How to Care for Newly Incubated Chicks

If you have decided to start your own chicken farm, the least expensive route to take is to hatch your own chicks. This is done by incubating the eggs and hatching them yourself. Knowing how to care for the chicks after you have hatched them in the incubator is vital. You will need to know how where to keep them after they have hatched, how to keep them warm and how long it will be before they can be relocated. All of this information is vital to keeping them alive once they have arrived.

Things You'll Need

  • Pine shavings Heat lamp Cardboard box Chicken wire Water dish Food dish Marbles
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Instructions

    • 1

      Allow them to dry. Once a chick has hatched itself out of the egg, it is important to let them remain in the incubator for a minimum of 24 hours before moving them. This allows them time to gain their strength, dry out after being in the egg and have the ability to stand on their own. If they are removed too soon, it could affect their body temperature which would in turn result in the death of an otherwise healthy chick.

    • 2

      Prepare your brooding box. Once the first chick has hatched, you will need a brooding box for it and the remainder of the chicks that are hatching. For this, just about any cardboard box will do. There is no set standard on the size, just as long as it is large enough to hold the number of chicks you are hatching. Place pine shavings in the brooding box as bedding, along with food and water.

    • 3

      Provide a heat lamp. Once the 24 hours has passed and the chicks are moved from the incubator into the brooding box, you will need to place some chicken wire over the top to protect them from any other animals in your home. This also serves as a something your heat lamp can rest on. The heat lamp is needed to keep the chicks warm and their body temperature where it needs to be. Again, this is something there is no set standard for. Any wattage lamp will do, as long as it provides heat to the chicks. If you begin to notice that the chicks are huddled together in a corner away from the lamp, it's an indication they are too warm. Therefore you may want to adjust the heat lamp and its proximity to the chicks.

    • 4

      Teach them how to drink. All chickens need constant food and water to remain healthy, but newly hatched chicks need them to gain their strength. When you first place them in their brooding box, you will need to dip the end of their beaks in the water so they know it's there. They may not have too much of an appetite the first couple of days, but the water is essential to their survival. Their food and water dishes need to be small enough to accomodate them. For these I recommend the lid from a peanut butter jar, or something of similar size. You will also want to place marbles in the water dish so they don't spill it once they become more active.

    • 5

      Move them. After about six weeks in a brooder box, the chicks can then be moved to an outside location. They will no longer need the heat lamp at this point either. When you move them, be sure to have a separate chicken coop for them. If you attempt to place them with chickens who have hatched before them, or any of your larger chickens, they can be seriously injured or killed. They will still be too small to defend themselves and larger chickens will attack them to show them who is boss. This process is called the pecking order. It is best to keep them separate until they are at least three months old and can defend themselves better.