Raising Baby Chicks
There are lots of resources on how to raise chicks out there - but the one that I wished I had was straight and to the point… so that’s what this will be for you 😉
Chicks have a few non-negotiables:
Chick feed, water, chick grit, a safe place to live & a heat source.
We covered feed in week 1, so if you missed it, you’ll find options there!
Water is self explanatory - where it gets overwhelming is all of the different watering gadgets people have come up with (feeders too!). We opt for automatic water systems so that we can optimize our time!
Side note: the things I’m mentioning here are linked in my Raising Backyard Chickens Ebook that is discounted this week just for you guys 😉
A brooder is a must have (aka a place for them to safely live). Be mindful to protect it from predators using hardware cloth instead of chicken wire! Chicken wire still lets snakes in, and snakes love eating baby chicks - ask me how I know.
Brooders come in all different shapes and sizes - they can be custom made or can be made out of a water trough. The options are endless there. All that matters is that it has a safe bedding (usually wood chips, hemp or construction sand… NOT play sand) it is protected, warm & loaded with food, water, and grit!
When it comes to chick grit, it’s generally sold in the feed stores. Chickens don’t have teeth - they have a gizzard that’s acts like teeth so they eat things, swallow them, it lands in their gizzard and then the grit (or tiny rocks) help them break up the food coming in so it can go out the other end and grow you some grass 😅
If your chicks are outside doing their own thing - they’ll get their own grit from the ground. Otherwise, they’ll need you to provide it!
A heat source is a big non-negotiable for chicks. They are born fluffy and cute with no feathers! It takes a few weeks for feathers to come in and allow them to regulate their heat - so a heat lamp is always suggested!
The only time a heat lamp isn’t needed is if mama hen hatches those eggs herself. Honestly - hen hatching is dreamy because you can skip all the chick raising/introducing the chicks to your flock steps. Mama does it ALL.
But, most don’t have broody hens laying and hatching - so heat lamps it is!
Here’s a chart to let you know what temp their brooder should be kept at:
If you’re wanting friendly chickens, handle them often. If you want them to be nice to your kids - let those kiddos haze them.
When raising chicks (egg layers) you’re going to keep them in the brooder for 6 weeks - unless you’re in a warm climate where the outside temps are where the chicks need them to be to regulate their temperature pre feathers.
At the 6 week mark, move them into their coop, or if you have other chickens, into a chicken tractor where the other chickens can interact with them safely.
Pecking order is a real thing. If you put new chickens randomly in with the existing flock, the existing flock will destroy them.
We typically wait until the chicks are 13 weeks old to introduce them to the flock permanently…. you could do this after a week or so, but I prefer them bigger.
When you’re ready to add the new chicks to the flock, you will wait until it’s nighttime and one by one place them into the coop. Chickens are night blind, so they won’t run from you at night. When everyone is in the coop, shut the door and keep the flock inside for 24-48 hours if you have an open run. This allows the chickens to set their internal GPS to homebase and allows the flock to figure out these new intruders that magically appeared.
If you don’t have a run on your coop you may need to repeat the “place the birds in the coop” process a few nights in a row. They might get lost, but they’ll catch on.
Chicks are fairly cut and dry… and also very addictive once you get the hang of them.