When the baby chicks come to our farm, we keep them in the greenhouse. It is the most heat efficient place to keep them, since it is south facing and already being heated for the seedlings. We keep them in groups of 50-75 so that they will not over crowd each other. The first two weeks of their lives, we keep them in an 18"x40" box raised close to the top of the green house, because its extra toasty up there. This box is bedded with wood shavings. We put a small waterers raised up on a 2x4 so that the chicks will not drown in the water. We also give them small feeders that have slide on tops so that they can not stand on them. At two weeks of age, the chicks are moved down to the floor of the green house to a 24"x40" box with a heat lamp for 1 more week. We also put in two of each and bigger feeders and waterers. At week 3 we turn off the heat lamp, in preparation for being put out to pasture. This may be different for your area. You could put chicks out as early as 12-16 days old, but in our area, it is just too cold for them.
P.s. we only recommend this timeline for the Cornish cross meat bird breed. All breeds grow at different rates, and you all live in different areas, so research these things first.
Check out our next blog post on putting the chicks out to pasture!
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