Is this the year you get chickens for the first time? If so, then spring time is the right time for chicks. Are you ready? Buying chicks is the easy part. Getting ready takes a lot of effort and money. So here is a checklist to help you. Follow them in order.
1. Answer This Question: Why Do I Want Chickens? Before you buy ANYTHING, answer why you want chickens. For most, it’s because they want fresh eggs. Some want chickens as pets, and some want to sell eggs to earn money. Hint: There’s no serious money to be made selling eggs. If you said you want fresh eggs, what is your plan when they lay half as many eggs in 3 to 4 years, while they continue to eat the same amount and live to 7 or more years? Will they become pets? Will you get more chickens to continue getting eggs? Do you have room or twice as many chickens? Does your municipality allow more chickens? What will you do? Have a plan before you start!
2. Brooder. When your chicks arrive, they’ll immediately need food, water, safety, and warmth. A brooder gives them all of that. A brooder can be any durable container. We’ve used modified storage tubs, a deck box, and small home-built cages. Water troughs are used at feed stores. The brooder is their home until they are about a month old, and it needs to be ready first.
Until the chicks are 3 to 4 weeks old, they need heat. Without heat, they will die. After hatching, the chicks need to be 95 degrees F, and less each week thereafter. Since there’s no mother hen, heat is typically supplied by a heat lamp or a heat plate that the chicks can get under. Don’t worry about measuring the exact temperature inside the brooder. The chicks will tell you if they are comfortable. If they are huddled together and chirping loudly, they are cold. If they are away from the heat and silent, they are hot. And if they hang out under the edges of the heat lamp’s light and are quiet, they are just right. The chicks will move around to eat and drink. Just remember that loud chicks are your alarm telling you to see what is wrong. They are cold!
Incandescent heat lamps are HOT! Tell children to not touch them, and make sure they are secure so children or pets don’t knock them over. Make sure the lamp isn’t close to something that will burn or melt. And don’t place the bulb in the middle of the brooder. Put it on the side so the chicks can have somewhere to get away if they are too warm.
The brooder can be located inside the house. Don’t put the brooder in front of a window where the sun can make the temperature too warm, or under a vent where the draft can make the temperature too cold. Chicks can be taken out and held for about 15 minutes at a time. They are fragile, so handle with care. Then return them to the brooder so they can warm up again.
After 3 weeks, you can turn of the heat lamp or heat plate during the day and watch how they react. If they complain, turn the heat back on. Keep doing this for longer periods of time. By the end of 4 weeks, they should be fully covered in feathers (except for their neck and head), and won’t need heat at all.
In addition to the heat source, your new chicks will need a feeder, a waterer, and some bedding. We recommend buying chick feeders and waterers, which are made to keep chicks safe and reduce waste and messes. For bedding, we recommend medium pine flake. It’s absorbent, inexpensive, and available at your farm store. We use wood blocks to raise the feeder and waterer above the pine flake. You’ll change out the bedding about once per week. Your nose will tell you when it’s time.
Feed your chicks a mixture specifically made for chicks. It is called Chick Starter, and is higher in protein than regular chicken feed. Most Chick Starters are medicated, which means Amprolium is added. The Amprolium helps prevent coccidiosis, a condition young chickens can get from ingesting an intestinal parasite commonly found in the soil. Continue feeding chick starter until they are at least 2 months old, or until just before they lay their first egg, around 5 months old.
3. Coop. The coop can be anything that keeps your chickens safe, dry, and out of the wind. You’ll need to have this ready before your chicks are one month old. You can convert an old shed, build them a coop yourself, or buy a pre-made coop, like the ones we have from Avituvin (https://aivituvin.com/). The coop is your greatest expense. You might find that you’ll spend between $500 and $2000 to get your coop ready.
Your chicks are small at first, but they’ll soon grow large and will need AT LEAST 10 square feet per bird. But that’s the minimum space. Give your chickens a generous area to be chickens. Plus, you’re going to get more chickens in the future, right? Of course you will. Overcrowding can result in irritated chickens, bullying, and fighting. You can let them run the yard during the day. Chickens love food, water, and safety, so they won’t run off.
Make sure the coop is safe and sturdy. Avoid using chicken wire, since it’s a poor defense from nighttime predators like raccoons. Instead, use 1/2″ by 1/2″ hardware cloth. And make sure your coop is convenient for you to clean and collect eggs. If not, you’ll avoid these tasks and your chickens will suffer.
4. Buy Chicks! Now you’re ready for chicks! Buying the chicks is the easy part. Selecting the breed(s) is much harder. Are you buying chicks for lots of big fresh eggs? In general, prettier hens lay less and/or smaller eggs. So stay focused on why you are getting chickens and do you research. Breeds like ISA Browns, Golden Comets, Rhode Island Reds, and White Leghorns lay lots of large eggs.
If you live in an incorporated city, make sure you know if chickens are allowed, how many you can have, and other rules that may apply. If your area allows only hens, know that hatcheries are only 90% accurate when determining males and females. But there are breeds that are auto-sexed at hatch, meaning their sex is determined by their coloration. These breeds include ISA Browns, Red Sexlinks, and Black Sexlinks. Look for these when you order or are at the farm store. Other terms to know:
– Straight Run: Unsexed chicks. Half will grow to be roosters.
– Pullets: Females that grow to be hens.
– Cockerels: Males that grow to be roosters.
You may ask “Why can’t I skip the baby phase and just buy adult hens?”. That sounds nice, but very few people raise chickens to be sold as young adults, so your availability, quantity, and choice of breeds will be extremely limited. If you find them, they will be very expensive. Plus, people often lie about the age of a hen. And you might be bringing home birds with communicable diseases that will be with you for a long time.
With your brooder, coop, and an understanding of why you want chickens, you’re ready to begin your chicken raising journey. Buy them in early spring and you’ll be enjoying farm fresh eggs by late summer!