Baby chick care ?
Just like puppies, baby chicks need some special care to get started off on a really good foot
They grow rapidly, so the first thing is to be prepared for fast changes
They’re only going to be chicks for about eight weeks or so
Then they’ll have their full feathers and they’ll be ready to go outside ?
So you need to have a grow out area ready for them
They’re not going to fit in their brooder very long
They start in a brooder
I’ve got another post that is a full walkthrough of the brooder that I use
Chick Starter
In the brooder, whether it’s a plastic tub or a cage, you want to make sure you’ve got chick starter for their food because that is formulated for their little digestive systems that aren’t ready for big pellets yet
Chick Probiotic
You also want to put some chick probiotics in their water just to give them an extra vitamin boost
It’s similar to giving babies vitamins
Heat ?
You want to put a heat lamp in the brooder with a thermometer
They need to be about 95 degrees when they’re three days old
Then every couple of days you can reduce the heat a few degrees until it gets down to about 75 degrees
The heat lamp will keep them warm because the baby fluff that they start out with just doesn’t do a good enough job unless it’s summertime and already warm out
Ventilation ?
Make sure that they’ve got good ventilation
Chicks poop a lot
You don’t want the ammonia from the poop to give them any respiratory problems
At the same time, you don’t want it to be drafty
Pasty Butt
Pasty butt is when poop gets stuck on their vent
If it seals off the vent and they can’t poop, that can be harmful to them
It could actually be deadly
If that happens, just run warm water on their butt to dissolve it, clean their butt off and then you can dry it with a blow dryer.
Water ?
You don’t want an open waterer because they are clumsy and might fall face first
They can actually drown because they’re so little
So put marbles or little rocks in the water so that if they fall in it by accident their head doesn’t go under water while they’re trying to figure out how to get back up
Chick Grit
Chicks need grit just like adults do
The grit will actually help in their crop to digest their food
If they’re on Chick Starter it’s specially formulated to not require grit
But if you feed them anything else, make sure they have some chick grit available
Keep these things in mind when preparing for your next batch of baby chicks
Remember … Be The Organic U – Feed Your Soul
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