Excited to welcome a flock of adorable baby chicks into your life? Before you embark on this delightful journey and raise baby chicks, discover the 13 essential must-know tips that will ensure your fluffy companions thrive in their new home.
Raising baby chicks can be such a fun and rewarding experience (and also, very addicting!). I’ve raised a few groups of chicks (including now giving baby chicks to my broody hen – but that’s for another post) and every time it’s been such a special experience raising and getting to know them. Before I ever even ordered my chicks I spent months and months researching how to care for them as it was my first time taking care of chicks.
I’m happy to say all of my baby chicks have grown into happy, healthy adult chickens!
This post is all about what you need to know to raise baby chicks at home.
How to Raise Baby Chicks: Getting Started
Choose Your Chicken Breeds
There are many breeds of chickens to choose from when deciding to raise baby chicks. Each breeds has their own their unique characteristics. Some breeds have higher egg production than others and each breed has its personality. If you want more docile, family friendly chickens, you will want to look at breeds like the Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Cream Legbar, Salmon Faverolle, and Australorps (among many others).
Another thing to keep in mind when researching the different breeds is that you will want to try and keep the more docile chicken breeds in with other docile chicken breeds. If you want a more dominant chicken breed like a Road Island Red or Marans, then you will want to keep this type of chicken breed with other dominant breeds. If you keep a more docile chicken like the Buff Orpington in with a dominant chicken breed then your Orpingtons could get bullied.
So be sure to research the different breeds and choose the ones that best fit your needs and the needs of your flock. Watch below for 3 great chicken breeds for beginners!
Determine Where You Will Purchase Your Chicks From
Depending on your location you typically can find baby chicks in the spring and summer from a local farm store or breeder. You can also purchase baby chicks online and have them shipped.
I ordered my chicks online from Cackle Hatchery and Ideal Poultry. You can read more about my experience with these hatcheries here.
Gather Your Supplies
To raise baby chicks, they take some extra work and supplies as opposed to starting with ready to lay pullets. Have your supplies tested and ready before bringing home your baby chicks. The main things you will want to have ready before they come home are their brooder (housing), heat source, bedding, food, water, and supplements. For a complete list of everything you need to raise your chicks, check it out here.
I would also suggest you start looking at adult chicken coops and ensure that both your baby chick supplies and coop are ready to go before bringing home baby chicks. Baby chicks grow up super fast!
What to Know about Roosters
Keeping a rooster can be a wonderful addition to your flock. While you don’t need a Rooster to collect eggs from your ladies, you will want to keep one to fertilize the eggs if you are planning on breeding your own chickens. Roosters love to find all the best treats and call their ladies over to eat first and will help keep the peace within the flock. They will also alert and protect your ladies from predators to a degree. Having a secure chicken coop and run are the best way to protect your hens (and roosters!).
Sometimes, however, you may not be able to keep them due to your HOA or other reasons. If that is the case you will want to have an idea of how you would rehome if you ended up with a baby rooster. If you absolutely cannot risk having a rooster, I would suggest checking out breeds like the Bielefelder and Cream Legbar as they are auto-sexing at hatch. Meaning hatcheries are more likely to determine sex because males and females are different colors.
Rooster Resources
Roosters can get a bad rap! Have a Rooster issue or unsure if you want to embark on keeping a Rooster? I’d highly recommend checking out the following posts and resources.
- A Kinder Approach to Working with What Some Would Call an ‘Aggressive Rooster’
- Mindful Practices to Bond with Your Chickens (Roosters too!)
- What Horses Taught Me About Working With Roosters
- How to Raise Super Friendly Chickens
- Join the Rooster Allies Facebook group (A great group of people dedicated to helping people work with their roosters)
- Watch the Roovolution YouTube video on Rooster behavior
Know the Lingo – Buying Sexed Chicks: When ordering chicks or buying in your local farm store, they may be labeled pullets (females), cockerels (males), or straight run (mix of both males and females, i.e. unsexed).
Even if you do order pullets as I have, I ended up both one rooster in each order. The percentage rate of professionals sexing chicks is around 85% accurate, depending on the breed and hatchery (usually they will tell you their % on their website).
