Chook Me!

how do I raise baby chicks?

I am getting some mail order chicks and i need to know what to do to ensure their survival.

Public Comments

1. my cuzins raised chickens too. they require work, um dont keep them in ur grage if its not attached to ur house, lots of light, clean their cages often. since theyre young be careful b/c theyre fragile. theyre really cute when theyre little and they dont run away if u let them out but as they start to grow older watch out cuz chasing them for an hr across ur neighborhood is not fun (trust me) and watch out for any other animals if u keep them in a coop outside (squirrels, racoons, etc). the bad thing is that u dont kno if u have a female and male until theyre older... roosters r not fun, they get rly mean (and its usually the most hyper oneof the chicks, i think). just make sure u give them attention and a lot of space to be in. i hope u have fun with them cuz i loved chicks, my grandpa had them too =]. look online for more tips and go to a book store to find more info on them.
2. I hoped you ordered them from McMurray Hatchery! I have ordered quite few sets from them and never lost one chick. When you get them, put a heat lamp on them. Make sure its not too low that they can jump up and burn there heads. Make sure you give them shade also too get away from the heat. Supply water for them and I give them chic starter. They will always have a constant supply of it. Once in the morning and evenning I make them a watery mash out of there chic food to encourage eating. Even though they are young, they still like moving objects and they like bobbing for there mash. Just add warm water to there regular food but in a different dish of course. I do this for like a week or two. I keep the heat lamp on them until they have there feathers in!
3. just put it in a sall cage with a light bulb in it to keep them warm enough until their real feather or the rough one came out that could kept itself warm.
4. keep em warm ie. a heat lamp -fed and a water source they can't drown in and oh yeah keep em out of drafts and you should be ok
5. I should recommend before making an order it is always best to first learn how to care for the animal you are about to get. Raising chicks is fairly easy. They have three main requirements. Warmth, good food and water. You need to keep them in a box of some kind. The box has to be large enough to allow the chicks to move about. You need to place a light inside or over the box, the temperature inside the box should not go above 85 degrees. It should also not be less then 75 degrees. As for food you need a starter/grower feed. They make 2 types of this feed medicated and none medicated,I have raised chickens for near 20 years, I have found non-medicated is better. the chicks will need water. it is best to use a water-er. this prevents the chicks from getting wet or falling in.