[essex57]

Just found this site and hope that someone can advise me.

I have some rescued battery hens - had them for about 2 months.

At my grandaughters school they have been hatching eggs and now need homes for the chicks - would it be safe for the chicks to be with the chickens or should they be kept apart until they are bigger?

[joyfull]

Hi and welcome. Idealy they would need to be of a similar size before mixing with adults hens.

[essex57]

Oh ok.
Not sure then what to do - would the adult chicken attack the chicks?
Sorry to sound so thick but only just got into the chicken keeping and am under pressure from g kids to take some chicks but would not want to risk them getting hurt

[joyfull]

Just out of curiosity how old are the chicks?

[essex57]

Well I will find out more later but as far as I know the school get the eggs and hatch them in the school and I think they are only just hatched but I think that whereever they come from collect them and then bring them back in a few days - all a bit vague at the moment as this was just dumped on me this morning!

[joyfull]

If they are less than 5 weeks old they will need to be under a heat lamp. Having not raised chicks in an incubator (only naturally) I am not sure of the temperatures but do know you have to reduce it weekly. Someone else will come along shortly and explain.

[poultrygeist]

It sounds a bit irresponsible of the school to hatch eggs and then hope they can be farmed out to people. Or do they have a backup plan ?

Are you aware that you may get a load of cockerels ?

Rob

[agapanthus]

.......and yes the adults will attack the chicks and even possibly kill them.

[GrannieAnnie]

On some of these living eggs projects the farmers will actually take the chicks back with them, but of course with most of them they just hope someone will take them on, and not every chick is as lucky as the ones that ended up with Chickenlady!!   

But if I was to do something like that, I'd make sure there was an information leaflets ready for the would be chicken owners to take home to learn how to do it properly!

They need 35C for the first week, then it goes down 2C a week until they are 5 weeks old.  We take our chicks off heat between 4 and 6 weeks depending on the outside temps

[essex57]

It sounds a bit irresponsible of the school to hatch eggs and then hope they can be farmed out to people. Or do they have a backup plan ?

Are you aware that you may get a load of cockerels ?

Rob

The school have been doing this for some years but prior to this year I wasnt aware of it - and yes they do have a backup plan so there is no problem there.
And yes I could get cockerels!
I will be looking into this in more detail but the school never assumed that they would be farmed out to just anyone - my g daughter asked the teacher as we already have chickens

[essex57]

.......and yes the adults will attack the chicks and even possibly kill them.

I thought that may be the case
Thanks

[poultrygeist]

In which case I apologise for thinking what I was thinking !!  (I won't reproduce the thoughts on here  :blink:).

Have you got a heat lamp and somewhere you can contain them for their first few weeks ?

Rob

[essex57]

In which case I apologise for thinking what I was thinking !!  (I won't reproduce the thoughts on here  :blink:).

Have you got a heat lamp and somewhere you can contain them for their first few weeks ?

Rob

Thanks for apology! please do say what you were thinking!

I will be going out later to buy what we need.
Thanks

[poultrygeist]

All unprintable thoughts were directed at the school (unjustifiably as it turns out) ! 

I've never raised chicks but you can get some advice and a shopping list from one of the more experienced keepers.

Rob 

[essex57]

All unprintable thoughts were directed at the school (unjustifiably as it turns out) ! 

I've never raised chicks but you can get some advice and a shopping list from one of the more experienced keepers.

Rob 

Ok thanks for the advice - and I can confirm that the school are acting very responsibly and as I said before have been doing this type of project for years.