How to Raise Baby Chicks: Caring for Chicks Upon Arrival
Once you have your setup all ready and your sweet little chicks have arrived, you will want to ensure that they know where their food and water are located. Whether or not you have just received your baby chicks through the mail or picked them up locally, you will want to carefully take each chick out of the box they traveled home in to place them inside of their brooder.
How to Inspect Chicks Upon Arrival
An important first step when you raise baby chicks is to inspect each chick when you get home to ensure they are all healthy.
When first taking them out, inspect their little butts for pasty butt. This is a condition where the poop collects on their butt and it literally stops them up – which can be deadly. I had this on one or two of my chicks and I very gently wiped it away with a damp, warm soft cloth. You will want to continue to do daily checks for a few days after they first arrive.
Introduce them to their Chick Food and Water
After checking them over I gently dipped each chicks beak into their water (not too far, just enough that you see them move their beak to drink). This way they all know where to get water. I then set them down by their food dish and sprinkle some food around it so they start to peck around.
I start them off with paper towels as their bedding so that they know what is food and what isn’t before adding in shavings. Thankfully these little chicks are smart and when they see one chick eating, the rest will more than likely start pecking around too. If you purchase your chicks from a local farm store compared to mail-order chicks, they may have already been kept on shavings and know what their food and water dishes look like.
Baby Chick Observation
If your chicks have arrived in the mail, it is suggested to let them have some time to adjust and destress without much interference from you. For my first chicks, I let them have about 48 hours of rest (only coming in to redo paper towels, food, and water), whereas, for my second batch of babies, I let them have about 24 hours.
How to Raise Baby Chicks: General Chick Care
Monitor Chick Health
Check your chicks every day to make sure they are healthy and active. Look for signs of illness, such as lethargy, drooping wings, blood in stool, etc. If you notice any health problems, contact a veterinarian who specializes in poultry. If you’re not sure where to find a vet, you can search online through Poultry DVM.
Keep their Living Area Clean
It is crucial to keep a baby chick’s brooder clean and dry as it can help prevent the onset of coccidiosis, a common and potentially fatal disease in baby chicks. Coccidiosis is caused by the ingestion of a parasite called coccidia, which thrives in moist and dirty environments. If left untreated, coccidiosis can cause diarrhea, dehydration, poor growth, and even death in chicks.
By keeping the brooder clean and dry, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of coccidia taking hold and infecting the chicks. This involves regularly cleaning and disinfecting the brooder, removing any wet bedding and droppings promptly, and ensuring that the bedding remains dry at all times. It is also important to avoid overcrowding the brooder, which can exacerbate the risk of coccidiosis and other health issues.
During the first week, I used paper towels that I would switch out every few hours. After the first week I moved them onto shavings. Once on shavings, I changed out the shavings once per day.
I have used both pine and aspen shavings. I’d love to try out the hemp shavings, however, it isn’t available in Puerto Rico. Whatever you choose, please be aware that cedar shavings are toxic to chickens.
Chicken Heat Lamp, Heat Plate | Brooder Temperature
Knowing what temperature baby chicks need to be kept at different stages is very important when raising baby chicks as they need to stay warm. When day-old baby chicks arrive you will want to start them out at 95 degrees. As the chicks grow, you can gradually decrease the temperature in the brooder by about 5 degrees each week. By the time they are 4-6 weeks old, they should be able to tolerate room temperature.
I chose to use a brooder heat plate as opposed to a heat lamp. Brooder heat plates can be adjusted as the chicks get bigger and there is no need to keep a thermometer to check the brooder temperature.
This is assuming you are raising your baby chicks inside. If your chicks are in a barn or garage and it’s still cold outside, a brooder plate might not get hot enough and you would need a heat lamp (see important info below on heat lamps). If using a heat lamp, you will want to monitor the temperature inside your brooder to ensure your baby chicks are not too hot or too cold. Watching their behavior helps as chicks who huddle together are trying to get warm. If they are away from their heat lamp with wings out and panting they are way too hot. If using a heat lamp make sure to only point it at one end of the brooder and not over the entire thing, so that they can move away from the heat source if they get too hot.
!!! It is important to note that heat lamps can be a fire risk. If you must use one, use with extreme caution and ensure they are secured so that they cannot fall into the shavings. For this reason I cannot recommend using a heat lamp and instead suggest you raise your chickens inside with a heat plate !!!
