How to Care for Chicks

Hi! Ready for the Farm Frenzy?! I know I am! So my friend recently got chicks and they are amazing! You can see them in the picture above. She’s just starting out, so she will upgrade them in the future and get a real chicken feeder and waterer. Who new how cute and easy to care for they can be? They even have many benefits if raised the right way. So here’s how to raise chicks until they are 4 – 5 weeks old and ready to live in the coop outside!

The Brooder:

• You’ll need a bin or cardboard box with tall sides (2 feet or get netting for the top) so the chicks can’t escape – it also needs to be spacious – 2 square feet per chick!
• The floor of the bin needs to have a layer of pine shavings 1 inch thick so it absorbs their feces (don’t use cedar shavings or newspaper what so ever! They can be deadly to chicks! Only pine!)
• They wil need a heat lamp over the bin to keep the temperature at 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the next week 90 degrees and decreasing 5 degrees every week – a 250 watt infrared heat lamp suspended over the brooder will do the job
• You’ll need a chick waterer, which is basically a spill proof, shallow water bowl – don’t use anything else then one specified for chicks or your chicks might drown! Plus you would have to clean the water bowl all the time – chicks are messy! You could even suspend this off the ground to help
• A chick feeder is the way to go – getting anything else could be dangerous as it can tip over and trap another chick or they can defecate in it and cause issues later
• To keep your chicks happy, you might want to include a roosting pole and place it 5 inches off the ground – your chicks will love it!

The Feed:

• In the beginning, getting specially formulated starter feed is easy – it comes in crumbles or mash – if you’ve had your chicks vaccinated against Coccidiosis, get unmediated feed – if not, or even if you had them vaccinated for Marek’s disease, medicated food that is organic is perfect
• After a certain period of time, you’ll need to get grower, which is the next step up for chicken feed – check the label on your feed to see how long they’ll need to be fed the starter (4 weeks, etc.)
• Small amounts of vegetables, dairy, worms and other insects are fine in moderation – you don’t want to feed this to them as their main meal or it will throw off their nutritional balance – think of these foods as dessert
• Give as much food as they want and make sure they have food 24/7 – they are not like dogs and will regulate their intake
• Grit, for chicks, can come in the forms of sand, parakeet gravel, or canary gravel – sprinkle some over the top of their food or give to them in a separate bowl

Make sure that when you get them, if they came in the mail or from a local farm, you give them proper inspection. Also, make sure you change their water and food multiple times a day and change their bedding at least once a week. You can even bring your new friends outside from time to time under supervision. The temperature needs to be at least 65 – 70 degrees, however.

For more information that you should definitely check out, go to http://www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-care/chapter-4-caring-for-baby-chicks.aspx?t=1 . This is a great site where you can even order your chicks and learn more about how to care for them when they are older! Good luck!

Thanks for reading and make sure to comment with your questions!