Everything you need to know about chicks

Imagine you are in the farm store picking up seedling soil to get your tomatoes started for the year, and you can faintly hear the cheep cheep of the new baby chicks. So you decide to go have a peek at the little fluff balls to oooh and aaah over the sweet little babies.

Everything is hazy from that first moment of peering into the chick bins and now where you find yourself sitting in the car with a small box that is cheep cheeping. So you bought some chicks … now what?

Let’s start with choosing breeds. I know it seems a little bit late at this point, but hopefully you looked at the information sheets posted for each breed before you picked them.

When choosing the breeds of chicken you want to raise, there are several things to take into consideration:

Hardiness: Compare the cold and heat hardiness to your local temperature. If your area has a harsh winter, make sure the breed is cold hardy. Same for hot summers.

Temperament: Docile Chickens are going to be more friendly. It doesn't mean that they will let you pick them up easily, but they will be more likely to as opposed to attacking you or each other.

Egg Size: Chicken eggs fall into the small, medium, large and extra large categories. Consider the usage of your eggs and choose a laying size accordingly.

Bird Size: Different breeds are different sizes. If you have a large breed, less will fit in the coop as opposed to a smaller breed

Hopefully you chose from the pullet bins, just in case you didn’t ask what that means let me tell you:

Pullet: Sexed chicks: all female
Straight Run: Unsexed mix of male and female chicks
Banyard Mix: Rooster and hens are different breeds, all chicks are mixed together and have no specific breed and are not sexed - both male and female chicks.

If you didn’t grab a few things for your brooder, you need to walk back into the store and pick these up for your new babies
Things you will need to set up a brooder for your baby chicks
A containment system, approx 3-4 sq ft per chick
Bedding like shavings or straw
Waterer and Feeder
Unmedicated Chick Starter Feed
Heat source, lamp or plate
Thermometer (we like to use the Govee blue tooth thermometers for our coop, greenhouse and brooder to easily monitor all locations and receive alerts. These are an upgrade, a regular thermometer works fine too)
Chick Roost

Medicated vs Unmedicated Chick Starter

Generally, if you have vaccinated chicks, unmedicated chick starter will provide your chicks with everything they need to grow and thrive. If they are unvaccinated you might want to consider feeding your young chicks medicated chick starter for the first 2-4 weeks. Medicated feed has everything the unmedicated feed has, with the addition of Amprolium. While this helps to prevent coccidiosis, it also blocks the absorption of Vitamin B1. Continue to feed your chicks chick starter for 4 months before moving to adult feed
Probiotics: Provide new chicks with probiotics/elecrolytes. You can find these as water additives

Heat Source

Heat is imperative to the survival of your new chicks. They need constant warmth available in a non-drafty place. This can be achieved with either heat lamps or heat plates. We recommend using a heat plate as lamps can get too hot and cause fires. We’ve seen too many stories of lost homes, garages, barns and sheds due to heat lamps.

Chick Age Heat Requirements
1-7 Days 95 Degrees F
1-2 Weeks 90 Degrees
2-3 Weeks 85 Degrees
3-4 Weeks 80 Degrees
4-5 Weeks 75 Degrees

Now that you’ve got your chickens safe and sound in the brooder, take the time to enjoy them. They grown fast! Handle them every day, encourage them to sit on your legs and arms, let them get comfortable with you. Feed them out of your hand.

If you have dogs with no chicken experience, create controlled interaction times with them often so they get to know each other and create a peaceful bond. This is a photo of Indy and Beatrice. Indy was about 4 months old when we got the chicks, he spent time with them everyday. Now he lays in the yard and they come sit on him. He comes running anytime one of them make alerting sounds to watch out for their safety, and as a herding dog he also helps me round them up when it’s time to go in the run. If only he would keep them out of the garden!

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