Chook Me!

What do you need to have for raising baby chicks?

I was wondering what I need to have to raise 7 baby chicks, when they are older they will be laying hens. If you could give me the average prices then that would be awesome but not required. If you want to throw in some general information about raising baby chicks then that would be be awesome but also not required. lol Thanks for reading!

Public Comments

1. well first of all you would need a coop of coarse and if they will not be free range all the time then the will need a run. a good size for 7 hens would be about 6 by 6 ft for the coop. that would cost anywhere from 500-1000 depending on how fancy it is. you should have about three nest boxes for 7 hens if you are going to eat the eggs instead of letting them hatch them. every hen will need about 10 inches of roost space and they will also need good ventilation. for when you first get the chicks you should have a brooder that can be a plastic swimming pool, card board box or something else that they cant escape from. heres some supplies you should get chick feeder - $2 chick waterer - $2 heat bulb - $5 the bulb clamp (you could use a flood light clamp) $10 pine shavings - $5 (if you get them from a feed store its much cheeper then pet store shavings) thermometer - $5 (not necessary, but a good guide line for how warm the brooder should be) when the chicks come have the brooder at 95 degrees and then more it down 5 degrees each week until it is at room temperature. at about a month old they will be ready to move out side to the coop. they should be fed chick feed until they start to lay at about 5 months depending on the breed. then you can feed them layer feed, pellets are nice because they are not as messy as mash but crumbles are best but often hard to find. then when they are adult they will need a adult feeder and waterer that can be about $20 each depending on the style. for egg layer breeds i would either get australorps road island reds or barred rocks, they are great layer very friendly and not as flity as the white egg layer breeds you also might want to get easter eggers because they are good layers of blue, green and evern pink eggs and they are also very friendly good luck :)
2. Hey Cowgirl Chic, Be sure if they are under 4 weeks old that they have plenty of each of the following: Warmth, Water, Food, and Shelter. Warmth: -Heat area to 90 or 95 degrees F. -After 1 week old lower temp. 5 degrees each week until 4 weeks old (after 4 weeks no heat needed) Water: -Use any type of bucket that their head can reach but not so they can be able to use it as a toilet. (It happened to me! lol :P ) -Dip beak in water so that the chicks can find water faster. Food: -Start feeding them with Universal Chick Starter Mash until 6 weeks old. -Again be sure that they can not reach the food bucket and use it as a toilet. -After 6 weeks you can feed them regular chicken feed. Shelter: -When I got them I just used a box. So anything like that you can use. Just be sure that when they start flying that the walls are high so that they can't get out. - Be sure that if you put them outside (because I left mine inside) that they are safe from predators like hawks, wolves, and cats. -After 4 weeks you can let them run around outside or if you'd rather not then let them have at least 3/4 sq. ft. per bird. LAL God Bless!! :)