Having a fully grown flock of chickens in your backyard is rewarding. However, raising chicks from when they hatch to when they are fully grown can be daunting. Everything will be simple, easy, and fun if you know what to do. So, how do you raise chickens from scratch?
How To Raise Chicks:
- Ensure You Set Up A Brooder To Raise Your Chicks In
- Set Up Items That Go In The Brooder
- Lower Temperatures In The Brooder As The Chicks Grow
- Expand The Brooder As The Chicks Grow
- Introduce Your Chicks To The Outside After Several Weeks
- Slowly Introduce You Chicks To The Older Chickens
There will be different developments and milestones that you will need to adjust for as the chicks grow. Baby chicks are very frail, especially during the first couple of weeks, so it is imperative to know how to raise them. Here is a complete guide on raising newly hatched chicks.
Contents
1. Ensure You Set Up A Brooder To Raise Your Chicks In
The first thing to do is get everything set up as much as possible before you bring baby chicks home. Start with finding a container that you will use as a brooder. Depending on the number of chicks you bring home, your brooder may vary in size.
Regarding the brooder you choose, ensure you do not use one made of cardboard. Rather pick a plastic container. A cardboard container will easily soak up moisture and get wet. This will lead to it getting soggy and even moldy.
2. Set Up Items That Go In The Brooder
You should have several items ready for your chicks in the brooder, as this is where your chicks will stay for the first couple of weeks.
Use The Correct Bedding
In the beginning, you can choose to use paper towels. This prevents the baby chicks from eating the bedding since they do not know what food is yet. Try not to use newspaper as it’s not great for the baby chick’s leg and the ink on the newspaper is toxic.
You can also choose to use pine shavings to ensure that the baby chicks have a nice dry and warm area. Some people prefer to introduce bedding from the get-go; however, it is better to introduce shavings once the chicks are older. This is because chicks kick the shavings around, and when they do, those shavings normally end up in the water and the feeder.
As they grow older, once you’ve introduced shavings, you’ll have to check on your chicks every now and then to ensure that their food and water is clean and clear of shavings. This may require you to change the water and food maybe two to three times a day.
Ensure You Have A Heat Lamp Or Thermo Poultry Brooder
Next, you focus on how you will ensure that it is warm enough for your chicken inside the brooder. The goal is to ensure that it is 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the brooder. One of the ways to ensure that chicks will grow is to simulate the warmth that the chicks receive from a mother hen. A thermal poultry brooder is an excellent way to keep your chicks from freezing while they are young.
Getting a heat lamp is not a must, but it also has its benefits, as it helps maintain the brooder’s temperature. It is recommended that you get one as it will be the one way you will regulate the temperature in the brooder as you raise the chicks.
One way that you can kill your chicks is by heating them to death. This is a common mistake that is very easy to make as a newbie when you’re raising chicks. For the first week of raising chicks, you want to ensure that you keep the temperatures between 90 and 95 degrees.
However, ensure that the space underneath the lamp is the only one that is around 90 to 95 degrees that first week. The surrounding area should not be hot, or else you will kill your chicks.
Use A Waterer To Provide Your Chicks With Water
Since the baby chicks have been traveling to get to their new home, the next thing you want to ensure you have is good, clean water. You’ll want to make sure that you have waterers ready. Remember that these baby chicks have just come from the mother hen or perhaps from an incubator, so they are used to a warm wet environment.
Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising that they could end up in the water. When using a waterer placed on the ground, ensure that you put in a couple of small stones to prevent the chicks from drowning in the water if they fall in. For the first five to seven days, you want to stick to a feeder and waterer that sits on the floor. Then after five to seven days, you can upgrade to a feeder and waterer that hangs.
Because the chicks have gone a few days without water and food when being transported, you’ll want to use some kind of electrolyte to help them rehydrate better. One of the best is Save The Chick electrolytes. Simply mix this in the water according to the instructions. Ensure that you provide clean water daily.
Do not assume your chicks know how to drink and eat alone. This is a common misconception that can lead to your chicks dying. Usually, the mother hen teaches the chicks how to feed and drink. So, what you need to do is to show your chicks how to eat and drink.
Generally, chicks will not have ever had any water or food, so it’s a good idea to dip their beaks in the water once they arrive, so they familiarize themselves with where their source of water is. Make sure to be gentle when you’re doing this so that no water gets in their nostrils.
