CHICK DAYS!

Milla Market
Mar 15, 2024
3 min read

Chick days are here! It seems like everyone is looking at getting chickens these days, but are you ready for them!? Here's our short list of the necessities to have BEFORE you cave into those cute chirps at the farm store and bring them home.

Have your brooder ready before getting chicks!
Heat Source
Fresh Bedding
Fresh Water
High Protein Grower Feed

Some tips and some of our favorites:

DIY Brooder Options:

Water tank
Plastic Tote
Wooden Box/Crate
Portable Playpen

Heat Source

Needs to be 95 degrees
Decreased by 5 degrees weekly until fully feathered
Usually 8 weeks for fully feathered
Heat lamps
Heat plate

Bedding

Pine shavings
- we prefer the larger flake, especially with young birds.
Decaffeinated Recycled Coffee Grounds
- our FAV for the full-sized girls in the coop
- found occasionally only at Rural King.
Sand
Chopped Straw

Fresh Water

Simple gravity feed drinkers!
- We treat our chicks with Corrid for the first 10 days at the farm.
- These are our favorite easy-fill drinkers pictured above to the right
  - these are not cold weather friendly but great in the warmer months!

Feed

High protein Grower feed until they begin laying around 6 months.
Chick feeders are helpful, but not necessary.
Hanging Feeder that we use in our coops

Brooding Info:

Brooding chickens is one of my favorite times on the farm with the littles. They love seeing the babies grow and helping to care for them with the daily chores. However, the thought of brooding can be overwhelming for the new chicken keeper. Chickens can be tender animals to care for, but with the proper tools and attention, it is easy for them to thrive.

Chicks need an isolated area of approximately ½ square foot per bird upon arrival to your homestead. It is imperative that this area be protected from any predators and have a sort of enclosure that is able to retain heat. The space requirement will increase to 1-2 square foot per bird at the 4-week mark. The isolated area does not have to be anything expensive or complex. One of the least expensive and most effective ways to raise just a few chicks is to use a large plastic tote, with holes cut into the lid for heat lamp access. Other ways include stock tanks, wooden boxes or crates, or portable play yards. While it is important to have enough space for your birds, it is just as important not to provide too much space for young chicks so you can moderate the brooder temperature effectively. Birds can be moved outside as early as 8 weeks, but for birds purchased in the early spring, I recommend waiting a little longer (12 weeks) until the temperatures are a little warmer.

While there are many different levels of heating sources for chicks, but for us the most cost effective has been the old-fashioned heat lamp. Other options include heat pads or thermostat radiant heaters. We have utilized thermometers in the past in our brooders but have found the best way is to go by instinct. We check our birds a few times a day and analyze their behavior. When chickens are at a comfortable temperature, they will be spaced out, playful and active. When chickens are too cold, they will huddle together, which can lead to smothering. When chickens are too hot, they will be distancing themselves as far as possible from the heat source and consuming excessive amounts of water. By analyzing the behavior of our birds, we can raise/lower our lamps based upon their needs. We do also have cameras installed in our brooders that notify us of any drastic temperature changes. I do not recommend the use of heat plates, because the birds are more prone to smother each other trying to get closer to the heat source with them.

Fresh bedding is important for good hygiene and animal health. Our choice for chicks is medium pine shavings. We do not recommend the use of fine shavings or straw unless the straw is ground. The fine shavings seem to be messier and are more easily ingestible by the chicks. Straw is large and bulky and hard for the chicks to maneuver around. Other options include sand, ground straw or coffee grounds. While we LOVE the coffee grounds in our outdoor coop, we find that the pine shavings are a little cozier for the new babies.

Fresh feed and Fresh water both fall under the commonsense categories for tending to animals. We purchase a 23% chick starter feed from our local feed supplier We feed the same high protein starter feed up until the 6-month mark when the birds begin to lay eggs. At that point, we switch them over to a lower protein layer feed.