All About Chickens

I normally recommend getting grown birds for the first time keeper, simply because there is less to go wrong. However, if you have already got your chicks, or you have already kept chickens then read on and learn how to care for them.

Brooders
This is what we call the chick's first home. It is indoors, and consists of walls, floor, roof, a heat lamp, a feeder and a waterer.

Lots of different things can be used for their first home, from a purpose built wooden chick brooder to a rodent cage, to an aquarium or rubbermaid container to a cardboard box for single use. The best bedding to use for chicks is kitchen towel. It is readily available, cheap,absorbent, easy to change and provides a good surface for the chicks to grip onto. Never use newspaper, as it is too slippery for them to walk on and can cause spraddle leg. Wood shavings can be used but they carry the risk that they may be accidently ingested by curious chicks.

How big should the brooder be is a regularly asked question. The answer depends on the age of your chicks, whether they are standard or bantam and the size of the feeder and waterer. The chicks should have enough room to move around, eat and lie down.

Heat
Heat should be provided by a heat lamp hung over the brooder until the birds are fully feathered. The heat needs to be started off at about 95 degrees fahrenheit, and reduced by 5 degrees every week until they are fully feathered, at around 5-8 weeks.

Chicks should be happily moving around the brooder, and evenly distributed. If the chicks are huddled underneath the heat lamp then they are too cold and the heat lamp should be lowered. If they are panting and squished against the sides of the brooder then they are too hot and the heat lamp should be raised.

A heat lamp

Chicks need to be fed on a special kind of food called chick crumbles or chick starter. They may eat as much as they like, because they don't overfeed like dogs and cats.

You may have the choice of medicated vs. non-medicated feed. The medication in some chick starters is a cocciostat, which prevents coccidiosis. Coccidiosis is a nasty disease that can wipe out as much as 90% of your chicks. However, you should choose a non-medicated feed if you are looking to feed them to organic certification level, or if you are raising waterfowl. Cocciostat can be fatal to waterfowl, as they may ingest so much that they are poisoned. However, this is not a problem in chickens.

Chick starter/crumbles is a complete feed, and no other food needs to be given for the first six weeks of life. One of the favourite ways to serve up starter is to scatter it across an egg tray in the brooder. However, when the chicks walk over it to get to the food, they may poo in it. This must be cleaned up quickly to prevent disease. You can also use a galvanised trough or a smaller version of the plastic feeders you probably use for your adult chickens.

When your chicks get to 6-8 weeks old, then they should be switched onto grower pellets. These provide the right nutrition for your birds to grow up big and strong. Once the birds get to 18-21 weeks old, they should be switched to layers pellets (see feeding page).

An egg tray is a perfect chick feeder

Water
Fresh, clean water must be available at all times to your chicks. It should be provided in a chick waterer – NOT an open dish or a waterer made for adult chickens. Make sure that the chicks cannot walk in the water, as this could cause them to drown. If there is any doubt about whether or not they could drown, put a few marbles in the water. 

Here's to happy, healthy chicks