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I ordered 30 baby chickens by mail and they are supposed to arrive on tuesday….What stepps should i take to get them off to a good start?
Wow! hope you have lots of space for these cause in a few weeks they are going to need it. I used to raise chickens so I should be able to answer this. You need to create a draft free warm home for them with heat lamps and the proper feeders and waters, these are in the chicken catalog. You can also get them at feed stores where you can also find chick starter and get advice on how to raise them. They need a litter to walk on, I used to use wood chips completely covered under several layers of news paper, you should put some more paper down every couple of days. You must moniter the chicks carefully, if it is too drafty they will be hiding from windows, if it is cold they will "mosh" under the heat lamps and could trample each other, if it is too hot they will fight to get away from the lamps, you should keep food and water slightly away from the lamps so they don’t overheat. The people that sold yout the chickens can tell you how hot it needs to be, it’s somewhere in the 90 degree range for the first few days. Be sure to keep them in a safe inclosed area because they are definately easy prey at this stage, I can’t tell you how much trouble I had with snakes even though mine were in a barn. If you notice that one of the chicks seems sick you need to isolate it right away, chances are it will live but you don’t want it to spread its disease or get pecked to death by the others. Chickens are not kind. Good luck! Hope this works for you!
5 Responses to “How to care for day old baby chickens?”
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Ehhh, you should have thought about it before you ordered them.
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do they have large talons?
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Wow! hope you have lots of space for these cause in a few weeks they are going to need it. I used to raise chickens so I should be able to answer this. You need to create a draft free warm home for them with heat lamps and the proper feeders and waters, these are in the chicken catalog. You can also get them at feed stores where you can also find chick starter and get advice on how to raise them. They need a litter to walk on, I used to use wood chips completely covered under several layers of news paper, you should put some more paper down every couple of days. You must moniter the chicks carefully, if it is too drafty they will be hiding from windows, if it is cold they will "mosh" under the heat lamps and could trample each other, if it is too hot they will fight to get away from the lamps, you should keep food and water slightly away from the lamps so they don’t overheat. The people that sold yout the chickens can tell you how hot it needs to be, it’s somewhere in the 90 degree range for the first few days. Be sure to keep them in a safe inclosed area because they are definately easy prey at this stage, I can’t tell you how much trouble I had with snakes even though mine were in a barn. If you notice that one of the chicks seems sick you need to isolate it right away, chances are it will live but you don’t want it to spread its disease or get pecked to death by the others. Chickens are not kind. Good luck! Hope this works for you!
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Not to worry as they will probably arrive with care and feeding instructions. Basically you give them
a drink of sugar water before placing them in the brooder. Make sure you have a generous amount of chick starter for them to eat. (Hit a feed store for that.) They will also require a supply of fresh water and a heat lamp. Place the lamp so the chicks can get away from it if they get too hot. Good luck.
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Opie’s answer above is pretty good. In addition, here’s a link to a very good page on chick care from McMurray Hatchery:
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chickcare.html
One REALLY important thing is to dip the beak of each chick in water for a moment, then watch to see that it swallows it. (Add two tablespoons of sugar per quart of water fo rthe first three days — it gives them some extra energy.) If you don’t do this, the chicks may not learn to drink and then they will die. Normally the mother hen shows them how, but with hatchery chicks, you have ot be the mommy and teach them to drink.
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