So you think you want to buy some
baby chicks? This time of year chicks are easy to come by. You can have day old chicks mail ordered from
hatcheries or pick them up at a local farm equipment store. Before you go out and pick up some little
fuzzy butt chicks there are a few things you need to do first.
This was a chick given to me by my aunt. It was one of the first
chickens I raised from a chick.
The first thing you need to do when
preparing for the arrival of your chicks is to make them a brooder. A
brooder is simply a place where you raise your chicks. It can be anything from a cardboard box to a
plastic tote. When chicks are young,
they need about a half a square foot of room each. If you cram too many chicks in your brooder
you’ll end up with chicks pecking each other. You need to make sure your
brooder is in a location safe from predators and drafts.
It’s important to keep your brooder
clean. Chicks can be very messy so you’ll need something very absorbent. For
this, I recommend pine shavings. Oils in
the cedar bedding can cause problems with breathing and newspaper can be hard
on little chicks because it’s slippery.
I’ve heard of play sand being used however I have not used it myself so
I can’t give an opinion on it.
Now that you’ve got a brooder with
soft pine bedding, you need to add a heat source. When chicks are born, they have
no way of keeping themselves warm. A hen naturally keeps her chicks warm by
sitting on them. Since you can’t sit on your chicks, you need to provide a heat
lamp. There are two different types of lights you could use, one is red and the
other is clear. I’ve been told by the old men at the local farm supply store
that I should use a clear bulb because it keeps the chicks awake more, which
makes them eat more and make them grow faster. That may be fine for some but I
feel like that puts unnecessary stress on the chicks. For that reason I provide the red bulb. Place
a thermometer in the brooder and make
sure the temperature is 90 degrees for the first week. You’ll want to decrease the temperature by 5
degrees each week until you reach normal outside temperature. It is important to make sure you’ve got the
correct temperature in your brooder. If you’ve got your heat lamp on and your
chicks are all huddled under the light, it’s not warm enough. If the chicks are as far away from the heat
source as they can get, it’s too warm. The chicks should be scattered throughout
the brooder if the temperature is correct. Any variation of too cold or too
warm can kill your new chicks.
So you’ve got a warm brooder full
of bedding, what next? Food and water of course!! You’ll need to get a feeder
and waterer. These are relatively low cost. A feeder is important because the
design keeps the chicks from kicking the feed out and keeps them from pooping
in it. There are several different designs you could use. I prefer the small plastic
round feeder that you attach a mason jar to but any kind would work. Make sure
to fill the feeder with chick starter feed. Don’t use corn, layer ration or
scratch because it can reduce their egg laying ability. For water, I prefer
poultry water nipples. You can find them online and they make many different
kinds. Chicks can also easily learn to
drink from a water bottle for small animals. In my experience these leak, a
lot. If you prefer not to order water nipples online, you can get a small
plastic water dish that like the round feeder, has a mason jar as the reservoir.
Once you’ve decide what type of
chicken you want, it’s time to get your chicks!
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