How to Raise Buff Orpington Chickens From Baby Chicks

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By Danny Thornton
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Raise Buff Orpington Chickens From Baby Chicks

The Buff Orpington chicks are dual purpose birds that originally came from Great Britain. Their 2 purposes are as layers and meat. As for the eggs, the mature Buff Orpington typically starts to lay at 6 months and will produce 1 large brown egg every 2 to 3 days. As for eating, the birds normally plump to around 7 to 12 pounds. In this article, we will learn how to raise the Buff Orpington chick to maturity.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Tub or child's pool
Starter Feed
Heat Lamp
Heat Lamp Bulb
Power Source
Fully enclosed chicken pen
Water Bowl
Bedding

Step 1

Selecting your Buff Orpington chicks:

The first thing that you have to do is locate and purchase your baby Buff Orpington chick from your local co-operative or feed and seed store in your community. You can also order them through hatcheries online and have them shipped directly to you. Either way, you want to make sure that the chicks are healthy, so check out the environment that they have been kept in. As baby chicks, different breeds can be kept together. However, in the adult stages, they will need to be separated for safety purposes. When hand picking your chicks, make sure that they are covered with feathers and are very active.
Step 2

Preparing a place to raise your Buff Orpington chicks:

When you bring your Buff Orpington chicks home for the first time, you will want to have a place prepared to keep the chicks. This will need to be a secured area. Typically, it is best to build a pen that is covered on the sides and top with chicken wire. This will keep out most creatures that would be harmful to your Buff Orpington chicks. If you are building a pen, make sure that it will have enough room that the chicks can get enough exercise when full grown.
Step 3

Caring for your Buff Orpington chicks:

The first few things that you will need to acquire when purchasing your Buff Orpington chicks are Starter feed, baby pool, heat lamp, bedding material, and a water bucket. The pool will allow for the chicks to feel more secure and safe. Eventually, they will become confident enough to get out and explore. The lamp will keep them warm. If you live in warm climate and this is done in late spring/early summer, you do not need this. Just make sure that the temperature stays above 70 at night.

Comments

sneedc said

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on 2/3/2009 I probably won't be doing this anytime soon, but it was still cool to learn about! 5*

Rachellewms said

on 11/27/2008 OK, I learn something new everyday. This is my something new for today. The Buff Orpington Chicken is now a part of my personal knowledgebase. Thanx for the info! :)

Gardengates said

on 11/26/2008 I keep thinking I'd love to raise a few chickens. I hear they're great at keeping insects cleaned from the garden and I'd love the eggs. Only, I could never be able to bring myself to kill one!