The Learning Curve

I've finally got the chicks all settled in, but I must say, it's been quite an ordeal getting everything dialed in. The main problem I've had is getting the temperature just right. Now I know that I'm a bit of a perfectionist and most likely, if the temperature in the brooder was a little off, they'd probably be just fine. However, the high, fluctuating temperatures in the brooder have caused other problems.


According to my books, the temperature should be between 90 and 95 degrees. I am creating that with a heat lamp suspended from the ceiling. Until my little pullets (young hens) have their adult feathers, they won't be able to monitor or create their own heat. That's why they have to stay inside the brooder (my bathtub) for the first eight weeks of their lives. Well, what the books don't say is to consider what effect your micro-climate will have on the brooder's temperature. There's a heat vent in my small bathroom where the brooder is so when the heat's on and the door's closed, the bathroom gets pretty hot. I learned that when I woke up the next morning, after the chicks' first night in their brooder, and discovered that the water in their waterer had completely evaporated over night. That means the chicks were in a hot little brooder for hours with no water! Dehydrating your chicks, or any animal for that matter, is one of the worst things you can do to them.


So, the next day after school, I made an hour-long trip during rush hour to the feed store to get a gallon-size waterer. This is way overkill for three little chicks, but I'm happy to report that now the water doesn't dry up.

Another change I made was taking the divider out of the brooder so that they can now access the entire space. Penny is a week older than the other girls and the woman at the feed store said they'd be fine. I think she's right, but what I didn't consider was the fact that she'd have different temperature needs than the others. My books recommend lowering the temperature in the brooder by 5 degrees every week. So Penny would probably be more comfortable in a cooler environment. That was confirmed when I found her sitting in the waterer, as far as she could get away from the lamp. After finding her in this position twice, I decided to take out the divider to give them more room. I think they're more cozy now.

Jake told me that his friend, who's family raised chickens when he was growing up, said that they kept their chicks in a box in the basement with no heat lamp and they were fine. And like I said before, I'm sure they'd probably survive without all my fussing. But the fact of the matter is that I have a huge learning curve. I am only recently an urban farmer and my only real experience raising animals has been with dogs. Give me a puppy and I'll raise him just fine – I've got puppy signals and behavior figured out. But chicks, now that's a whole other ballgame. I'm trying to learn what behaviors are normal and which are not. I'm trying to figure out if the chicks are giving me signs that they're distressed or are just being chicks. All I can really do is just keep reading my chicken books and observing their funny little ways, and hopefully everything will turn out in the end. I'm savoring every moment of this delicate and ridiculously cute time in their lives because they'll growing up quick and it will be over before I know it.