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7 Must-Have Baby Chick Starter Kit Essentials

Ready to find the best baby chick starter kit essentials to start raising your flock of baby chicks? These are the best essentials I have tried to make your life easier and to raise happy, healthy baby chicks.

Baby Chick Starter Kit Essentials

Bringing home little peeping baby chicks is so exciting! If you plan on raising your chicks in a brooder instead of using a mamma hen, then this list is for you. I loved raising my baby chicks and I wanted to share my top baby chick starter kit essentials, so you can successfully raise your new babies!

You are going to learn about what I used for my baby chick starter kit essentials from what type of housing to keep them in, best baby chick food, how to keep your baby chicks warm, and more.

After you have finished this list, you will be ready to start raising your baby chicks!

This post is all about the best essentials you will need in order to raise baby chicks at home.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you purchase something through one of these Amazon links, I may receive a commission (and if so, thank you for the support!). The opinions expressed in this review are solely based on my personal experiences and observations as a small backyard chicken keeper. While I only recommend items I have personally used and liked for my flock, I encourage readers to conduct their research and consider their individual circumstances before making any purchasing decisions. You can view my full private policy for more details.

Best Baby Chick Starter Kit Essentials

1. Baby Chick Starter Home | The Chick Brooder

One of the main components you will need for assembling your baby chick starter kit is a brooder, also known as a baby chick starter home. Your baby chicks will live here until they are old enough to move outside into a coop.

Brooder

First Stage Chick Brooder: Plastic Dog Playpen

This plastic crate worked great for both when I first brought my baby chicks home and then as they got bigger, I was able to use it for their day trips outside.

Uses:

  • Use for the first week while chicks are on paper towels
  • Use outside for day trips when the chicks are old enough

Why I loved it:

  • Friendly Chickens – The open design allowed my chicks to see me as I moved around their brooder to change their food, water, and bedding
  • Explore – I was able to sit out in front of their brooder and open the door so that they could explore around me and get used to me
  • Ease of Cleanup – I loved how easily I could change out the paper towels the first week they were in their brooder before changing them over to the bigger brooder with shavings

What to purchase if you want this setup:

  • Plastic Dog Pen
  • Netting – I zip tied some plastic chicken wire around this brooder as they were so small when they first came home that they could easily slip out
  • Mesh Cover – For day trips when they are old enough

Second Stage Chick Brooder: Pop Up Tent

Brooder Box

When the chicks were ready for shavings I moved them into a bigger dog play pen. I didn’t start them off in this bigger brooder because it would of required much more paper towels than the smaller brooder.

Uses:

  • Great for when they move from paper towels onto shavings

Why I loved it:

  • Chicks can all still see out while also keeping the shavings inside
  • Big front opening so that I could continue to sit with my chicks, open the door, and continue to socialize them

What to purchase if you want this similar setup:

2. Chick Brooder Heat Plate

Chicks growing up with a mamma hen will have her to keep them warm. When you raise chicks in a brooder, you are their mother hen and need to provide a heat source to keep those chicks warm.

Heat Plate

Why I loved it:

Heat plates are much safer than a heat lamp that can fall and catch fire in the shavings. You also can’t turn off a heat lamp as they need heat 24/7 as babies and that means they won’t have dark at night. Having a light on all of the time causes stress in chickens and can lead to feather picking.

So to me, the heat plate is a much safer option. It also allows the babies to have a dark safe place to sleep and get warm just like they would with a mamma hen. This will also allow you to adjust the heat plate height as your baby chicks grow.

What to purchase if you want this setup:

Heat Plate Must Knows

  • Test it! Make sure you setup your heat plate ahead of time to ensure all connections work correctly and your heat plate is working before your baby chicks arrive.
  • Power Options. If your power goes out frequently as mine does, you will want to ensure you have a backup power source so that your baby chicks don’t go without heat.
  • Outdoor Temps. If you are raising your chicks outside in a garage and it is cold out – a heat plate might not actually get warm enough as a heat lamp would. I personally couldn’t take the risk of a heat lamp, so I would highly suggest raising them inside with the heat plate.

3. Baby Chick Feeder & Waterer

Baby Chick Feeder

The feeder and water set I used isn’t available right now, so I’d suggest going with this one that has adjustable legs so you can up the height as they get older (nice for keeping shavings and poop out!). That one even has a top fill for the feed, which makes it easy to refill. I used mine up until I let the chicks out with my big girls (they were around 5/6 weeks at that time). Whenever I do get more chicks next I plan on getting the one with adjustable legs to keep things easier to clean.

