Backyard Chickens 101 – Chick Care

So, you’ve asked yourself all of the questions and you’ve decided to jump into backyard chicken keeping with both feet?  Awesome!

You’ve created your brooder and have it ready with clean litter, a heat lamp and some food and water.

You’ve picked your breeds, come up with a number you want to start with and you’re bursting at the seams with excitement!

You pop into your local Feed Bin, Ooohhh and Aaaahhh over the cuteness that abounds in the little brooders and come home with a little cardboard carrying box full of little cheeping, some big ideas and a container of Chick Starter.

Now what needs to be done to ensure that your chicks are happy and healthy?

Temperature

• Ensure that the temperature of your brooder is at 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week.
• Each consecutive week thereafter, lower the temperature by five degrees (this is easily done by raising the heat lamp farther and farther away from the actual brooder).
• If your chicks are crowding underneath the heat lamp, they’re too cold.  If they are hiding in a corner away from the lamp, they’re too hot.  Adjust your lamp accordingly.
• Once your chicks have developed their hard feather (at about week 6) they will be better able to handle temperature fluctuations and colder temperatures.

Food & Water

• Clean water is essential and chicks are messy little beasts.  Ensure their water stays clean (and therefore safe) by refreshing it as often as possible.
• Start your chicks off with a Chick Starter specifically.  It has all of the nutrients they need.

General Cleanliness

• As mentioned above, chicks are incredibly messy.  Ensure their food and water remain poop free by changing it out often.  Make sure that their bedding is also as clean as possible by changing it out every couple of days.  Don’t ever let their bedding get compacted or too wet from spilled water or droppings.
• Chicks have fluffy butts and fluffy butts (while incredibly cute) catch poop very easily. Keep an eye on your chicks bottom and clean off any hardened poop as soon as you see it using a soft washcloth and warm water.  Do not immerse your chicks in water, just give them a sponge bath.

General Care

• Hand Raising – Your chicks will be friendly, happy-to-see-you backyard chickens if you teach them now that you are their friend.  Hold them lots, keep them in an area of your home that is noisy, talk to them, allow them to peck food straight from your hand.  These small actions will make everyone a lot happier later.
• Provide a Roost – Chickens love to roost on things and so do chicks.  Throw a small branch in your brooder for them to jump up on to and they’ll be very grateful for it.  Just make sure it is without pokey branches or splinters to protect their tiny little feet.

A Few Words to the Wise

• Wash your Hands – Chicks are cute and backyard chickens are wonderful in all that they can offer any kind of homestead, but they can also carry disease (like Salmonella).  Don’t be afraid, but do wash your hands regularly when handling chicks/chickens or any of their equipment.
• House Chickens – I have seen too many pictures of chickens running around peoples homes. While this makes for cute pictures and fun conversations, I do not recommend this.  Chickens are poop machines and don’t care when or where they go.  It’s wet, stinky and quite gross.  Beyond the yuck factor, there are just certain bacteria that, in my opinion, should not be spread throughout a humans living quarters willfully.

There you have it!  My two cents on diving into the backyard chickens world with your first batch of chicks! Enjoy the process and take lots of pictures!

xoxo,
M

P.S.

Here are some important pieces of equipment and some resources for your backyard chickens keeping journey:

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