giving them some of their starter food by hand to help them get used to me and I wanna give them tasty treats once they can!
A little more than a year ago, I started researching about having chickens. You were the very first video I ever watched. Now I have been affected by Chicken math. Lol. I use the brooder plate for the babies. Still waiting for one of my hens to go broody because I'm really wanting to have that experience. We are building another coop because we have more boys than we have girls for. Trying to decide though I should put all the boys together and one and the girls in another. They won't be able to see each other so I don't know if the boys will fight. My question is if the boys were with girls for a while and then get pulled out and put together, would they fight? I guess I'll find out soon enough. Another option is to put one boy with some of the girls in each of the two coops but I still have one more boy to deal with. It's hard to decide which one will stay and which one cannot. Especially when I have no good place to send the rooster! Thank you so much for all you do for us.❤❤
I currently have a broody hen in Michigan the weather will definitely be cold when they are born. I don’t know if I should let her do her thing or take the eggs from her because she is definitely very protective of them. This is my 1st time having a broody hen. I just started chicken raising this spring so I am very nervous about this.
radiant heat brooders killed a lot of my chicks... i'm not saying i've given up on them entirely, but it's really depressing how such an expensive appliance could be a detriment rather than a help.
No heat, the mom hen can provide everything the chick needs, they have been doing it for thousands of years. Most hens go broody in winter because it makes sense. I live way up north, absolutely NO heat. Your birds will wind up sick due to temp flux, and if your heat goes out, they are not hardened off to survive.
I had success last year with my first brood of chicks being born at the end of August. Cold was not a problem then. They kept each other warm in the winter overnights and come spring they began laying. I recommend the timing.
7:35 I think it’s because a lot of people confuse raising chicks with a broody hen and a brooder. My experience is that chicks under a hen harden off fairly quickly and is being looked after better than humans can. They can hatch in the winter, but from a brooder you have to be careful and keep a close eye on them because there isn’t an Hen giving them warmth when needed.
Hey lady! First time chicken mama here and I did something similar to this. Hybrid of sorts. The first two week I kept them in the brooder and then had them outside during the day for a week and then moved them to their coop a week later. I keep the heat plate on at night! They were definitely happier babies.
We love raising chicks in the fall. They start laying eggs as soon as spring starts, which I love. We have never raised chicks inside and have raised them between March-November in Northwest PA. We have only used heat lamps in the chicken coop for them. We have raised over 300 chicks in October.
I'm always impressed with Oak Abode's videos. The information presented is concise, organized, helpful and done in a fun and thoughtful manner.
I am raising lavender orpington chicks this fall and they hatched on Sept 21, so they are just a smidge over 2 weeks now. We have them in a small metal storage building in a stock tank. We have a large plate heater on one side and we have a hanging heat lamp BUT it has a ceramic terrarium heater bulb for reptiles in it instead of a red bulb. This has made a huge difference, and we don't worry nearly as much about fire with the ceramic bulb as we did with the red incandescent bulb. We also have them on crushed corn cob instead of shavings. I can hang the light fixture pretty low and keep the far side of the stock tank warm for a more consistent heat. If it gets close to freezing at night I have brought them in, but they seem really happy. They have surprised me with their resilience.
I moved south this year and got chicks the first week of September. They are fledged just in time for cooler weather. No stress, no worries about temps.
13:25
Their little psyches 😭 that's so cute
My Jersey Giants hatching day was Aug 26 2022. Last batch from Hoover's Hatchery. Built the coop through September while they were in the house. Worked out well.
Our spring chicks started laying in the fall and haven't slowed down any this winter. We live in the northeast US. We started a new batch in October and another batch in the beginning of December. We keep them all in the kitchen until feathered out. We use a large dog crate and some cardboard with deep litter for the brooder. Once they're big , I have a couple raised garden beds in our greenhouse I'm not using until spring so I've converted them into simi brooder/run. They can spread out, forig on the cover crop in the beds as well as the starter feed. Come spring they'll move out and join the rest of the flock.
I got my first flock of chicks on May 3rd and never brought them inside. They went directly into a small temporary coop with a heat source. They could go directly under or get away if it was too hot. The lowest temp I had at night was 39 F. But all 5 chicks are happy and healthy. They stayed in the small coop until July and they had grown so much so quickly we built a large coop. I went larger than needed just because I knew I wanted to add more chickens.
Eastern Canada here, first week with meat chicks temps went down to 3’ and 2 days later they all started sneezing and wheezing. Brooder lamp was too hot during the day and not warm enough at night. Brought them in the house for 5 days and kept temps consistent. Gave acv and electrolytes in water (used one every other day) and added kelp and stinging nettle to food. They’re all better and back outside. The extremes in temps is what’s hardest on them.
