I moved them outside at 2 weeks. Yay or nay?

[GoldenGirlsChicks]

I went ahead and got that coop from tractor supply. It’s what we need and I have zero time to build one. So far it’s working out great. And I have the warming plate in there as well. Chicks seem happy they can come and go as they please.

 

[GoldenGirlsChicks]

I’ve had the chicks for 7 weeks now. They seem to be doing fine. The tractor supply coop gives them inside and protected outside room. They are all feathers now. We still feed them chick food, the bag says we can feed them this for up to 16 weeks. I think they are now doing what I’ve heard as dirt or dust baths. They kinda flap around in the dirt. I have the coop on the ground but don’t have any kind of bedding on the ground. I read something about scratch and I have no idea what thst is. I also heard something about putting sand on the ground for them. For now we are just letting them be. I think we still have a ways to go before eggs show up.

 

[GoldenGirlsChicks]

I’ve had the chicks for 7 weeks now. They seem to be doing fine. The tractor supply coop gives them inside and protected outside room. They are all feathers now. We still feed them chick food, the bag says we can feed them this for up to 16 weeks. I think they are now doing what I’ve heard as dirt or dust baths. They kinda flap around in the dirt. I have the coop on the ground but don’t have any kind of bedding on the ground. I read something about scratch and I have no idea what thst is. I also heard something about putting sand on the ground for them. For now we are just letting them be. I think we still have a ways to go before eggs show up.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have the coop on the ground but don’t have any kind of bedding on the ground. I read something about scratch and I have no idea what thst is. I also heard something about putting sand on the ground for them.

Scratch is chicken candy, a mix of seeds and other tasty tidbits.

Whether or not you need litter and how you'd manage it depends on your climate and soil and cleaning schedule. It might be ok as is, or you may find yourself with a muddy mess within a few months, impossible to say until it happens.

 

[GoldenGirlsChicks]

I’m in central Texas. We hardly get any rain. Especially once May is over. I keep diatomaceous earth on hand to try to keep the flies away but I don’t think it’s working. Is there a chicken scratch recipe?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I’m in central Texas. We hardly get any rain. Especially once May is over. I keep diatomaceous earth on hand to try to keep the flies away but I don’t think it’s working. Is there a chicken scratch recipe?

For flies you may need traps. Even with deep litter like I use it's hard to get the litter to compost poops when it gets hot and dry.

I'm sure there's scratch recipes but you can also buy it commercially (or look at what's in a packaged scratch mix and mix your own assortment of the same sorts of things). Just keep in mind that it tends to be low protein, high fat, so use it sparingly. For 4 chicks something like 1 Tbsp a day total is more than enough for training purposes.

 

[NatJ]

We still feed them chick food, the bag says we can feed them this for up to 16 weeks.

You can feed them chick food for their entire lives, if you want. Just put out a separate container of free-choice oyster shell when they get close to egg laying age. Chick starter is safe for all chickens of all ages, as long as you provide oyster shell as a calcium source for the ones who lay eggs.

"Layer" feed has more calcium than other chicken feeds. It should not be fed to chickens that are too young to lay eggs, because the extra calcium is bad for non-laying chickens. But laying hens can get their calcium from layer feed, or from a separate dish of oyster shell. Most chickens do a good job of eating the right amount of oyster shell for their own needs: more when they are laying, less or none before they start laying or when they take a break from laying.

The "16 weeks" on the chick starter is a rough estimate of when some pullets might be getting ready to lay eggs, if they are from breeds that mature early. Pullets of some other breeds might need another month or two, or sometimes more than that.

I read something about scratch and I have no idea what thst is.

Scratch is usually a mix of grains that can be sprinkled on the ground so the chickens "scratch" for it. Chickens usually like to eat scratch, but they do not really need it. They can be happy and healthy without it. If you want to give them a treat, they can be just as happy with some dandelion leaves or lettuce, or a dish of their regular feed with water added to make it a wet mash, or quite a few other things.

Scratch for chickens is similar to cookies for people: eating too much is bad for the health of the chicken or the person, but a little bit every now and then is fun without causing problems.

I also heard something about putting sand on the ground for them.

Sand can get used for several things.

Some people use sand in the chicken coop and/or run, and then scoop the poop each day like a giant kitty litter box. This works well for some people in some climates, but badly for some other people in different climates (or sometimes even in the same climate.) Maybe that is what was being discussed?

Grit is little rocks, that chickens swallow and then the rocks grind up food inside the chicken's gizzard. Many people buy a bag of grit and provide a dish of it, so the chickens can always get some when they want it. But if the chickens have access to sand or small gravel, they will pick up their own little rocks from there (assuming that some of the pieces are the right size). So maybe someone was talking about providing sand as a source of grit?

Sometimes chickens will take a dust bath in sand. They can also take a dust bath in dirt, and I've seen them do it with wood shavings or other bedding materials too. Someone might have talked about providing sand for chickens to use for a dust bath (I get the feeling that chickens usually like other things better than sand, but some do have different preferences than others.)

I think we still have a ways to go before eggs show up.

First eggs often show up when pullets are about 5 or 6 months old, sometimes as young as 4 months, occasionally as old as 8-12 months. Some chickens mature earlier than others, and the amount of daylight makes a difference too. Pullets that are old enough just as the days are getting short in the fall, will sometimes wait until the days get long again in the spring.

 

[GoldenGirlsChicks]

Thanks for all the info. Our chicks are golden sex links. We were told they are good egg producers and not much for flying. I plan to cut their flying feathers when they are old enough. I have no idea when the right time for that is. A friend who also has chickens showed me. She spread the feathers out and there was a line at about the halfway point. She cut the feathers on the outside of that line and only on one side of the chicken.

 

[FrostRanger]

You can clip their wings right now if you want, you'll probably just have to do it again in a few weeks as chicks tend to go through a few molts. I would also always provide them with grit even if they're on the ground. Grit is cheap and lasts a really long time and the effects of not having something to use as grit can be deadly so it's cheap insurance. Scratch is just a treat and not something you have to provide and if you do choose to feed it, only give them a little bit every now and then. I personally like having a substrate in the run as I think it helps keep any smells to a minimum and keeps flies away, plus I like to use their poop as compost. I like to use mulch, but many things work for different people depending on their individual circumstances (just don't use cedar if you do use mulch and probably not rubber either)