All about raising chicks and chickens! Also ask questions!

[sassysarah]

Hi! Me and Chickening101 decided to start a thread on how to care for you poultry. You can ask questions also!

What you will need to care for chicks.
1. Chick starter.
2. Chick grit, make sure you do not give them poultry grit until they 8 weeks and up.
3. Heat bulb, start temperature at 95 degrees and lower the temperature 5 degrees every week.
4. Feeder and waterer.
5. A bin or box to keep them, do not keep chicks outside until they are fully feathered out.


Me and chickening101 will be adding more to this thread. If you have questions on caring for chickens and chicks just post here and we will do the best we can to answer it!

 

[Kiki]

1. chick starter...yes...but in my area/my feed store they sell only chick grower...which is the same as chick starter.
2. grit is only necessary IF they eat anything other then the their chick feed.
3. heat bulb can be replace with a regular bulb.
4. yes..store bought "regular" ones can be home made easily.
5. not true...chicks can be brooder outside from hatch. (even in the north where is snows..just ask the EXPERT @Blooie )

 

[sassysarah]

Thanks!

 

[Kiki]

you are welcome...hopefully others chime in with their opinion for you too!

 

[sassysarah]

Yes, chicks can be kept outside if they are with their mother, but if you get them from a feed store and it is 50 degrees out keep them inside with a heat lamp!

 

[sassysarah]

you are welcome...hopefully others chime in with their opinion for you too!

 

[Dana gilgan]

Hi! Me and Chickening101 decided to start a thread on how to care for you poultry. You can ask questions also!

What you will need to care for chicks.
1. Chick starter.
2. Chick grit, make sure you do not give them poultry grit until they 8 weeks and up.
3. Heat bulb, start temperature at 95 degrees and lower the temperature 5 degrees every week.
4. Feeder and waterer.
5. A bin or box to keep them, do not keep chicks outside until they are fully feathered out.


Me and chickening101 will be adding more to this thread. If you have questions on caring for chickens and chicks just post here and we will do the best we can to answer it!

 

[sassysarah]

If you want eggs get these breeds

Red Star. Also known as Red sex link, Isa Brown, and Golden Comet.

300-325 eggs per year.

White Leghorn

300-325 eggs per year.
Personality - Sweet, active.I

Rhode Island Red

250-300 eggs per year
Personality - sweet, active

Black Australorp

250-300 eggs per year
Personality -Docile, Calm, Gentle

Black Star, also known as Black Sex Link.

300-325 per year
Personality - Sweet Tame docile

If you want eggs these are great breeds for you!

 

[Blooie]

Yes, chicks can be kept outside if they are with their mother, but if you get them from a feed store and it is 50 degrees out keep them inside with a heat lamp!

Oops. I don't. Haven't used a heat lamp since my first batch of chicks, and I brood all of them outdoors in a wire pen in the run with Mama Heating Pad, even in our balmy springtime "chick season" of temps in the teens and twenties. And I'm not the only one!

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/yes-you-certainly-can-brood-chicks-outdoors

It's not for everyone, I admit. But speaking for myself, I'll never go back to the old way. Guess I just have a hard time figuring out why we do it all so differently than a broody hen does and think we are doing it better.

 

[sassysarah]

Well if the chicks have a mother keep them with her she will keep them warm and protect them. If you keep baby chicks outside I would put fencing in the top of the pen, so no predators can get them!