I like to tell people I am a planner, (not always the truth) so when winter is loosening its grip I start planning. One of my favorite things to plan for is baby chicks; breeds, egg color, fuzzy babies in my brooder, okay so it’s more like dreaming than planning. Not surprisingly, my favorite time of year is chick days at our local feed store! When those brooders come out and the heat lamps are on, that is the start of my spring. Nothing else screams spring more than new life on the farm.
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How to Care for Your Chicks
- Warmth-Chicks must be kept in a draft-free place and provided a steady temperature of 95°F for the first week of their lives. A 250-watt bulb heat lamp is a good heat source, just make sure the lamp is tightly clamped to something so it’s can’t fall into the shavings and cause a fire. After that reducing the temperature by 5° each week is a good rule of thumb. After placing your chicks in your brooder, pay close attention to how they behave. If they’re crowded together directly under or adjacent to the heat source, they’re cold. Lower the heat source or add another. If, on the other hand, your chicks seem to be avoiding the heat source like the plague, they’re too hot! Move the heat source farther away from them. Happy chicks will be contentedly exploring all around the brooder.
- Absorbent bedding-Baby chicks are big poopers, so make sure to line the floor of their housing unit with an absorbent material. I use natural pine shavings in a one-inch layer, try not to use newspaper! It’s not nearly as absorbent and the slippery surface can lead to a permanent deformity called “splayed leg” (DON’T use cedar shavings, no matter what friends or your local feed store tell you: the aromatic oils are damaging to the chicken’s lungs)
- Water-Baby chicks need clean water at all times. Do not use regular bowls or dishes, chicks can easily drown in a few inches of water, and they’ll certainly do naughty things like walk in it, spill it, kick their bedding materials into it, and poop in it — meaning you’ll have to change it constantly. I like the chick waterers that you can screw a mason jar to the base.
- Feed-At the feed store you will find a mysterious and huge variety of baby chick feed, medicated, non-medicated, organic, non-organic well you get the idea. Chick feed is developed to provide growing chickens all essential nutrients that they require. Most chick starters have a high protein content of about 20% to support the rapid growth and development of baby chickens. Okay with that said, I very rarely use chick starter for my babies, and I never use medicated crumble, I find it very unnecessary. I usually buy layer crumble at my local feed store with a 16% protein. It’s affordable and I have never noticed a development difference between chick starter babies and layer crumble babies. Sometimes if my chicks are looking puny after shipment (Chicks are sent to the feed store by a delivery truck without feed and water) I mix hard boiled eggs and cornmeal and make my own crumble. The yolk is what chicks are attached to in the egg is what provided nourishment as they grow. High in protein, this homemade mash usually perks them up.
What About The Brooder?
What about a brooder you might ask? There are many things that work as a brooder, a large plastic storage container, a homemade plywood box, or a livestock feeder, as long as they have room to grow and a window screen or fencing of some sort on top to keep the chicks in and predators out. Everything wants to eat your babies and once their wing feathers start to come in they can easily jump out of the brooder.
I keep my chicks in the brooder until they have feathered out enough not to need the heat lamp. After they leave the brooder I transfer them to a sectioned off part of the chicken house until the older chickens get used to them, usually for about a week and then they are free to run with the other chickens. There might be an occasional scuffle in the henhouse as they find their place in the pecking order but nothing serious.
Red Heat Lamp Bulb 
Everything You Need 
Plastic feeder Bottom 
Plastic and Metal Feeder
Chicks are cute fluffy and easy to raise. but as you can see they take some special requirements. Chicks require special feed, a heat lamp, special waterer, and a really safe place to keep them. That’s a pretty steep learning curve to start with if you’ve never had chickens. Do baby chicks sound like a lot of work?
Try this instead. Every year we pick up new chicks to replenish our flock, we usually have about 12 hens that we over-winter. Feed prices can add up in a cold winter so I often sell or give away a few hens. I am not alone in giving away or selling started chickens. Many people are often willing to get rid of them for cheap or free, especially in the fall before winter hits. Check out facebook groups, craigslist, the want ads in your local paper. Talk to someone selling eggs at your farmer’s market. Heck, stop at someone’s house and flat out ask them. They’ll probably say yes. These girls will keep laying for you and they are already trained. They know where to go to sleep at night, where to lay their eggs, and are generally savvy to predators. Less work and instant gratification.
