Baby chick set up

Since we last blogged, we have acquired another 6 baby chicks (Orpingtons this time) so our total is up to 12 baby chicks (21 chickens all up...). Since we have a few more, our set up has changed, so I thought I would share it with you as it seems to be working really well.

Before getting baby chicks, we did a fair bit of internet reading and came across ADozenGirlz The Chicken Chick. Her blog covers a wide range of chook keeping and has been a very valuable read. It was on her recommendation that we put down a few puppy training pads (or incontinence pads) before our layers of paper towels which is what the chicks live on for the first few weeks. So far, so good! They seem to be doing the trick really well, and we have layered the paper towels so that we only need to take off the top layer every day (unless it gets really dirty).

We bought a heat lamp from Mitre10 and Mindy's (our housemate) father rigged it up for us. If he hadn't done that for us then we would have bought a fitting and a lamp from the bird barn (pet part) which they use for baby chicks but also reptiles. Thanks for saving us nearly $100! :)

We bought a water feeder from the bird barn as it isn't safe having bowls of water in with new chicks as they can easily drown. We have 2 feeders in there- a bird one and a home made upside down planter on a plate- this will hopefully stop the chicks from scratching and pooing in their food!
The screen keeps it secure, but we still keep the cat well away from this whole area just in case!

So here it is in its glory:

Baby chicks enjoying a dust bath

Will keep you posted as the chicks grow!