[Simon O]

Got 12 Hubbard chicks through CSSA 1 week ago last night. First time with chickens. Got home and found heat lamp did not work - idiot, did not take it out of box to check it before getting chicks. It was bashed in the post and the bulb housing was skew from the cone. Chicks kept warm with upside down table lamp while I went to work with a lump hammer, eventually getting bulb in and working, providing a kind of wobbly heat.
Of course I had gone for the 40W bulb to save on electric bill. This is appropriate for 12 ants at a distance of 10cm. The heat lamp I got comes with a brilliant design feature, a finned bulb housing which is meant to dissipate the heat and save it from damage.This cleverly sends the heat in the opposite direction from that required. I found a good cardboard box with a hole though the fold-over top so that I could put the hanging chain through the hole and have the whole heat lamp within the box, so as I imagined it retain as much heat as poss in the box. This no doubt against all health and safety regs, but I think the chicks will be safe from premature roasting as the bulb is so weedy. With some towel and newspaper insulation over the box the chicks seemed as happy as Larry.
A couple of days in the bathroom, opening half of the box lid during the day and closing up at night (my bulb is a dull emitter so no light only heat from it). The increasing smell encouraged me to finish fitting the door to the shed outside - I cut the top off an old door that had been lying outside for years, leaving a hole in the top corner to let the swallows through.
The chicks feed voraciously, I think they have got a hormone imbalance. One looked sick, I thought it was dying, we blew on its beak. This did not seem to help. I wondered at what point I should put it out of its misery, but when I went back to look it was dead. The others did not seem to miss it, they just kept on eating.
Now they are out in the shed with their 40W dull emitter, opening the box by day with 11W longlife bulb in hut ceiling for light, and the pair of swallows flying in and out. Their chicks are hatched now too. Molly and Meg like to come and help me open up the chicks - I think they would go for them if I was not there.
One week on they are feathering up on their wings, starting to look a little like chickens not chicks. They grow so quick. I weighed them last night and they weighed between 106g and 135g, shame I did not weigh them when I got them but I did not think of it.
Soon I will need to take them out of the box and make a bigger enclosure within the shed, with I think a little covered area where I will have the heat lamp. I am still thinking about the design.
Well these are my my experiences with chicks, playing catch up and making it up as I go along.

[SallyintNorth]

Lovely description Simon, thanks.

I worked on a farm that bought in 50 day-old Cobbs each month and reared them organically to 14 weeks for the table.  The lady there said she found it very important to get them on grass within the first 7 days.  She had runs attached to her little sheds and they had the flap open from about day 3 or 4, even in the depths of winter.  (Not when snow lay on the ground!)  The whole compound had electric fencing to keep all the birds safe from foxy - but she did lose some younger birds to their local Goshawk before she got covered runs for them up to nearly laying hen size.

I guess if you haven't a setup where you can let them safely wander out to grass and back, you could bring a turf into the shed.

Does anyone else do this?  Or know whether the grass-in-the-first-week thing is important, and why?

[Sandy]

I love your description, can picture it all well!!

I had Hubbards last year but they were a few weeks old so went out from the start as I had no time to look after chicks, mind you, most people on here have more to do and less time than me, anyway, they are very lazy birds, I let them roam free and all they did was go to the outside of their run and a few more feet, then as they got older and the snow came, I put them back in as I did not want them to burn up any meat, they were very nice to eat, we had them to feed our Christmas guests and thankfully my son in law and hubby dispatched them while we plucked them...not bad at all....

[Simon O]

I put a bit of turf and grass in the box and they seemed to like it. I thought it was too early to let them out but now you say it I might try under supervision. Good thought Sally about predator birds - we have some buzzards who I am sure would be keen on a small snack. Yes Sandy I have been taunted by plenty of people who say I will not be able to do them in when the time comes. I tell them it will be crueller to leave them as they will grow too big for their legs and die of hip fractures, so I will just have to find a way to do it

[Andrew]

Simon, good to hear how you are getting on with chicks. Sorry to hear that you lost one. Approx weight at birth is 50-65g each.

[Sandy]

We took them one by one durring the dark and it was very quick, although they did flap a bit and they are big..plucking was not bad at all, just took ages.......so, ours went in their sleep!!!!!!