5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Buying 100 Chicks
We finally had a place where we could raise chicks! Our last home had covenants and although it was a large half acre in town, the city would not allow backyard chickens. Over the winter we browsed websites where we could order live day-old chicks because the farm and ranch stores were not stocked with chicks yet. We researched and dreamed about the “ideal” breed for us while sipping coffee and eating Christmas cookies. The day after Christmas I submitted an order for a straight run of 30 Rhode Island Red, 30 Buff Orpingtons, 30 Black Australorp and 10 White Leghorn hens (for good measure and white eggs come Easter!) We had three months to wait so we did some planning and preparation but really didn’t know a lot about what we were getting into. My husband built some brooder boxes and drew plans for chicken tractors and a mobile chicken coop. The breeds we selected are dual purpose heritage chickens. We knew from reading that they would take longer to grow that Cornish Cross or even the Freedom Ranger but that was okay with us. We wanted to raise the roosters for legs and the hens for eggs! One thing that was essential was to protect the birds from predators and keep them on fresh grass for as long as the season permitted by rotating their tractors and coop around.
The big day was approaching. I got the shipping confirmation, and we went to the store with our shopping list. Feeders, waterers, food, bedding, heat lamps. I knew we were rookies, but we confidently walked through the aisles picking out our supplies. An old timer employee watched us and offered help as we stooped over two different bags of chick starter feed reading labels. “What’s the difference between this feed and that?” I asked. “One’s medicated and one is not. We use the medicated feed here in the store. It helps protect the chicks from coccidiosis.” That was the first time I had ever heard of that! What was it? Preemptively we put the medicated bag in the cart and kept shopping. The old timer sent my husband to a different part of the store for the pine shavings, and I kept looking at the heat lamps. The employee was friendly, and we started talking and I’m glad he did! This is what I learned:
1. Fortify the Water
Some people add sugar to the chicks’ water. We bought a poultry electrolyte probiotic boost powder that worked well for us. Out of the 100 chicks, we lost three in the shipping box and only one afterwards. The average loss is typically 10% so they faired very well!
2. Dip your Chicks
When you first get your chicks, dip their beaks in the waterer in your brooder box. They will immediately start drinking! It’s amazing to watch them instantly go from struggling to get out of your hand to immediately start chugging water!
Use red Bulbs in the Heat Lamps
There are red and white bulbs to choose from. Although white bulbs will work, the chicks are calmer under red light.
3. Clean their Feathery Butts!
If your chicks get stressed from shipping and being handled their poop will get very runny and stick to their backsides, sometimes cementing their vent closed. This happened to our chicks and one day I found myself with gloves and a warm rag cleaning up those poor little things. They survived, but it was something I never would have thought of or had seen blogged about.
4. Prop up their Waterer on a Brick or Two
Those fast little chicks peck and scratch and make a mess of their brooders. The wood shavings like to plug up and soak their water up if you use inverted mason jar waterers like we did. It’s very helpful to prop the waterer up on a brick or two to limit the amount they can actually get into the water trough.
5. Watch the Chicks’ Behavior
You’ll know if your chicks are too hot if they scatter, and likewise if they are too cold because they will huddle up under the lamp. You can move the lamp higher or lower depending on their behavior. We had them in an outside shed, so we had to monitor the temp closer than if they were in a climate-controlled room. We also were told they will crush each other to death if they are too cold if there’s too many birds per lamp. We made 4 separate brooder boxes with 25 birds per box to eliminate the possibility.
In our cold Montana climate, we were still concerned when we moved the chicks outside at three weeks so we gave them shelter in their coop tractor. We even hung a heat lamp and covered it with a tarp at night for the first couple of weeks outside.
In conclusion, you never learn until you try and oftentimes you learn more than you ever imagined! Now that we have given this a try, our family has advanced into raising and processing our own meat chickens and hatching eggs for the next batch of laying hens. The life lessons and responsibility it teaches not only us but our children makes it totally worthwhile!
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