What You Need to Know Before Buying Chicks
Ordering chicks for your backyard coop? Easy. But caring for them requires planning and foresight. Here's what to do
Amy Renea
January 21, 2013
You might not think of baby chicks in the dead of winter, while the ground is frozen over and icicles are dangling from the eaves. Cold as it may be, winter is the time for ordering chicks, particularly if you are going to order rare-breed chicks online. If you are going to purchase basic White Leghorns or Rhode Island Reds from your local farm supply store, feel free to wait until spring, but for the rest of us, the time is now!
Once your chicks arrive, you will need to have an interim place for them to stay; you cannot throw them directly into the coop. Here's how to care for your baby chicks in their infancy, "teenage" months and adulthood.
Designs for your hens: Chicken Coops Rule the Roost
Once your chicks arrive, you will need to have an interim place for them to stay; you cannot throw them directly into the coop. Here's how to care for your baby chicks in their infancy, "teenage" months and adulthood.
Designs for your hens: Chicken Coops Rule the Roost
When you buy chicks online, you are most likely purchasing a rare breed that cannot be found locally. You need to place your order now because the inventory starts to run out on the most beautiful breeds the closer we get to spring. Getting your order in early ensures that you will get the breeds you want. The chicks will arrive in spring, and they will be literally a day old.
Before ordering chicks, first make sure that your neighborhood statutes and city zoning laws allow you to raise chickens. Asking your neighbors about their preferences is also a nice gesture when considering raising a flock.
Before ordering chicks, first make sure that your neighborhood statutes and city zoning laws allow you to raise chickens. Asking your neighbors about their preferences is also a nice gesture when considering raising a flock.
Chicks are shipped in cardboard boxes across the country as soon as they are hatched. As crazy as that seems, the chicks arrive happy and healthy.
When planning a temporary home for chicks, note the commercial shipping boxes used. Made out of cardboard, the boxes give little chick feet something to grip onto. You don't want to place chicks in a slippery metal or plastic container, because their feet and toes will not develop properly. You will also need a simple heat lamp or very warm room for the chicks at first.
When planning a temporary home for chicks, note the commercial shipping boxes used. Made out of cardboard, the boxes give little chick feet something to grip onto. You don't want to place chicks in a slippery metal or plastic container, because their feet and toes will not develop properly. You will also need a simple heat lamp or very warm room for the chicks at first.
Take a peek inside the shipping box and notice the thin and soft bedding material. When designing your chicks' first home, choose the smallest pine shavings or even hamster bedding at first. Stay away from cedar chips, as these can harm the chicks' lungs.
While chicks will eventually move outdoors to open grazing, it is a terrible place for them at first. Although chicks survive just fine outdoors with their mother in nature, "orphan" chicks will not survive out in the open by themselves, without warmth and protection.
The second worst place for your chicks is the coop, with its mature chickens, thick bedding and open water pans. They can drown in the water and get trapped under bedding. Mature chickens will even peck at the babies.
Baby chicks might also begin pecking at one another. If this happens, it is key to separate the injured chick. So be prepared to have several spaces indoors and then outdoors to house the chicks.
Williams-Sonoma
A moveable chicken tractor is the perfect setup for integrating chicks into the outdoors. After they sleep indoors at night, you can let them into the guarded portion of the tractor each day. The adult chickens can roam around in the grass surrounding the tractor, allowing both flocks to get used to each other.
A triangular design works well for this adjustment period as well. If you will be raising new chicks each year, you might want to consider this design.
If you have a small coop, try letting the adult chickens out in the morning, placing the chicks inside, and then switching at night. Chicks can get used to the coop without being in danger from the adults.
Once chicks are able to jump into nesting boxes and up a small ladder or ramp, they can start visiting the "grown-up" coop during the day.
Placing nesting boxes on levels allows the smaller chickens to get used to flying up into the boxes, while still leaving room for the adults to lay their eggs in the higher boxes.
Simple ramps can allow "teenager" chickens to go just about anywhere. A simple plank design with small cross pieces can allow small chickens to get into and out of the coop, feeding areas and nesting areas.
A fenced-in area with an enclosed coop also works well to integrate younger and adult chickens. As the chickens get used to each other, they have separate space to move in, and fighting is kept to a minimum.
In your roosting setup, make sure there is more than enough room for both adult and younger chickens. If there is limited space, the adults will attack the smaller chickens when they try to roost. Multiples bars or multiple roosting spaces solve this problem.
While natural predators and adult chickens are often the greatest threat to your chicks, a housecat can cause problems as well. Housecats are typically uninterested in chicks and are intimidated by full-grown chickens, but teenage chickens are the right age for them to chase. Make sure housecats are introduced to the chickens early, so they can get used to them, but don't trust them around chicks between 3 and 6 weeks old.
To recap, while buying buying chicks at the farm store or online might be a simple task, their care once they arrive at your doorstep is more involved. Make sure you have a simple, warm setup when they first arrive. If you have adult chickens and other animals, create separate spaces for the new chicks. Be wary of dangers such as open water pans, deep bedding and housecats. Nip any chicken bullying in the bud immediately. While raising chicks is more work than buying pullets, it is certainly fun and well worth the effort.
More:
Chicken Coops Rule the Roost
The Scoop on Chicken Coops
More:
Chicken Coops Rule the Roost
The Scoop on Chicken Coops
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Anyone who thinks chickens smell, or are dirty or noisy, attract rats or any of the other misconceptions I just read, please visit my blog: www.fresh-eggs-daily.com. I show it like it is - and that is a beautiful, fulfilling, satisfying way to feed our family and provide entertainment and stress relief. I have hatched my own chicks, bought locally AND ordered online and I applaud ANYONE who does the same!
Way to go Amy! I love that Houzz printed this article.
Lisa
Fresh Eggs Daily
www.fresh-eggs-daily.com
www.facebook.com/FreshEggsDaily
This article was very helpful, especially because I am about to purchase some chicks.