Omg I just ordered them yesterday and then googled this today and here you are! You've helped me so much in the last couple years and this is yet another example! TY!
I have always raised chicks in the fall, by the first week of October I attempt to have them in thew coop and run. All my older ladies are fall chickens and they are Armour coated. They hatched 2 eggs in January this year and both roosters(lol) are still alive.
I raise them with ducklings. The ducklings will take care of them as they grow faster. The trick is to separate their feeding area. Or have their watering area elevated to catch all the water.
Yay!!! Got my chickies about two weeks ago. I need to do better about encouraging them to be friendly.
I love my Grub Terra treats for my chickens. And they love them to.
As a new chicken mama I really enjoyed this because I got my chicks August 23rd & it was warm enough in the morning (95 ish)& at night (85 ish) and we still had them inside. Experiences was lacking lol😊
I just had a broody hen hatch 11 healthy chicks in october, and its now November and all the chicks are still alive and well. I live in Virginia and the temperatures get to a low of about 30 degrees at night.
So happy I came across this. We just picked up 4 chicks in the beginning of October. It'll be a while before they'll be big enough to join the flock. We're keeping them in the kitchen for now and soon plan on moving them out to our greenhouse until they get more size on them. Like in this video, we'll be seeing eggs come spring.
We have a Broody hen raising chicks. They hatched October 1st. 2023. So far babies are doing great. Being in SC helped us agree with her broody demands to hatch s few eggs this close to winter for us.
I can attest to this too, got my chicks in the beginning of August, raised inside and they never stayed under the brooder plate at night, probably because the house was already 80 degrees. Also got them outside by 4 weeks. My spring chicks, the house was too cool since it didn’t heat up til the end of Spring. I might just do this next year since it was much easier. Thanks for you info. 😊
I’m getting 10 chicks this week. The video was really helpful. Never raised chicks in the fall before. Thank you!
Totally agree. I have chicks hatching from my broody this week. Super excited for them🥰
Rocking it sweetie. Your work is appreciated. Thank u, I have a young hen who’s so broody, & we’re in Iowa.
Great I just commented on one of your indoor brooding videos. I brood for years in an unheated barn in Michigan in early spring
I’m raising my first chicks this fall..they’re 3 weeks old right now and I’ve been using the brensea radiant heat brooder plate with them. In the instructions that came with it, it does say to use supplemental heat if temps drop below 50°F, so that’s what I’ve got to do tonight as it’s dropping to 44°F. I’ve got a heat lamp very well secured above their brooder box to keep them just warm enough. I do agree though I don’t really enjoy the heat lamp, it does worry me, but I have it to where it’s not going anywhere lol.
I’m raising 10 chicks right now in Eastern Wisconsin they are in my old milk house. They are 3 weeks old and doing great!!! I have a heat lamp with a temperature controller on it.
we are on day 17 of incubation. after doing the math i felt that it would be smarter to start them in the fall
Keep making the great videos! I love that I keep getting recommended other Wisconsinites as youtubers!
i have a silkie who went broody about 2 weeks ago loose momma privelages because i was put in the yard and saw a baby laying on its back kicking its legs i luckily had my brooder set up from chicks that just went outside and all warm put it in there warmed it up and it snapped back to life gave it back and she sat on it immediately the next day had the same problem
I am so glad a lot of new information around chicks.i live in tropis country.thanks so much
This video came at a perfect time! I cracked (haha) at the farm store and brought home a few new chicks last week and I was nervous about it but so far they’ve been adjusting really well. I’ve never raised chicks outdoors before but this year I happen to live in a smaller space where I couldn’t brood them indoors
Funny, I should come upon this today. A friend of mine was just asking me about chicks in the witer. We have 2 brooding hens that produced quite a few chicks this spring. Its great when they do all the work but was thinking about incubating some this winter for a friend of mine. Its good to know it can be done successfully. We also have several of the radiant heat brooders too because I got the idea from you 2 years ago and have loved the idea that I'm not going to catch the house on fire. The thought of cooking the chicks was horrifying to me. So thank you for that suggestion.
Thanks again. Im going for it. We have a coop my husband built that is so tight a piece of paper couldn't slide through. We did that because of snakes in our area. So no drafts.
I've always raised my chicks in the fall, but I live in Florida, so it's warm.
Good information and great video!
