Proper Care for Day Old Chicks

Are you wondering how to care for da
y-old chicks? I’ve had quite a bit of practice over the years and in the process, I’ve learned a lot about proper chick care!
If you are hatching eggs in an incubator or ordering day old chicks through the mail, the following instructions will help you care for your chicks. Been there, done that? This post will help refresh your memory. Although this is geared toward chicks, the instructions are basically the same for day-old turkeys, ducks, and geese.

Basic Care for Day Old Chicks:

• Keep brooder temps at 95 F for the first week, decrease by 5 degrees each week.
• Make sure there is room for chicks to get out of the heat.
• Provide probiotics in their drinking water to establish healthy digestive systems
• Keep food and shallow water containers clean and filled.
• Make sure there are no drafts or sunny spots to cause temp changes in the brooder area.
• Make sure rodents, pets, or well-meaning children can’t hurt chicks.

Get Ready For Day Old Chicks

Before your chicks hatch or arrive at the post office, be sure to have their brooder area set up and tested for a couple of days. You don’t want to find out that your only heat lamp isn’t working when you get home with your babies. Water should be at room temperature so it won’t chill the chicks.

Keep Them Warm

If you are using a heat lamp, turn it on two or three days in advance so you can adjust the height to provide the proper temperature. I have used a heat lamp and an Eco Glow brooder, and both worked well.

If my chicks are going straight to the barn when the temps are low, I use seedling heat mats and a heat lamp. The heat lamp warms up their room and the brooder gives them a warm comfy place to nap. Make sure there are no drafts in their brooding area. If you only have a few peeps coming, consider keeping them in the house for a week or so to keep a close eye on them.

Temperature

For the first week of their lives, chicks should be kept in a brooding area that is 95 degrees Fahrenheit, with space to get out of the heat if they get too warm. Each week you will need to reduce the temperature of the brooder 5 degrees F until the youngsters are feathered out. If you notice the chicks piling on top of each other under the heat lamp, they are too cold. Lower the lamp, use a warmer bulb (an incandescent bulb may not be enough), or add another heat lamp to the brooder.

If the chicks are as far from the heat lamp as possible and they are panting, the temperature is too warm for them. Raise the heat lamp or switch to a lower watt bulb. Be sure the peeps have room to move around and find the best temperature for themselves. I always keep a digital thermometer under the heat lamp and I check it several times a day. Be careful not to adjust the heat lamp and then get busy with something else. It doesn’t take long for extreme temperatures to kill baby poultry.

Food and Water

Make sure your chicks have clean drinking water in a container that they can’t fall in and drown. Dip their beaks in the water when you first unpack them from the shipping box to teach them how to drink. Normally the mother hen would teach them this, but you’ll need to fill in.
For the first day, give them water with probiotics only. After they have rehydrated, add electrolytes or a bit of sugar or molasses in the water. Use 1 tablespoon sugar or 2 or 3 drops of molasses per quart of water. Too much sugar or electrolytes can cause pasty butt. Don’t use honey in place of the sugar, it can have a type of botulism that could kill baby animals.
Provide chick starter crumbles for your little peeps and watch to see if they eat. If your chicks were vaccinated for coccidiosis, you should give them non-medicated feed. If they aren’t showing any interest in their food, try clipping up some tiny pieces of lettuce on top of the crumbles. The contrast will draw their attention and they should be eating in no time. For other types of baby poultry, check to see if starter crumbles contain enough protein.
Provide chick grit to help aid their digestion. I like using a chick grit with probiotics.

Bedding

Don’t use newspapers or anything that is slippery to line the bottom of your brooder. You may use paper towels, but I have switched to a textured vinyl shelf liner that is easy to clean. The texture gives a non-slip surface which prevents spraddle leg in chicks.
Once the chicks are moved to the barn, I use wood shavings for their bedding. They are easily raked away and replenished as the chicks soil them. When the peeps are a couple of weeks old I usually switch to hay or straw for their bedding and I’ve never had any problems. When they are really small they tend to trip over the straw.

What To Do If Your Chicks Are Sick

Sometimes when day old chicks arrive they’ve had a rough trip. Make sure they are actively drinking and eating. Be sure to use probiotics or apple cider vinegar in their drinking water (2 tablespoons per quart). After a day, give them electrolytes in their water.
If you notice signs of pasty butt (droppings sticking to vent), be sure to gently clean the feces off with a warm, damp cloth. Don’t rub too hard and make sure you aren’t irritating or removing any skin. Give them a small spoon full of plain yogurt with probiotics to jump-start the good bacteria in their digestive systems.


 Refrences
Self sufficien Home Care n.d., How to care for day old chicks. Retrived from https://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2014/03/how-to-care-for-day-old-chicks.html

HOW TO GROW A DAY-OLD CHICK

1. Provide Room to Grow

Meat-breed chicks need a dry, clean, draft-free location large enough to accommodate their fast-growing bodies.  1½ square feet per bird, though for the first week  is required or you can get by with 1/2 square foot per bird.

2. Minimize Drafts

Until the chicks are pretty well feathered out, drafts can stress them, which can sometimes lead to death, especially in the colder months. Install a draft barrier 12 to 18 inches tall to block the cold air and help keep brooding temperature constant. This brooder guard, which can be made from cardboard, wood or other durable material, can be removed after the first week or two, depending on the weather and the feathering of your chicks.