Once you have dipped each chick’s beak in the water, watch and see that they go back to drink more water, and if they do, that is a good indication that they are aware of where to go when they need to get hydrated.
Use A Feeder To Feed Your Chicks
What you feed baby chicks is very important. You’ll want to feed them a 20% starter grower. There is also a 24% feed, but most people raising laying chicks prefer a 20% starter grower. Add a chick starter grower that has high protein and is medicated.
This is because it will support their growth, and your chicks will not only grow to be healthy but also strong. When you get a feeder, try to get one that won’t enable the chicks to take out their feed. Get a scratch-proof feeder, so the chicks do not waste feed.
This is because baby chicks generally scratch and dig with their feet. Ensure you give your chick grit, as this will help them grind their food. Slowly incorporate feed that is higher in calcium once your chicks are grown. You can also introduce calcium in the form of egg or oyster shells.
3. Lower Temperatures In The Brooder As The Chicks Grow
As mentioned above, the temperature in the first week when the chicks arrive must be between 90 and 95 degrees. However, while you’re in the process of raising your chicks, you’ll need to adjust temperatures accordingly. This is because the chicks will be able to thermoregulate as they grow and will be warmer once their feathers start to grow.
Therefore, as you raise your chickens, you must drop the temperature by 5 degrees weekly. For example, suppose in the first week, the temperature in the brooder was maintained at 95 degrees. In that case, the second week of you raising your chicks should entail temperatures dropping to 90 degrees and so on as the weeks go by.
You will continue doing this until you hit 75 degrees or the ambient temperature in the room. This is applicable if you use a heat lamp and will be at around 4 to 5 weeks.
4. Expand The Brooder As The Chicks Grow
The goal is to keep them in a small space for the first week, and then afterward, you can expand their brooder so your chicks have space where they can practice their natural behavior. This would be running, attempting to fly, etc.
You can also add a mesh wire cover to the top of your brood so that the chicks do not get out or fly out as they age. By expanding your brooder, you ensure that there will not be any aggression. That way, the chances of you losing chicks is slim. Expanding the brooder will also prevent any chicks from piling on top of each other and suffocating the others.
5. Introduce Your Chicks To The Outside After Several Weeks
You’ll want to keep your chicks inside for the first several weeks. Suppose you’re wondering if there is a specific age where you should take the chicks outside. In that case, the truth is there really isn’t a specific age. It mainly depends on how the chicks are doing after several weeks and the temperature outside.
Usually, around two to three weeks old should be a good time where you can introduce them to the outside, especially if the weather is warm. It is important to keep them in some kind of pen when you put them outside and ensure that they have a feeder and water and access to shade and sun.
As the chicks grow older, it is important to increase the height of the thermo poultry brooder. This is because the chicks do not need as much heat as they grow older. Once the chicks are at around five weeks old, you can keep them outside for a full day without worrying about what the weather is like.
When you keep them outside more and more, ensure that you have taken the necessary measures to keep them safe from all predators. This includes but is not limited to fencing around the pen, a sturdy coverage to protect the chicks from predators, etc. At that point, you can simply place them back in the brooder at night just to keep them protected.
However, if your pen is fully secure, you can leave them outside. Ensure that there is plenty of water and food when they are outside. However, if you live in an area that is mainly almost always cold, because the chicks are not yet fully feathered at 5 weeks, it would not be ideal to keep them outside for long periods.
6. Slowly Introduce You Chicks To The Older Chickens
Now that your chicks are spending more and more time outside, the next step would be to let all your chickens mingle. If you have other chickens, this would be the right time to introduce your new chicks to the older chickens.
Since the chicks have gotten used to the outside, it will not be a big shock for them to mingle with the other older chickens. Therefore, you can simply move the new chicks’ pen to the older chickens’ pen. It is important to ensure that the chick’s feed and the older chickens’ feed are not combined.
This is because chicks will still need a diet high in protein, while older chickens generally have a diet high in calcium instead. Let both the chicks and older chickens have free reign. However, keep an eye on the chicks to ensure that the older chickens aren’t attacking them. As they mingle, they will all get to know each other.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to raise chicks, you can confidently start having your own flock in your backyard. There is pretty much a learning curve when it comes to raising chicks. However, once you’ve done it, you are set for the next time you do it again.
Once the brooder is set and ready and the chicks arrive, getting things squared away as soon as possible is important. Your goal is to make sure that the checks are settling in really well and are comfortable.