Girl! If you want a broody hen, get a silver phoenix hen!!! I got 11 chicks in February 2023, (hatchery picks, ended up with 4 leghorns, 1 brown hen with attitude problems , an Americana rooster and hen, 2 silver Phoenix hens, 2 silver Phoenix roosters)
The ONLY hens to go broody for me have been both the silver Phoenix hens, we had 5 hatch in august and 4 hatch 5 days ago. I'm excited but stressing at the same time.
I have what we call a pig blanket, it is a hard plastic pad with a thermostat , will not start a fire. I used it raising puppies in cold weather
I remember you you were my first nice lady, shaking human I used to watch the weather in. I wish I have so much stuff to tell you it is everything I had kind of sad that we have to learn sometimes the hardest with our baby more, I learn, that actually 🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣🐣Chickies can’t
Thank you for the video and great info!
I live in Ohio and our weather is going to take a huge drop tomorrow (today’s high was 70, and tomorrow’s high is 55🥶). I have 5 girls that were hatched in late June and early July, and of course my overprotective self wants to keep them warm and safe, but I’ve taken precautions to help with that. Two of them are Brahmas (1 Buff and 1 Dark), so I know they’re probably going to actually enjoy the cooler weather😅, and the other is a French Blue Splash Lavender Maran so I think her extra leg feathers will keep her warm too. My Blue Splash Lavender Olive Egger and Exchequer Leghorn are the two I worry for the most, especially the Leghorn, but Olive is pretty big and doesn’t seem bothered by the chillier weather. Sassy, the Exchequer Leghorn, is still developing her adult feathers on her back (though they’ve mostly grown in), so she’s the one I worry about the most; Leghorns already don’t like the cold (my White Leghorn, Pearl, really hates it😂), but I’ve given them extra bedding in their coop and moved their spot to an area that gets more sunlight to help keep them warmer when they’re outside of their coop.
Raising chick's in the fall makes sense to me it's not only more sensible but economic
If you hook up a hanging heat lamp properly with a barrier between it and the chicks then its not really a fire hazard.. it seems more risky to experiment. I would not use a heating pad at all, maybe something you would use for lizards? But I have not looked into that. You said yourself that its perfectly fine to raise them indoors; its somewhat warm already, you can turn the light off and you wont forget to interact with them. .-.
If they don’t have a mom hen then you interacting with them often is important imo. I like hearing about your methods, there seems to be a lot of people new to raising chickens in your comments and fyi guys its not a good idea to experiment with baby animas, just go with the safest most tested option or it can get pretty sad, chicks are pretty sensitive esp without a mom. Ive been raising chicks all my life since I was a little kid.
How do you preserve your eggs? Waterglassing?
Yes! Chicken content🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤
I like raising chicks when it’s 100° summer outside no brooder needed 😂
Cool video
Got eggs in the incubator so we are gonna see how fall chicks are gonna go.
Question on radiant heater, mine has 200 w setting and 40 w. I'm going with 40 watt unless you don't believe it to be warm enough. We will be in the twenties in the next few days, thanks enjoying your channel.
Planning on getting chicks in spring in Florida and am wondering if I need a warmer.
I have been doing the same
how old do they need to be before you can start feeding them GrubTerra? I have some 3 day old chicks and I've been giving them some of their starter food by hand to help them get used to me and I wanna give them tasty treats once they can!
A little more than a year ago, I started researching about having chickens. You were the very first video I ever watched. Now I have been affected by Chicken math. Lol. I use the brooder plate for the babies. Still waiting for one of my hens to go broody because I'm really wanting to have that experience. We are building another coop because we have more boys than we have girls for. Trying to decide though I should put all the boys together and one and the girls in another. They won't be able to see each other so I don't know if the boys will fight. My question is if the boys were with girls for a while and then get pulled out and put together, would they fight? I guess I'll find out soon enough. Another option is to put one boy with some of the girls in each of the two coops but I still have one more boy to deal with. It's hard to decide which one will stay and which one cannot. Especially when I have no good place to send the rooster! Thank you so much for all you do for us.❤❤
Send him to freezer camp
I currently have a broody hen in Michigan the weather will definitely be cold when they are born. I don’t know if I should let her do her thing or take the eggs from her because she is definitely very protective of them. This is my 1st time having a broody hen. I just started chicken raising this spring so I am very nervous about this.
Interesting
Do you keep food and water in the actual coop when it is night time? When they go to sleep?
radiant heat brooders killed a lot of my chicks... i'm not saying i've given up on them entirely, but it's really depressing how such an expensive appliance could be a detriment rather than a help.
No heat, the mom hen can provide everything the chick needs, they have been doing it for thousands of years. Most hens go broody in winter because it makes sense. I live way up north, absolutely NO heat. Your birds will wind up sick due to temp flux, and if your heat goes out, they are not hardened off to survive.