Our Right to Self Reliance

     For the hatcheries that don’t ship year round, this coming month is the start of chick season.  You probably won’t be able to find day-old chicks in feed stores for several months yet, but you can order them in yourself now.  So let’s check over simple steps for getting ready for baby chickens.

     There is usually a minimum order for chicks—enough that they can keep each other warm in transit.  Most common is twenty-five standard sized birds and thirty-five bantams.  There are hatcheries that will ship fewer than that, but it’s generally a really bad idea for the first, early shipments in really cold weather.  Despite the fact that the USPS has been handling chicks in the mail system every spring since the Sears Catalogue started offering them for ten cents each decades ago, mishandled shipments of chicks still happen.  If you only want a few chickens, get together with some other folks and order an assortment, or go ahead and get the full minimum order and raise them up for a few weeks.  Then pick your best looking birds for yourself, and advertise the other as “started stock”, meaning they are old enough to not need supplemental heat.  You’ll likely recover your initial chick purchase price and the feed they’ve consumed so far.

     Once you’ve placed your order, it’s prudent to get ready, even if it’s a week or more till they actually arrive.  Go ahead and set up your brooder; if you are using an electric brooder lamp, now is the time to discover that your choice of where to put the brooder means you need a heavy duty extension cord….not when the chicks are already there!  Call around for availability of chicken food; not only what stores carry it, but what brands and types they carry—and what their hours are.  Get your first bag of high protein chick feed and set it by.  I strongly recommend keeping feed in animal-proof containers of some kind, whether that’s a small metal garbage can or a Rubbermaid Tote.  Better safe than sorry! 

     While you’re at the store pick up a package of vitamins and electrolytes.  It’s the simplest thing to use if you have birds under the weather, and baby chicks just being unpacked when they come will benefit from that extra boost in their first water.  It’s usually only a few dollars for a package, and you would use about a half a teaspoon in a waterer, so it will last quite a while if stored properly.  Don’t forget a couple of thermometers to monitor the brooder temperature.  Pick up your waterers, too, in that same trip.  For twenty-five standard chicks, I’d use two quart waterers, and get a couple of gallon waterers for later when the chicks have grown a bit.  The smaller waterers require more frequent filling, which is actually a good thing as it gets you checking the birds more often.  Besides, in a small brooder a gallon waterer not only takes up appreciable space, there is a great deal more risk that you’ll sit the waterer on a chick…and squish it.  Pick up a good feeder, too; your best option there is called a “J-feeder”.  They are easier to fill than the others and I believe cut down on waste.

     Now, put your empty feeders and waterers in the brooder and turn the heat source on.  You can check for drafts (very bad for baby chickens!) by placing a votive candle or tea light in various places in the brooder.  You want good air exchange, but no drafts.  If you find any, track down their source and fix them.  Let the brooder warm up (may take several hours) and move the thermometer around to different places like near the waterers and near the feeders.  A degree or two cooler is probably all right, but not much more.  You want those babies to eat and drink in comfort and with gusto, and they won’t if it’s too cold to stand there and do it!  Move the feeders and waterers around till they suite.  Raise or lower the heat lamp to adjust the temperature.  When you’re satisfied that all is ready, shut off the heat source.  You’ll want to lay in the bedding and turn on the brooder heat the night before you expect the babies, so everything is warm.  I personally prefer peat moss for bedding as it is wonderfully absorbent.  Light coloured chicks, however, may notice their and their neighbor’s toes in that dark bedding though and start picking at each other.  If they do, you can distract them with a bit of fruit to pick at or switch over to a lighter coloured bedding like wood shavings (never cedar!) or some other form of wood.

     You’re ready for the babies!  Next Saturday I’ll walk you through when the box comes.