Raising Chicks
4 Terms to know.
Pullet: Young Female Chick Hen
Straight Run: Not Sexed Chicks
Bantam: Small Breed Chickens
Brooder: A Heated House for Chicks
Before purchasing chicks, it is best to be prepared for their needs! Having a coop ready to go is essentional as they grow up fast. Chicks need lots of care but when you are organized, they are also pretty low maintenance. Keep reading to see how to care for your chicks.
Jump to:
How to care for newborn or several day-old chicks?
We like to keep our chicks inside a brooder in our home, but they can also be kept in a brooder in a garage or a place where there is low draft. Chicks get cold easily. Two different ways to keep your chicks warm are with a brooder heat plate or a heat lamp. The three main things chicks need is heat, clean water and clean medicated chick feed. Buying good dispensers for the feed and water can help to keep them clean. Chicks make a mess pretty quickly and poop a lot!
They also need a good floor base to help keep the poop mess down. We put plastic down and then pine shavings (not cedar, the smell is too strong). Every other day we remove the plastic base and throw the pine shavings away. We rotate between two pieces of large plastic cut from a plastic sheet roll. This way you can hang the plastic to dry and use the other piece as the base in between.
Other things that help keep your chicks happy and healthy are treats like dried mealworms or larva which I prefer because they are more affordable. We also put small amounts of probiotic and electrolyte mix in their water. Rotating between these and just plain water. I also took a large paint mix stick and taped it to two cans when the chicks got a bit older. They love roosting on it.
Also, a good dust bath will help to keep your chicks happy and healthy. We used dirt from our yard and mixed it with peat moss. We did about 2/3 peat moss to 1/3 yard-dirt, although I don't think the ratio matter much. We used a seed tray base to keep the dirt in one place. The chickies love it.
Chick Brooder Heater: Heater Plate vs. Heat Lamp
I think if you keep your chicks indoors, a brooder heater plate is perfect. If you plan on keeping them somewhere a bit cooler like a garage than a heat lamp may be necessary. Chicks get cold easily and can pass away if not kept warm properly.
Brooder Heat Plate: The best way to position your brooder heat plate is level to where the chicks have to crouch to get under it. Not so low where they would have to lay down. They should be able to sleep under it without it touching their backs and when they stand their backs can touch it, when they are just slightly crouched. As they grow, adjust the height. We have 13 chicks and just one 13” x 13” heat plate indoors is enough for them to comfortably share.
Other benefits of a heat plate are that it is more natural than a heat lamp. They are not under constant heat and light. They also can acclimate easier by being cold and then warming similar to being under a mother's wing.
Heat Lamp: If the chicks are somewhere a bit cooler a heat lamp may be your best choice. If you go this route, you just want to make sure the heat lamp is close enough to keep the chicks warm but not too close where they will overheat. Use a thermometer to make sure the heat is appropriate for the age of the chicks. Having an area in their brooder to get out of the heat and light to go under is really nice for the chicks as well. Make sure the heat lamp is somewhere that is secure, stable and not easily bumped.
How do you know when chicks are ready to go outside?
Chicks are ready to go outside around 6-8 weeks when they are fully feathered and the temperature at night remains at least 50 degrees. Before this short field trips outside in the sun are ok after about 3 weeks.
Recommended Products to get you started!
Do chicks and adult chickens need dust baths?
Chicks as well as adult chickens thrive with dust baths. They help to keep their feathers clean as well as to help keep their natural oils at a healthy level. They also help to keep little hard to detect bugs from their feathers and bodies such as mites, lice and parasites. We used dirt from our yard and mixed it with peat moss. We did about 2/3 peat moss to 1/3 yard-dirt, although I don't think the ratio matters much. We used a seed tray base to keep the dirt in one place. The chickies love it!
Recommended Product List to get you started!
