First Greens

Backyard Poultry

Snowflake the Brave

I was all too anxious for my new biddies to develop the taste for greens. They were no more than a week old when I first introduced greens in the brooder box. The chicks were very cautious at first, and kept their distance from the feared human hand. Only one Barred Rock chick, which came to be known as Snowflake, had the spunk to run up and sample whatever we put in. I think Snowflake became the guinea pig for the other chicks, since as soon as safety was apparent, the rush began!

Salad Bar

Soon all the chicks were pushing and squirming for a bite of the delicious green leaves. Dandelion leaves, chickweed, and clover were among their favorites. Chopped very small, of course, and held very still, in a hand that promised not to snatch up a chick in the action! It was so fun to feel the tiny, warm down feathers rubbing against my fingers as the chicks jostled and climbed over each other.

Predictably, some 'specialists' claim that chicks should be fed chick/grower feed only until they're almost grown hens. Only then can they be exposed to the dangerous bacteria and other various hazards of the outdoors. Somehow, every one of my chicks survived the daily 'dose of danger' from my backyard! Of course, you should be reasonably careful--never feed greens from chemical-treated lawns or poisonous plants.

First Adventure

Backyard Poultry

Checking It Out

Gradually the chicks warmed up to us, and got the most from their little outings. We in turn tried to make the box like home, with litter, woodshavings, and even a waterer. They loved climbing inside the quart container in the far corner to peck at the food pellets. Of course, most of the food ended up scratched out into the litter. The chicks got cold quickly, and would huddle up and almost fall asleep, such as the Araucana chick on the lower right in the bottom picture. One of us would quickly scoop up the little chick and warm it in our hands. 

Adventure

It wasn't long before they learned how to climb out of the box and run across the brooder box cover. I wonder if that thought is crossing those chicks' minds right now? Before long they'll be big enough to half fly, half climb over the edge. Now that's trouble!

Out of the Box

Backyard Poultry

Feeding Chicks

The one disadvantage to such stream-lined housing was that we didn't have to have as much contact with the chicks. The box was too deep to see the chicks very well, and was so big it could not be kept in the kitchen. Of course my sister and I were always fishing out a couple chicks at a time to cuddle (until called inside to finish our chores). But even between two people it's hard to hold twenty chicks at once. So we developed a system of getting three or four chicks out at a time to run around in a small box set on top of the brooder. We tried to interest them with feed or snipped-up greens, but they still seemed pretty lost up there in the big wide world.

Where's My Mommy?

Brooder Box

Backyard Poultry

Housing Renovations

Our chick raising experience this second year could not have been more different from the first. Year 1: dusty litter smelling up the kitchen; construction of a housing addition (ie cardboard box + duct tape) every other day; feed either messed up with droppings or shoveled out and wasted; all ten chicks hauled out every day to remove dirtied litter. Yes, an experience not to be compared (or repeated). Well, the photo above may not look much different, but believe me, it is.

We started by building a real box, using plywood panels framed by wood stakes. It was generously large, about 4'x4', and the bottom was covered waterproofed with sheet plastic. The best feature was that one wall was hinged, so it could fold down flat to shovel out old litter. It was a breeze to clean out! Then I made a 'brooder guard' from a long piece of cardboard taped into a circle. This kept the young chicks in a small area directly under the light, and could be expanded and removed as they grew bigger. Yes, expandable housing. As a final touch, we used a piece of Styrofoam insulation as a cover on top to regulate the temperature inside this cozy brooder box.

Sleeping on the Job

Backyard Poultry

Naptime - Someone's Peeking!

If there's one thing that all chicks do, it's sleep. It was a matter of minutes after being let go into the brooder before all my chicks were asleep. It was so funny to watch -- they just collapsed in whatever position they happened to be in, spreading out their little wings under the radiance of the heat lamp. They piled onto each other like pillows, sliding down and then jerking their heads up, only to slide down again. The chick that ended up on the bottom would only open its eyes for a second, too tired to move away. I guess they'd been through a lot in their first day of life.

Did you spot the chick peeking in the photo above? That's Birchie, one of the three Easter egg layers we got. 

Three in the (Rock) Bed

What an unusual place to sleep! As the chicks grew, I raised the waterers up higher. Not only were the chicks taller now, but their feet were amazingly adept at shoveling litter into a ground-level water trough. I used flat pieces of cement or rocks to lift up the water containers. Well, every day I had to empty, rinse, and refill the water containers. Of course I left the rocks in the brooder. I wasn't gone more than five minutes, but returned to find three chicks asleep on the rock! I think it must have absorbed the heat lamp's radiance and felt nice and warm to those three little chicks.

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.

First Drink

Backyard Poultry

Finding the Water

The most important thing when you bring day-old chicks in the door is water. Chicks can live from 24-48 hours on the nutrients in the egg after they hatch. By the time they've been dried off from hatching, boxed up, mailed and/or delivered to the feed store, and picked up by you, much of that time has probably already elapsed. So getting rehydrated is a top priority. It takes a tender hand to pick up each little bird, place a finger under its "chin" and a thumb on its head, and dunk its little beak into water. Imagine doing this for a batch of 50 or 100 broiler chicks! There's no getting around it though, since chicks may not figure out for themselves where the water is, and it's not always obvious if some chicks aren't drinking.

Water Line

It's also very important to use a chick-sized waterer at this age (I have a one-quart size). This is because chicks can easily fall into a larger water trough and, unable to swim like ducklings, will drown if not caught in time. Of course, this too could be inconvenient with a large batch of chicks: having to fill half a dozen one-quart waterers twice a day!

 

New Chicks

Backyard Poultry

Day-Old Chicks 

Despite the blizzardy weather outdoors, the time of year has come to begin planning for the spring -- tilling the garden, planting flowerbeds, catching up on outdoor repairs, and, of course, raising chicks. Can you guess which was uppermost on my list three years ago? The chicken chronicles so far published on my blog have covered only one year of poultry ups and downs (yes, I can hardly believe it). Of course, achieving temporary peace in the hen house was not enough, and I had to plunge into a new chicken adventure! With much planning and deliberation, I decided to add 20 new chicks to my flock. It was a chilly day in April that we went to the feed store to pick up the little peeping birds. I expanded my selection of breeds with this addition, which I will be describing soon. There isn't anything in the world quite like day-old chicks.