Provide Quality Feed and Water
Chicks need access to fresh, clean water and chick feed that is high in protein (around 20%). You can buy chick feed at your local feed store or online. Water needs changed frequently and feed kept dry and clean.
Bonding with Your Chickens
One of the reasons I love to raise baby chicks in a brooder is that I enjoy spending time with them every day and getting to know them and them to know me. My first setup was a bit harder to do this with but with my second setup, I was able to sit, have some coffee, and let the little chicks explore all around me. Butter, who turned out to be the Rooster, loved sitting on my knee. I believe spending time with them as babies is what helped them grow up to be such friendly chickens.
How to Raise Baby Chicks: When Can Baby Chicks Go Outside
A big milestone for baby chicks will be when they can finally go outside.
Chicks can safely start to live outside once they are fully feathered and the outside temperature is consistently above 50-60 degrees. This usually happens around 6-8 weeks of age. However, it is important to gradually introduce them to the outside environment and provide a secure and protected space for them.
The weather here in Puerto Rico is generally in the 80s so I started to take my baby chicks outside for day trips at about 2 and a half weeks old. For the first two weeks, I would leave their carrier in the dog playpen so that if they got scared they could all run back inside. I started with 20 minutes a day and worked their way up to staying outside all day gradually. Every evening I would bring them back inside to sleep in their brooder.
When outside my chicks had constant access to shade, water, and feed. While for the most part, they were under supervision, I also placed cameras around their playpen so I could easily check in on them.
Check out my full post on when and how you can start taking your baby chicks outside to ensure a smooth and happy transition to their adult chicken coop.
Continued Reading for Raising Baby Chicks Posts
- 7 Best Essentials for Raising Baby Chicks
- Everything Your Chickens Will Need in Their Adult Chicken Coop
- How to Determine How Many Chickens You Want to Start With
- How to Bond with Your Chickens
- How to Raise Super Friendly Chickens
Want to follow along for more chicken happenings with Butter the rooster and his ladies? Follow us on Instagram or subscribe on YouTube!
This post was all about how to raise baby chicks. With this knowledge and resources, you’ll be well-prepared to welcome your cute baby chicks into your home!
¿A dónde conseguir gallinas ponedoras en Puerto Rico?
¿Estás buscando dónde comprar gallinas en Puerto Rico? Hay muchos criaderos que envían pollitos a Puerto Rico y también algunas opciones para recogido locales. Uno de los mejores pasos hacia la autosuficiencia es criar sus propias gallinas ponedoras. Los huevos…
Continue Reading ¿A dónde conseguir gallinas ponedoras en Puerto Rico?
Mindful Practices to Build Trust and Bond with Your Chickens
If you are looking for ways to build trust and bond with your chickens, this post is for you! Let’s explore how building a relationship with your chickens goes much deeper than you might think. As I’ve been sharing more…
Continue Reading Mindful Practices to Build Trust and Bond with Your Chickens
What Horses Taught me About Relationship Building with Roosters
What my life working with horses has taught me about relationship building with roosters and how it can help you too.
Continue Reading What Horses Taught me About Relationship Building with Roosters
Top 11 Chicken First Aid Kit Essentials to Have On Hand
Having supplies on hand when you need them can be invaluable. As chicken keepers we know that our chickens can get injured or need additional help from time to time just like any other animal. Here we will go over…
Continue Reading Top 11 Chicken First Aid Kit Essentials to Have On Hand
Taking Your Chicken to the Vet in Puerto Rico
Having a health issue with your chicken? Thankfully, there are several veterinary practices in Puerto Rico that will see chickens! As chicken keepers, we all want the best for our flocks health and just like any other animal, your chickens…
Continue Reading Taking Your Chicken to the Vet in Puerto Rico
A Kinder Approach to Working with a “Aggressive Rooster”
Are you finding yourself looking for ways to work better with your rooster? Perhaps you’ve read or been told about some of the traditional and old-school methods suggested for dealing with what was referred to as an aggressive rooster. If…
Continue Reading A Kinder Approach to Working with a “Aggressive Rooster”
Hi there! I’m Jess, a backyard chicken keeper living on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. With my flock of 15 friendly chickens, my mission is to help others feel confident about raising happy, healthy, and super friendly chickens. My dream is that everyone gets to know the love of a chicken and experience the joy they bring to your life.
Leave a Reply