Raising Baby Chicks
On Our Country Ranch

We've been raising baby chicks together for 27 years and my husband did the same with his mother before that. It just doesn't seem like spring unless there are fuzzy peepers on the place. More people than ever are turning to this enjoyable task to raise their own meat and eggs or just because they love these animals and want them as pets.

Raising baby chicks for us has been a necessity. With five children to feed, growing our own meat was an economical way of keeping bellies full.

Our baby chicks in their new home - 2008

When our baby chickens first arrive through the mail we place them in a horse watering tank (brooder) that has wood chips layered in the bottom. The tank keeps the chicks confined so they can't wander off, away from the protection, feed, heat and water made available to them. Those four elements are essential and the most important to get right when raising baby chicks.

Keeping Chicks Warm Is Vital

Speaking of heat, there needs to be a 250 watt heat lamp hanging low enough to keep the temperature 95 degrees and left on at all times. It's best if the bulb is red, which helps keep the chicks from pecking at each other. We lower the temperature by 5 degrees about every week until they are six weeks old and can handle the normal outside temps. Have your brooder warming with the heat lamp well before your chicks arrive.

Water

The water is room temperature and made available to the chicks in a poultry waterer. A good guide is to provide a one gallon poultry waterer for every 50 chicks. Some growers add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of sugar to the first water given to provide chicks with extra energy. We have never done that for our chicks, however.

Feed

Chick starter feed is poured into the metal chick feeders. Having the special small sized feeders works the best so the baby chicks can easily access their food. Chicks love to scratch to find food so they can waste a lot of expensive chick starter when allowed to stand in the trough...they pitch it right out! The answer to this is a feeder which has a lid with holes.

We prefer to keep the feed and water not entirely under the heat lamp. That way the chicks can choose to be directly under the light when eating/drinking or if they find that too warm, can move a bit further away.

Our youngest daughter, Whitnee, helped put the baby chicks in the brooder after they arrived by mail - 2008

Remove each chick from the packing box and gently place its beak into water. This gives them the idea to drink and helps them find it more quickly when placed into their new home. After the beak dip, turn the chick loose and watch it head right for the feed and water.

Raising baby chicks properly all starts here. Keep their pen clean by adding more wood chips twice a day. Not too much, but enough to freshen the floor of the tank. After a few days, completely remove the used wood chips and replace with new. When the chicks get older, you may have to do this every day as the amount of manure they produce increases.

Check their food and water twice daily as well. Dump the water in the reservoir out since the chicks will have stepped and dropped manure in it...a lot! The water in the tank is fine to keep using. You may need to add to it though. Fill their feeder with more chick starter and don't let it sit empty.

Caring for baby chicks appropriately is crucial in these first couple of weeks as they are fairly fragile and sensitive to cold and drafts. They also need their heat light on because if left in the dark, they tend to huddle together and can suffocate each other. If your power goes out, a generator is necessary to keep their light on.

Whitnee gently dips each chick's beak in the water before placing them on the floor of their new home - 2008 - Raising baby chicks is just as much fun to Whitnee now as it was when she was little.

There may be a few of your chicks that show 'pasting up' when manure builds up on the rear and prevents them from excreting freely. You then need to remove the sticky manure either by gently picking it off or better yet, use warm water to loosen it first. Pasting up can arise from the stress of shipping or from baby chicks becoming chilled.

Some of our country chickens hatch their own chicks and care for the brood very well indeed. Hens warm chicks with their bodies by gently 'setting' on top of them or protecting them with their wings. If you are raising baby chicks without a mother hen, providing similar protection is required.

After about 4-6 weeks, we remove the chicks from the stock tank and let them run free in the brooder house (the small building we have the tank in). We continue to heat them with the lamp and then use straw under their feet for bedding.

When the baby chicks have their feathers and the weather has warmed outside, the door is opened wide so the little guys can move indoors and out freely. At first, they don't feel confident enough to head outside, but after only a few days they FLY out when the door is opened each morning. It is really fun to see!

In the evening, we have to 'herd' the chicks back inside which can be quite a job until they learn the routine. Eventually, they will head in to bed on their own and we just shut the door after the last one gets in.

Backyard Chickens Give Much Back To Us

Raising baby chicks has another added benefit...young children are fascinated with tiny animals...so we get the pleasure of little visitors who come to our 'petting zoo'. Our neighbor's granddaughter, Hannah, was here in May, 2009. Precious babies, checking each other out!

Your backyard chickens will give you much in return for their proper care.

If you are raising baby chicks for their meat, it will be the best you've ever tasted and especially satisfying because you grew it yourself.

After raising baby chicks you may be keeping the full grown hens to enjoy the fresh eggs they supply. There is nothing that compares to a fresh egg, cooked the day it was laid.

There are still others who get pleasure from keeping chickens just as pets and for their benefit to a country garden.

Give raising baby chicks a try. You will take pleasure in offering them suitable attention and watching them grow from little fuzz balls to awkward adolescents and then to crowing or egg laying adults.