Baby Chick Water

I added in two cleaned rocks on either side to weigh it down and propped it up slightly to prevent the chicks from being able to fall into the water for the first few days. If they fall in they could drown or catch a chill and not be able to get warm enough again. If you add more rocks you wouldn’t need to prop it up.

This waterer will need changed throughout the day, really anytime it gets dirty. I always hold the bottom after refilling with water as the weight can sometimes cause it to drop out and onto your freshly cleaned brooder (it’s always when its freshly cleaned!). This was my experience using the ones in the photo – not the one I’ve linked to. However I’d probably say just support it anyway, just in case.

Make sure the bottom is secure before lifting both the feeder and the waterer and carry them to and from your brooder with one hand underneath to support them (otherwise the weight can sometimes cause it to fall out if it ins’t on secure enough).

Once my chicks got a bit bigger (I think at about 2 weeks or so) I switched them to this Rent-a-coop gallon waterer. It keeps the water much cleaner and they cannot jump on top as it has the anti roost cone. You will need something to prop it up on – I used a brick which worked well. I would love to use it straight away when raising chicks but they can’t quite reach it when they are that little, which is why I switch it at about two weeks when I see that they can reach that height.

What to purchase if you want this setup:

4. Chick Bedding

When you first get your baby chicks home you will want to ensure they have a non slippery surface they can run around on. Do not use newspaper or anything slippery as they can fall and get something called Spraddle Leg. This is not only painful for your chicks but will require you to wrap their legs with vet wrap in order to keep their legs together. I’ve seen it happen in one of my neighbors chickens so a safe surface is a must to protect those little legs.

Chick Bedding

For the first 1-2 weeks I use a rubber shelf liner as the base and add paper towels on top. The shelf liner keep the paper towels from moving around and the paper towels are easy to change out a few times a day when soiled. Once they are about a week and a half old and they have a good sense of what is food and what isn’t – I then switch them to shavings.

You have a few options when it comes to the type of shavings you will use. I’ve used both pine and aspen shavings in the brooder. Hemp shavings are another option (one that I would love to try but sadly I can’t find it sold here in Puerto Rico). It is important to note that when you are picking your shavings that you do not use Cedar as this is toxic to chickens.

What to purchase if you want a similar setup:

5. Baby Chick Food

You will want to start your chicks on either a medicated or unmedicated chick starter or grower feed. I went with the Manna Pro Chick Starter Crumbles because I was able to get it locally.

{RELATED POST: What to Feed Baby Chicks}

Chick Grit

Once your chicks start eating anything other than their chick food you will want to offer them grit free choice. I chose the Manna Pro Chick Grit with Probiotics. You can read more about why chicks need grit here.

*I used a small dish with my first baby chicks to offer grit. With my second group I added another chick feeder to keep it from spilling so much.

Baby Chick Supplements

Because I wanted my little chicks to have every chance at being healthy after being shipped through the mail I added the Sav-A-Chick Electrolyte and Vitamin Supplement to their water along with adding some probiotics to their feed.

The first few hours I offered them the water with the electrolyte and vitamin mixed in then switched to regular water. I did this for the first few days just switching it as I cleaned their water throughout the day. For future chicks I will have two waterers available so that they can select which one they need.

6. Roost Bars

My chicks loved to roost on their little roost bars. At around two weeks the chicks will start to want to roost so I got them these cute little roost bars. You can also use tree branches if you have them, just make sure to sand off any rough edges or splinter parts. If they get cuts on their little feet this can turn into the dreaded bumble foot.

Baby Chick Roosting Bars

What to purchase if you want this setup:

7. Dust Bath (Optional)

My little yellow, Butter started trying to dust bathe on the bath mat I had been sitting on when I let them out to run around me within the first few days of arriving. My first group of chicks didn’t get a dust bath until they first went outside since they use dust bathing to keep clean but Butter was just so cute I had to offer them one.

Dust Bath

I used a baking pan and filled it with mostly with organic soil I bought at the grocery store and some soil from my backyard.

When they got bigger I upgraded their bath to soil in a cardboard box. I ended up replacing the dirt every few days since they loved to poop all over and it would get too churned up to scoop out.

Before Bringing Your Chicks Home

You will want to have your baby chick set up and supplies all ready to go and tested before you bring your little chicks home. The main things you will want to have ready are their brooder (housing), heat source, food, water, and supplements.

Continued Reading for Raising Baby Chicks Posts

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This post was all about what essentials you will need for your baby chick starter kit. Once you have everything set up, you will be ready to bring home your sweet little baby chicks!

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