3. Get the Right Bedding

Bedding or litter is used in the brooder house to absorb droppings and help the chicks stay warm. Cover the floor of the broiler room with litter 3 to 4 inches deep. Daily, remove any clumped litter and stir the remaining litter so it absorbs moisture better and lasts longer. You may need to change the litter out once a week or so, depending on its cleanliness.
Chicks may mistake small sawdust particles as food, so avoid using it until the chicks mature at least a week. Slick bedding, such as newspapers and shredded paper, shouldn’t be used after two days, as the chicks can’t get proper footing on the slick surface, causing their legs to splay out. This can lead to leg deformities, which fast-growing meat chickens are already at risk for.

4. Keep the Brooder House Warm

A heat source is a non-negotiable piece of equipment that keeps chicks warm just like a mother hen would. Traditionally, this is a heat light or infrared bulb fitted with a shield that reflects warmth down  onto the chicks. Make sure your light fixture has a porcelain fitting to screw the bulb into. Other shielded lights, such as those used by painters, have plastic fittings and are rated for 100-watt bulbs, not the heat of 250 watts common for brooders. Rig up two lights, so that if one goes out, the chicks don’t get chilled. Make sure any extension cords are in good shape, not exposed to water or animals, and rated for the proper wattage. The lamp should also be well-secured to prevent contact with combustible bedding.
Although 24-hour light increases feeding time and weight gain, and helps broilers feather out faster, it can be a good idea to familiarize them with darkness by giving them 10- to 15-minute periods without light. This can help prevent panic or death by piling up on each other in the event of a power outage.

5. Regulate Brooder House Temperature

Newly hatched chicks need to be kept in a 95-degree-F environment for the first week of their lives, according to the University of Florida ISFA Extension. After that, you can decrease the temperature 5 degrees per week until they’re 4 weeks old.
It is best to set up your brooder box and heat source a day or two before your chicks arrive. Use a thermometer to help figure out the proper temperature. If you’ve adjusted it correctly, chicks will nestle in a ring around the outside reaches of the brooder. If it’s not warm enough, you’ll find them huddling together in the center directly under the heat beam, but if it’s too hot or close to the floor, they’ll scatter out from under the heat. The ideal temperature allows them to move freely about their space, coming back to the edge of the heat to warm up and nap. Raise or lower your brooder light or heater to adjust the temperature: approximately 1 inch per every five degrees.
Don’t be surprised if Cornish Cross chicks look half-naked at several weeks old. It may take a while for their feathers to grow, which is why you’ll want to maintain a heat source until they are fully feathered or the outside temperature reaches 65 to 70 degrees. Here’s a handy table to help you with temperature control:

• Week 1: 95 degrees F
• Week 2: 90 degrees F
• Week 3: 85 degrees F
• Week 4: 80 degrees F
• Week 5: 75 degrees F
• Week 6: 70 degrees

6. Provide Water

For their first two to three days of life, chicks don’t eat or drink much because they’re using nutrients from their yolk sac. However, if you ordered chicks through the mail, they’ll be ready to start eating and drinking by the time they arrive. As you remove them from their carton one by one, dip each chick’s beak in water to help them take that first drink. Make sure water is always available to the chicks. If the chicks appear lethargic, try adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar per gallon of water to boost their energy levels.
And a word here on water pans: Chicks drown easily, and they also climb up and into water pans, so use small troughs that will keep them safe. Some farmers add clean marbles or pebbles to the water pan or ring for the first week or two: The chicks can access the water easily, but danger of drowning is low.

7. Monitor Feeding

Meat chickens are growing machines—Cornish Cross hybrids can double their weight and size in just days—so you’ll need enough feeder space so that all the chicks can eat at the same time. For the first two weeks, allow 2 inches of space per chick—count both sides of a long, straight feeder. Double that amount to 4 inches per bird after two weeks old. To prevent wastage and soiling, the University of Kentucky Extension recommends filling feeders only halfway full and to keep both feeders and waterers level with the height of the chicks’ backs as they grow.
As incredible as it seems, some meat breeds can put on up to a pound of weight for every two pounds of feed they consume! A pre-mixed commercial chick-starter with a 20- to 24-percent protein gives these birds a good start for the first two weeks. If you’re raising Cornish Crosses, start with 20 percent protein. How you feed this breed is important, as well, because they will quite literally grow too fast for their organs and bones to accommodate, resulting in heart and growth issues. For their first five days, offer food free-choice, then remove their feeders for 12 hours each day, keeping the feed available the other 12 hours. Continue this schedule until butchering time.
At two weeks old, transition the feed from chick starter to chick grower, which contains 20 percent protein. You can mix the starter and grower together for a few days to ease the changeover. For Cornish Cross, feed 18-percent protein after five weeks until butchering.

8. Provide Transition Housing

Once feathered, the broilers can be transferred to a predator-free, sheltered grow pen, coop or chicken tractor
. Meat breeds finish out at different ages and weights. Cornish Crosses finish at 8 to 9 weeks old with weights of around 10 pounds for males and 8 pounds for females.
Special Considerations For Meat Birds If you’re raising Cornish Crosses, keep in mind that their heavy body conformation makes it difficult for them to walk far, so keep food and water sources close at hand, and don’t expect them to forage.  Eliminate roosts, because unlike most other breeds, roosting bars will cause bruising and blistering of their heavy breasts.
Cover the basic needs for warmth and shelter, give a little extra attention to feeding, watering and housing protocols, and you’ll take your chicks from brooder to broiler stage in a matter of weeks.

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