Raising Baby Chicks

Essentials for any chicken coop

• 1The most important thing to do when building a chicken coop is to protect it from all sides. If your coop doesn't have a floor, shovel out 4-6 inches of dirt from the entire inside of the coop. Then put down a layer of mesh and a layer of chicken wire before shoveling the dirt back in. This will stop predators from burrowing underneath your coop. The walls should be made of wood and chicken wire and be buried 12" deep into the ground to prevent animals from digging their way through. Because the holes in chicken wire are too big for my comfort, we put two layers, making sure to criss cross the holes. Adding a roof will protect your chickens from any flying predators. We put a tin roof on our coop, although mesh netting will do the job just as well.
• 2Your chicken coop needs to be airy enough to prevent your chickens from getting a respiratory illness, but not so drafty as to prevent them from finding warmth during the winter. A combination of wood and chicken wire is the simplest way to achieve this. When building our coop, we made sure it was extra breezy. We figured if they got too cold in the winter, we could just seal up some of the wire with wood.
• 3Build your coop large enough to give each chicken her space. If you plan on letting your chickens out to roam free, then build your coop big enough to allow 4-5 square feet for each chicken. If you plan on leaving your chickens in the coop all the time, allow 8-10 square feet per chicken.
• 4Nesting boxes will encourage your chickens to lay eggs. Some say you only need 1 box for every 3 or 4 chickens, but I think every chicken should have their own. Hang these nesting boxes 1-2 feet off the ground and make sure to place them in the darkest spot in the coop because that's where the chickens feel the safest. To add comfort (and a soft landing for the eggs), add some pine shavings to every box.
• 5Chickens love to roost so roosting poles are essential (if you want happy chickens). A roosting pole is basically a perch for your chickens to sit on. They can be made out of any king of wood, as long as the wood isn't too smooth to allow your chickens a good grip. Thick tree branches and 2x4's work best. Placing multiple roosting poles at different heights throughout your coop will encourage your chickens to roost in the air instead of roaming through the poop covered floor.
• 6Build your coop with easy clean up in mind. While it may provide the same amount of space, a narrow rectangular coop will be harder to clean than a wide square one. Depending on the number of chickens you have, a coop should be cleaned out and the bedding changed at least once a month. The best bedding to use is pine wood shavings laid 3" thick. When you replace the bedding, it's a good idea to add some diatomaceous earth (food grade) in with the pine shavings. This will help with the odor and prevent your chickens from getting mites or lice.

Image: paytai

• 1A hen will start laying her first eggs when she's around 20 to 26 weeks old. Those first eggs will be small, thin-shelled and sometimes discolored. Once her body gets used to producing eggs, she will lay them with more regularity and they will become bigger and have thicker shells. It's important that you check for and collect her eggs every day. This will get her used to you collecting them and could even prevent her from getting broody.
• 2Chickens experience molting once a year. Molting is when all their feathers fall out and they grow new ones to replace them. During this time, most chickens either slow down production, or they completely stop producing eggs until it's over.
• 3If your chicken has stopped producing eggs, there could be several causes:
  Stress will cause a hen to stop laying. To get her laying again, you'll need to figure out where the stress is coming from and fix it.
  Brooding is when a hen decides she's going to sit on her eggs until they hatch (even if they aren't fertilized). You'll need to be careful when you try to collect her eggs because a broody hen can get very defensive. When a hen is brooding, she stops producing eggs.
  Insufficient nutrition will stop egg production. Each egg needs a large amount of protein and calcium in order to form correctly. If your hen isn't getting those nutrients, the eggs have nothing to form from.
  Age can also affect egg production. Like humans, a hen can only lay eggs for so many years
• 4To predict what color eggs a chicken will lay, look at her earlobes. White earlobes mean white eggs, while red earlobes mean brown eggs. This is true for just about every chicken breed except the Ameraucana, Easter Egger, and Araucana breeds (they lay eggs colored similar to easter eggs).
• 5You don't need a rooster for your hens to lay eggs. Anyone that tells you different should be ignored and mildly chuckled at later. The only time you need a rooster is if you want your hens to lay fertilized eggs so you can hatch the chicks.

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  Chickens by Kim Newberg

  Chicks eat a lot!
  Because chicks don't overeat, they should always have food available in their cage. They'll only eat what they need, which may seem like a lot until you factor in how fast they grow. Just remember they only take 20 weeks to accomplish what it takes us 18 years to do: grow to adult-hood.
  Don't forget that water is just as important as food. A chicks body is 50% water, so they need a lot of it to thrive.
• 2Yes, there is a way to make them quiet down.
  If chicks are chirping loudly, it means they are uncomfortable or unhappy. If you can figure out what they want and give it to them, they will stop chirping as much. Make sure not to look past the obvious. My chicks chirped for 36 hours straight before we realized the bulb in the heat lamp wasn't strong enough to keep them warm. Once we changed the bulb, the silence was like heaven.
• 3Every chick has their own personality.
  Seriously! Each of my chicks acts differently. Some are shy. Some are outgoing. Some are brave. Some are scared of their own shadow. Some are loud and annoying. Others are so quiet, you forget they're even there. Each chick is different and special in her own way.
  I think only having 7 chicks has allowed me to get to know them better. It's allowed me to see each chick as an individual instead of just one of the thousand egg-layers.
  
  Or I could just be going nutso.....
• 4Chicks aren't "easy pets"!
  Baby chicks require almost constant attention. First thing in the morning, I refill their food and water. Then I transfer them from the smaller cage we keep them in at night to a larger cage we keep outside. Then I have to clean the small cage. This all takes about 45 minutes and 6 trips up the stairs. During the day, I have to constantly refill their water (they drink a lot) and watch to make sure no neighborhood cats try for a chicken dinner. I also have to monitor the temperature in their cage so I know whether to give them more sun or more shade. If it rains, I have to run outside and put their cage on the covered porch. The last time that happened, I strained a muscle and ended up snuggling with ice packs for 3 days. At night I warm up their small cage and then transfer them to it. Most of the time they just stretch out and go to sleep. But of course, they always wake up and start squawking halfway through the night.
• 5Chicks are entertaining!
  I could watch these gals for hours without getting bored. They chase flies. They play Queen of the Perch (their version of King of the Mountain). They try to bath in their food. They knock their water dish over and then squawk at me like it's my fault!
  From the mother hen (Earbud) to the shy girl (Chippy), from the self harmer (Thumper) to the amazingly calm chicky (Ashe), from the sneaky rascal (Korma) to my two little miracles (Mira & Cali); all their individual personalities come together to create an amazing little family that I feel honored to be a part of.