Brooder

Backyard Poultry

Chicks' First Home

Unlike my first year of chick raising, I came quite prepared for the second challenge. I purchased a large, covered feeder instead of the shallow tin troughs from before (which spill, slide, and even tip over). I had plenty of dry wood shavings to use as litter (much more absorbent than straw) and an expandable brooder box (post about that soon). It went much more smoothly than the first year, which you can read about, starting here. Maybe you noticed the chick feed sprinkled over the paper towel in the photo above. It encourages the new chicks to start eating, by putting the food where they can scratch - and sleep - in it.