How to Care For Chicks When They Arrive

Chicks are small, cute, and tempting to bring home. If you plan on bringing home a clutch of baby chicks this spring, you need to know how to take proper care of them starting the day they arrive, so they grow strong and healthy. Caring for chicks during their first few weeks of life takes time and dedication, but it is fun to see them develop and grow.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• chick starter feed
• waterer
• brooder or box
• chick heat lamp
• pine shavings

1. Before your chicks arrive, you should have their accommodations prepared. Whether they are going to be in a chicken coop or in your house for the first few weeks, make sure their new home is ready. Turn on the heat lamp for the chicks, so their new home is nice and toasty when they arrive.

2. As soon as baby chicks arrive, whether you get them via mail or the local feed store, give them the opportunity to drink water. Baby chickens can get very dehydrated during travel, which can lead to their demise. Gently hold one of the feistier chicks and dip the tip of her beak into the water dish for just a second. As you remove the chick from the water, you should be able to see her swallowing. After one chick has been introduced to the water, the others will typically follow suit on their own accord.

3. Check each chick’s vent, which is the hole from which it eliminates, to make sure it is not clogged. If the chick is dehydrated and stressed, its droppings can harden and clog its vent. If you find a clogged vent use a warm, wet towel to dissolve the droppings, and wipe the vent clean. You may also have to dip the chick’s bottom into warm water to soften the droppings. Use a hair dryer to dry the chick before you put her back in the box or coop.

4. Have plenty of food available to your chicks. Give your chicks as much chicken feed as they will eat. Provide the specially formulated starter grain made specifically for baby chicks. Most chick starter feeds are medicated to prevent the chicks from getting sick from a bacteria called coccidiosis. Chicks tend to poop in their food and water, which can also make them sick, so change it as often as you need to so it stays clean.

5. Check on the chicks often for several hours after they arrive. The temperature of the coop, brooder or box, should be 95 degrees for the first few weeks. You do not need to buy a thermometer though. Rather, you can watch the behavior of the chicks. If it is too warm, the chicks will be pressed against the walls of the brooder, as far from the heat lamp as possible. If it is too cool, the chicks will be huddled directly under the heat lamp. Adjust the heat lamp up or down, one or two inches at a time, until the chicks are comfortable.

6. Watch the chicks when you place them in the box or brooder. You should have pine shavings about one inch deep and covering the bottom of the box. If there are not enough pine shavings, and the chicks are slipping, you should add more shavings. Chicks can develop permanently splayed legs if they grow up in an environment where their feet are constantly slipping out from under them. Do not use straw, as that it is too slippery, or cedar chips, as that the cedar oil can irritate their skin. Keep their bedding warm and dry, always provide clean and abundant food and water, and your chicks will be happy and healthy.

Resources

• Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens: Care / Feeding / Facilities
• Chickens In Your Backyard: A Beginner's Guide
• eHow Spring Guide

[cherold598]

on 3/25/2009 Great tips about how to care for chicks after they arrive. They're so cute.

[RachelB]

on 3/25/2009 Very good article about how to care for chicks. What a wonderful picture, too.