on the cage floor to determine whether to move the heat lamp higher (to lower the temperature) or lower (to raise the temperature).
Don’t hang the lamp dead center over the cage, but over to one side. You need to give the chicks room to escape the lamp if they are feeling too hot. You will want to regularly observe and regulate the heat so that you don’t accidentally roast your chicks. If the chicks are always huddled together directly under the lamp, the brooder temperature is too cold. If the chicks stay as far away from the lamp as they can, clinging to the walls on the opposite side of the brooder, the temperature is too warm.
Water and Feed
Your chicks need to have plenty of cool, fresh water to drink. Put the chicks’ water dispenser in the cage over to one corner, away from the direct path of the heat lamp. If the water in the dispenser becomes too hot, the chicks will not drink. Chicks’ fragile physiques are susceptible to immediate dehydration without access to fresh, cool drinking water. Discard the water from the dispenser and refill it with clean water twice daily. The chicks poop everywhere, all the time, and they make no exceptions for their watering tray.
Place a chick feeder in the cage. The feeder is usually a stainless-steel feeding dish, though plastic feeders are available (plastic is a bit easier to clean). The feeders can be either a shallow round dish with a top cover containing several half dollar–size holes, or a narrow trough topped lengthwise and center with a rod that turns in place. The purpose of the holes in the round feeder and the teetering rod in the trough feeder is to keep the chicks out of their food dish. Without the protective top and rod, the chicks, not knowing any better, would stand in their dishes and poop and sleep.
A chick feeder gives chicks access to their feed while at the same time keeping them from getting into the feed.
What goes in the chick feeder? Chick feed, of course. Chick feed has a unique nutritional makeup designed just for growing chicks. Chick feed is ground up so that it’s easy for the chicks to eat and digest. It comes in two forms: “mash” and “crumble.” Mash and crumble each look like their name implies. Commercial prepared chick feeds, which are available at feed stores, have all of the necessary nutrients needed by your chick flock.
Chick feed comes in two varieties: medicated and nonmedicated. Medicated feed prevents chick coccidiosis and is essential in larger farm flocks of chickens. However, with only three or four chicks, you have control over the cleanliness of their habitat. Disease in your small flock is not as likely to occur as in larger, farm-size flocks. I’ve always raised my city chicks on nonmedicated feed and have never lost a chick to sickness.
Poultry Tribune, circa 1940.
Roosting Practice
When your chicks are about three weeks old, install a small perch or dowel into one end of the brooder. Your fledglings need to practice roosting much like a kid needs to ride a tricycle before trying out a bike. Placing a dowel into the brooder early in their lives encourages the chicks to give roosting a chance. If you see that the chicks aren’t getting the idea to jump up on the perch themselves, give them a hand. Pick them up and hold them over the perch until they grip it. Gently let go when they do. They will fall over a few times, but like a kid on a bike, once they learn how to roost, they’ll never forget. And there’s nothing cuter than several-weeks-old chicks, still all fuzzy and peeping, clustered on the perch together!
From Brooder to Coop
Put the chicks in the brooder as soon as you bring them home. Promptly give them water to drink. Initially, mix a little sugar (1 teaspoon per quart) into the water. This mixture gives them instant energy and helps reduce their stress level (imagine being locked up and bounced around in a dark cardboard box for a while). A little serving of sugared water is especially
Don’t hang the lamp dead center over the cage, but over to one side. You need to give the chicks room to escape the lamp if they are feeling too hot. You will want to regularly observe and regulate the heat so that you don’t accidentally roast your chicks. If the chicks are always huddled together directly under the lamp, the brooder temperature is too cold. If the chicks stay as far away from the lamp as they can, clinging to the walls on the opposite side of the brooder, the temperature is too warm.
Water and Feed
Your chicks need to have plenty of cool, fresh water to drink. Put the chicks’ water dispenser in the cage over to one corner, away from the direct path of the heat lamp. If the water in the dispenser becomes too hot, the chicks will not drink. Chicks’ fragile physiques are susceptible to immediate dehydration without access to fresh, cool drinking water. Discard the water from the dispenser and refill it with clean water twice daily. The chicks poop everywhere, all the time, and they make no exceptions for their watering tray.
Place a chick feeder in the cage. The feeder is usually a stainless-steel feeding dish, though plastic feeders are available (plastic is a bit easier to clean). The feeders can be either a shallow round dish with a top cover containing several half dollar–size holes, or a narrow trough topped lengthwise and center with a rod that turns in place. The purpose of the holes in the round feeder and the teetering rod in the trough feeder is to keep the chicks out of their food dish. Without the protective top and rod, the chicks, not knowing any better, would stand in their dishes and poop and sleep.
A chick feeder gives chicks access to their feed while at the same time keeping them from getting into the feed.
What goes in the chick feeder? Chick feed, of course. Chick feed has a unique nutritional makeup designed just for growing chicks. Chick feed is ground up so that it’s easy for the chicks to eat and digest. It comes in two forms: “mash” and “crumble.” Mash and crumble each look like their name implies. Commercial prepared chick feeds, which are available at feed stores, have all of the necessary nutrients needed by your chick flock.
Chick feed comes in two varieties: medicated and nonmedicated. Medicated feed prevents chick coccidiosis and is essential in larger farm flocks of chickens. However, with only three or four chicks, you have control over the cleanliness of their habitat. Disease in your small flock is not as likely to occur as in larger, farm-size flocks. I’ve always raised my city chicks on nonmedicated feed and have never lost a chick to sickness.
Poultry Tribune, circa 1940.
Roosting Practice
When your chicks are about three weeks old, install a small perch or dowel into one end of the brooder. Your fledglings need to practice roosting much like a kid needs to ride a tricycle before trying out a bike. Placing a dowel into the brooder early in their lives encourages the chicks to give roosting a chance. If you see that the chicks aren’t getting the idea to jump up on the perch themselves, give them a hand. Pick them up and hold them over the perch until they grip it. Gently let go when they do. They will fall over a few times, but like a kid on a bike, once they learn how to roost, they’ll never forget. And there’s nothing cuter than several-weeks-old chicks, still all fuzzy and peeping, clustered on the perch together!
From Brooder to Coop
Put the chicks in the brooder as soon as you bring them home. Promptly give them water to drink. Initially, mix a little sugar (1 teaspoon per quart) into the water. This mixture gives them instant energy and helps reduce their stress level (imagine being locked up and bounced around in a dark cardboard box for a while). A little serving of sugared water is especially
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