important if you have received your chicks by mail, as they will be thirsty and stressed from their long journey. Once your chicks have had some time to adjust, provide them with fresh water without adding sugar. The sweetened water is a one-time serving to the chicks and should not be continued after the first watering.
The first day and night with the chicks will be magical. Well, it’s magical for the people; I imagine the chicks have a different take on the experience. They are frightened, awestruck, and totally dependent on you. They are fuzzy, clumsy, and curious. They are full of life but weigh little more than a heavy paper napkin.
Your new chicks will look fragile and wobbly. Their tiny claws will fall through the holes of the wire flooring. Don’t worry — chicks are actually tougher than they look. Soon they’ll get stronger and more accustomed to their new home. In just a day, the baby chicks will be running from side to side and over the wire flooring without losing a step. They will eat, drink, and sleep like old pros.
And they will peep. They peep all the time like chatty canaries on caffeine. They peep when they eat. They peep when they poop. Peep when other chicks are peeping. Peep when no one else is peeping. It is a veritable peep show (bad peeping pun indeed). They stop peeping only when they sleep, which they do suddenly without warning. Sleeping comes naturally and abruptly to chicks. To sleep, the baby chicks simply fall down wherever they are standing and peeping, and they close their tiny chick eyes.
I’ll never forget the first time I held a baby chick. It was — what else — magical. The chick got really warm in my cupped hands and fell asleep with her tiny head resting on my fingertips. The first time I saw a chick asleep in the cage, I had such a scare. I thought she was dead. She was lying face down, wings slightly opened and splayed away from her body, looking lifeless. I tentatively touched her through the wire and she popped up, peeping, and ran to the food tray while pooping. Whew. If you see your chicks lying this way, don’t panic. They may scare you to death the first time you see them lying there on the bottom of the brooder like a cottonball carcass, but they are probably just taking a quick nap.
Get used to seeing your chicks sprawled facedown in the poultry power nap position. They spend most of their first few weeks either sleeping or eating. The abundant rest and food fuels the chicks’ physique through an amazing growth spurt. They’ll go from a few ounces to a few pounds by the time they’re eight to fourteen weeks old.
When can the chicks move out to the coop? Depending on their breed and variety, chicks will be ready to begin their pullet rite of passage out of the brooder and into the coop at anywhere from three to four months of age. The basic rule is: Wait until your pullets have all their feathers (that is, they’re fully feathered) before moving them out to the coop.
The move to the coop should be undertaken gradually. Think of young pullets as greenhouse seedlings. Seedlings raised indoors are never brought out and immediately thrown into the soil. Instead, they are gradually acclimated to the outdoors over a brief period (known in gardening parlance as hardening off). It’s the same for your young chickens. When the weather has become consistently warm, take the birds outside in their brooder. Leave the brooder in the henhouse for a few hours, then bring it back inside for the night. Repeat the next two days. On days three through six, open the brooder and let the pullets wander freely around their new digs, but continue to bring them in for the night.
After a week of this careful treatment, your pullets should be accustomed to the temperature and décor change in their habitat. Having had a chance to scratch in the dirt and eat bugs, they’ll be itching to move into their new abode. Let them.
Sick Chicks
Nobody wants a sick chick. Once a baby chick
The first day and night with the chicks will be magical. Well, it’s magical for the people; I imagine the chicks have a different take on the experience. They are frightened, awestruck, and totally dependent on you. They are fuzzy, clumsy, and curious. They are full of life but weigh little more than a heavy paper napkin.
Your new chicks will look fragile and wobbly. Their tiny claws will fall through the holes of the wire flooring. Don’t worry — chicks are actually tougher than they look. Soon they’ll get stronger and more accustomed to their new home. In just a day, the baby chicks will be running from side to side and over the wire flooring without losing a step. They will eat, drink, and sleep like old pros.
And they will peep. They peep all the time like chatty canaries on caffeine. They peep when they eat. They peep when they poop. Peep when other chicks are peeping. Peep when no one else is peeping. It is a veritable peep show (bad peeping pun indeed). They stop peeping only when they sleep, which they do suddenly without warning. Sleeping comes naturally and abruptly to chicks. To sleep, the baby chicks simply fall down wherever they are standing and peeping, and they close their tiny chick eyes.
I’ll never forget the first time I held a baby chick. It was — what else — magical. The chick got really warm in my cupped hands and fell asleep with her tiny head resting on my fingertips. The first time I saw a chick asleep in the cage, I had such a scare. I thought she was dead. She was lying face down, wings slightly opened and splayed away from her body, looking lifeless. I tentatively touched her through the wire and she popped up, peeping, and ran to the food tray while pooping. Whew. If you see your chicks lying this way, don’t panic. They may scare you to death the first time you see them lying there on the bottom of the brooder like a cottonball carcass, but they are probably just taking a quick nap.
Get used to seeing your chicks sprawled facedown in the poultry power nap position. They spend most of their first few weeks either sleeping or eating. The abundant rest and food fuels the chicks’ physique through an amazing growth spurt. They’ll go from a few ounces to a few pounds by the time they’re eight to fourteen weeks old.
When can the chicks move out to the coop? Depending on their breed and variety, chicks will be ready to begin their pullet rite of passage out of the brooder and into the coop at anywhere from three to four months of age. The basic rule is: Wait until your pullets have all their feathers (that is, they’re fully feathered) before moving them out to the coop.
The move to the coop should be undertaken gradually. Think of young pullets as greenhouse seedlings. Seedlings raised indoors are never brought out and immediately thrown into the soil. Instead, they are gradually acclimated to the outdoors over a brief period (known in gardening parlance as hardening off). It’s the same for your young chickens. When the weather has become consistently warm, take the birds outside in their brooder. Leave the brooder in the henhouse for a few hours, then bring it back inside for the night. Repeat the next two days. On days three through six, open the brooder and let the pullets wander freely around their new digs, but continue to bring them in for the night.
After a week of this careful treatment, your pullets should be accustomed to the temperature and décor change in their habitat. Having had a chance to scratch in the dirt and eat bugs, they’ll be itching to move into their new abode. Let them.
Sick Chicks
Nobody wants a sick chick. Once a baby chick