How to Prepare for Baby Chicks

Raising baby chicks can be difficult, but given that they grow very quickly and will be able to provide you with fresh eggs as adults, putting in the time and effort to make sure they grow up healthy and comfortable is usually worth it. Make sure you have plenty of time and an appropriate space to raise your chicks to make the process and transfer to the coop as smooth as possible.

Things You'll Need

  • Brooder
  • Netting
  • Heat lamp
  • Absorbent bedding
  • Feeder
  • Chick starter feed
  • Chick waterer
  • Grit
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Instructions

  1. Making the Necessary Preparations for Your Baby Chicks

    • 1

      Select an appropriate space to raise your chicks. The space needs to be sheltered from predators and weather conditions. Some appropriate spaces are a garage, heated tool shed or workshop, basement, or weatherproof porch. Try to ensure that the space where you raise your chicks is separated from your daily living quarters; although they're small, chicks make a large mess while they are growing.

    • 2

      Select or build an appropriate brooder, or baby chick house. Large cardboard boxes make excellent brooders. Make sure you select one that will be big enough to accommodate as many chicks as will hatch, but not so big that the chicks will get cold. Plastic storage bins and kids' paddling pools can also make good brooders. Cover the brooder with netting to ensure your chicks remain in the brooder. Younger chicks are much better at flying than adult chickens.

    • 3

      Line the brooder with absorbent material to ensure that the chicks' waste is drawn away from their bodies, which will prevent the spread of infection. The absorbent bedding will also need to be changed each day as it becomes soiled. The material most often recommended for baby chicks is pine shavings. Avoid newspaper, which is too slippery, and cedar shavings, which can cause respiratory illness.

    • 4

      Install a heat-generating light source for the baby chicks above the brooder. The chicks need an air temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit during their first week of life, 90 degrees the second week, and so on, each week decreasing by five degrees Fahrenheit.

    • 5

      Get a specially designed chick feeder and chick waterer for your baby chicks. Water bottles or dishes and food troughs designed for other pets can actually be dangerous for chicks, as they can get trapped underneath dishes and easily soil water bowls, making more work for you. Chick feeders and waterers have an upright design that allows chick feed or water to be dispensed as needed into the dish below.

    • 6

      Have chick starter feed and grit on hand for your baby chicks' feeding needs. For chicks that have not been vaccinated, consider medicated feed to keep them healthy in their formative weeks. Chicks also need grit to help their digestion. You can use sand or parakeet/canary gravel for chicks, which are usually available in pet stores. Keep the grit in a small dish, or sprinkle it in with the chick feed.

    • 7

      At four to five weeks they can be transferred to their coop. You need either a red or white light bulb of at least 250 watts, and depending on the size of your brooder, you may need more than one. Use a thermometer to check temperature inside the brooder. Look for signs that chicks are too hot or too cold. Chicks will avoid one another and appear sluggish if too hot. They will huddle together for warmth as close to the heat source as possible if too cold. Raise heat lamp as necessary.