Chick Prep

In just 8, all too short days my chicks are scheduled to arrive. I have most of what I need but I have yet to set it all up. I have collected two brooder lamps and a red heating bulb. I have feeders, medicated feed, starter grit, a waterer, a large dial style thermometer, and pine shavings. Now I just need a container for my brooder. I am trying not to invest too much in this temporary housing but I want it to be adequate, I want my chicks to thrive. I still feel insecure about the recommended size requirements for the space. If I am understanding my research correctly, chicks will need a minimum of 1 sq. foot of floor space per chick by the time they are one month old. That seems like an awfully big container to me. My father-in-law brought over “just the thing” to accommodate my small flock, which turned out to be a  dog step he built for his late, geriatric Golden Retriever and an old window screen for the top. At a glance it looked way too small, and it is. It is a nice sturdy wood box but the dimensions are not adequate. So off I went to the department store for a clear plastic tub. The one I purchased was a 105 quart 32 1/8 x 19 1/8 x 13 3/4. It looked like it should work. However, when I got it home  and began positioning the chicks waterer and feeders I immediately spotted some problems. I could see that the waterer, (even though it was the small 1 quart size) along with the small feeders took up so much space that the chicks wouldn’t have enough room to cruise around comfortably between the heat bulb at one end and sustenance at the other. The other problem beyond limited size, was the convex shape of the bottom of the plastic tub. The convex shape would not allow the waterer to sit solidly without tipping and I know that if the waterer were to tip over the chicks would get wet, chilled and possibly die. So the container is going back. Stay tuned for what I come up with for a chick brooder next.