Raising 3 chicks

[ChickenLloyd]

So we have 3 chicks and are raising them for the first time. Hopefully we are successful. We are using fine bedding kiln dried pine in a tote. Feeding them start and grow purina poultry feed. With a heat lamp setup. I know that we need to make sure they are warm enough. My worry is they are pecking at the tote bottom. Any advice?

 

[lazy gardener]

You need to make sure they are not too warm. Chicks need a warm spot in one end of the brooder, and the other end needs to be as cool as the ambient temperature. Give them a plug of sod from an untreated lawn, and that should help eliminate the pecking on tote bottom. they are looking for grit.

 

[ChickenLloyd]

You need to make sure they are not too warm. Chicks need a warm spot in one end of the brooder, and the other end needs to be as cool as the ambient temperature. Give them a plug of sod from an untreated lawn, and that should help eliminate the pecking on tote bottom. they are looking for grit.

What does the grit do? Do the NEED it. They look like they may be eating the pine straw bedding?

 

[lazy gardener]

While you will be told that chickens do not need grit if all they are eating is processed chicken feed, that is only one opinion. Birds were created with a gizzard. That gizzard is designed to hold grit which pulverizes all of the food that they eat. Your chicks are eating the shavings because they have an instinctive drive to put something in their gizzards. Studies show that chickens that have access to the right size grit starting soon after hatch actually have better feed conversion rates, grow better, and produce more eggs.

A plug of sod will give them: first grit, minerals, beneficial bacteria and fungi to populate their guts to build a healthy immune and digestive system. First greens, some seeds, tiny insects and perhaps a worm or two, opportunity to practicing scratching in the soil like the big chickens do! First dust bath, and lots of play opportunity. Last, but IMO of great importance, that sod will give them exposure to the cocci living in your soil. They need to be exposed to the cocci, and build their immunity. Their natural immune response is greatest within the first 2 weeks of hatch while they have immunity received from their mothers.

 

[ChickNanny13]

lazy gardner gave some good advice, make sure they can get away from the heat if need be. There is grit just for chicks, sized properly

 

[ChickenLloyd]

Thanks for the advice! I can just use some of my grass and dirt from my yard that isnt treated? How much do they need for 3 chickens? The light is only on half of the tote. So they have a good variation of temps if needed.

 

[lazy gardener]

Just dig a clump of sod. Don't put loose grass in. They need to be able to "pluck it". I would give them a piece of sod that is about the size of a dessert plate. Place it upside down.

What is the wattage of your bulb, where is your brooder? What is the temp under the light, and at the other end of the brooder? I am pushy with these questions, because every single chick season, there are folks who have chicks that die from too much heat. This almost happened to me once when I had chicks in a tote with a heat lamp.

Since then, I brood chicks in an appliance box or in my outdoor grow out coop, and use a MHP style heat system. I'll never go back to heat lamps again.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Yup, please read Blooie's MHP posting, I won't be going back to heat lamps either. Aside of being safer, the chicks get a break from the constant light, learning day/night. I find they are calmer & less skittish.

 

[blackdog043]

If you put your feed and water up on a platform, it will help keep the shavings out.
Here's a link for the MHP
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/

 

[azygous]

There is something about artificial light that drives chicks nuts and makes them want to peck at everything, including one another. That "thing" is the way an electric light pulsates, not noticeable to the human eye, but to a chicken eye, which is far more sensitive to motion, it's like being under a strobe light would be to us - maddening.

If you have this light over your brooder 24/7, it's small wonder people report all sorts of problems with their chicks. This is why so many of us have switched to brooding chicks under the heating pad system as @lazy gardener mentioned. It's far more natural, no electric light to overstimulate the chicks, and they get to sleep in natural darkness come night. There's also the added bonuses of not hammering your utility bill, and there's no risk of overheating the chicks.