Baby Chicks
My favorite experience for the first time was having baby chicks! They were and still are a blast. There is a lot of information to learn about chickens, but I am only going to tell you about brooding chicks. It is very thrilling step in the life of a chicken.
I bought the chicks from McMurray Hatchery at 1 day old. Baby chicks cannot survive on their own because they don't have feathers to keep them warm until they are 5 weeks old. Until then, they must be kept warm and safe by either a broody hen, or in an artificial brooder. My chicks stayed in a watering trough for a brooder. The temperature stayed at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week. Then it goes down 5 degrees Fahrenheit every week until the baby chicks move into the coop. To keep the temperature that high I used a 250 watt ceramic light bulb that clipped to the side of the brooder (watering trough). For the bedding I used pine shavings with paper towels on top. I was not able to use cedar shavings, because the cedar shavings can cause the baby chicks to be affected by a respiratory disease that will influence them later in life. I had to check their vent every day to make sure they did not get a pasty butt. Eww! A pasty butt is when the chicken poop get stuck on the vent, and the chicks cant expel there waste. Lastly, I used Chick Starter for their food, and gave them water to drink.
My chicks are grown up now, but as I said I still love them just as much as I did then! I really enjoyed brooding the 25 baby chicks. It was very exciting to see this part in a chickens life. Brooding chicks will always be on of my favorite first
I bought the chicks from McMurray Hatchery at 1 day old. Baby chicks cannot survive on their own because they don't have feathers to keep them warm until they are 5 weeks old. Until then, they must be kept warm and safe by either a broody hen, or in an artificial brooder. My chicks stayed in a watering trough for a brooder. The temperature stayed at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week. Then it goes down 5 degrees Fahrenheit every week until the baby chicks move into the coop. To keep the temperature that high I used a 250 watt ceramic light bulb that clipped to the side of the brooder (watering trough). For the bedding I used pine shavings with paper towels on top. I was not able to use cedar shavings, because the cedar shavings can cause the baby chicks to be affected by a respiratory disease that will influence them later in life. I had to check their vent every day to make sure they did not get a pasty butt. Eww! A pasty butt is when the chicken poop get stuck on the vent, and the chicks cant expel there waste. Lastly, I used Chick Starter for their food, and gave them water to drink.
My chicks are grown up now, but as I said I still love them just as much as I did then! I really enjoyed brooding the 25 baby chicks. It was very exciting to see this part in a chickens life. Brooding chicks will always be on of my favorite first