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Caring For Baby Chicks

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Baby chicks can actually live for the first 24 hours without any water or food. After this time, however, they will need special food called chick crumbs. The baby chicks also need a suitable water container that is safe so as to prevent the possibility of drowning. If your chicks are outside, it's important to keep them under netting so they're safe from predatory birds such as magpies. For the first few weeks, your baby chicks will need to be cared for and monitored until they're ready to be transferred to their new chicken house.

Getting the temperature right for a baby chick is a must. A 250-watt heat lamp is an ideal source of heat in the housing area. The flooring of the chicks' house needs to be covered with about 1 inch thick wood shavings. Pine is ideal for this. Although some people use paper towels, it does mean lots of extra cleaning and regular changing as it all gets soggy rather quickly. Ideally, the flooring should be changed every week. It naturally turns to fertilized earth so it's OK to throw it all on a compost heap.

As soon as it's time to introduce the chicks to their new chicken house (about 4-5 weeks), you should give them water straight away. It's also wise to keep an eye on the chicks to make sure they can find the water and are drinking it. When caring for baby chicks it's not uncommon to help teach them how to drink by gently pushing their beaks into the water. An important point here is that it's not advisable to give the chicks just any water container as they could easily drown so, for health and safety reasons, use a chicken waterer.

Contents at a Glance

Chicks Love to Roost
Happy and Healthy
Let Them Roam
Kay Burley Sky News presenter - A Greene...
NEW Step-By-Step DIY Chicken House Guide
It's very important that people have an...

The same rule applies with food. Using a baby chicken feeder will prevent them from playing in it and scattering it all over the house floor. Baby chicks will always find a way to play with anything that's in their chicken house so it's best to be safe rather than sorry.

For whatever reasons, baby chicks love to roost while resting. A good way of preventing them from playing and messing up their chicken house is to provide them with roosting poles. Placing them approx 5 inches from the ground will prevent them roosting on their feeder and waterer. Anyone new to raising chickens needs to know how much food to feed a baby chick. It's very simple - whenever they need it. It's best to allow them 24/7 access to their food because they can actually regulate themselves.

When Caring for baby chicks just make sure you check up on your chicks regularly during the day. They'll always be doing funny and naughty things like kicking their bedding into the water and feed, so you will always be cleaning up after them. Watching their behaviour will speak volumes. If they are all directly under the heat and crowded together, this is telling you they're cold. You will need to lower the heat lamp or add another one. If they're around the edges of the brooder avoiding the heat and each other, then they are too hot! Raise the heat lamp. If you don't get this right it can result in the death of your baby chicks.

Caring For Baby Chicks

Happy and Healthy

Baby chicks have special chick food that can be bought at your local store and it will include everything they need. A relevant point here is that, if your chicks have been vaccinated against coccidiosis, you will have to feed them unmedicated feed. However, if they've only been vaccinated for Mareks disease, then the medicated feed is the best and surest way of making sure your chicks are healthy and happy during the first few months of growth. It's always advisable to comply with manufacturers' guidelines.

Baby chicks can be put on a starter feed for about a month, moving on to a combination food. As they don't have teeth, the chicks need a bit of help to make digesting their food easier. This comes in the form of tiny pebbles which they store in their crop to grind their food. Your baby chicks need either sand, canary or parakeet gravel: all can be acquired from your local pet store.

Caring For Baby Chicks

Let Them Roam

A very important part of raising chicks is something called pasting up. Checking for this condition during the chicks' early days is imperative and should be done on a regular basis as it can kill your chicks. Every single chick has to be examined to make sure their vent openings aren't blocked. This can happen when their droppings dry on their vents, building up and blocking the openings, thus preventing the chicks from passing the rest of their droppings.
It must be gently washed away and removed immediately. You could use a nice warm wet paper towel, a plastic spatula-type utensil could come in handy and, if the situation calls for it, you could dunk the baby's bottom in warm water, gently massaging the blocked area until clear. Dry the chick off with a warm hair dryer and put it back with the rest of the chicks. As already mentioned, ignore this issue at your - or, more to the point - the chick's peril. As they grow, the problem will go away.

When your chicks are about three weeks old and if it's warm (65-70deg), you should introduce them to the great outdoors. Be sure you have good security where you let them roam, and provide them with water and shade. They will love digging around in the grass. As they reach a month or five weeks, it will be time for you to introduce them to their new chicken house.

Caring For Baby Chicks

Kay Burley Sky News presenter - A Greener Lifestyle

Sky News presenter Kay Burley, who has more than 30 years' experience in journalism, has confirmed a growing trend by joining the green set. She admits that it's tough, but, to accompany her vegetable patch, she has now added a chicken run. After carrying out the obligatory Google search for some real information, Kay approached her local council which advised against having a cockerel. Fair play really as she considered her neighbours' likely reaction to being woken up early every morning.

Undoubtedly, that wouldn't have gone down too well even if she'd taken a little tip from a gentleman from Environmental Health who recommended that dropping off a few freshly laid eggs to the neighbours every now and again might stand her in good stead. Kay confesses she found it hard to watch the hens sort out their pecking order and had an even more unpleasant ordeal when she added six former battery hens to her existing brood. It just wasn't nice. She says the "new additions looked more like oven-ready birds than Rhode Island Reds and were shell-shocked by their experience." It seems they were totally "overwhelmed" when seeing the sky and feeling the rain for the first time as she introduced them to their new way of life. Kay is still learning in her bid for a greener lifestyle, but she's loving every moment of it.

NEW Step-By-Step DIY Chicken House Guide

Download today and start building tomorrow with this NEW Up-To-Date easy to follow Step-By-Step Guide on Building A Chicken House to house your chickens. For further information CLICK HERE Do It Yourself-Build A Chicken House

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