Anyone Can Raise Chickens

Image Gallery This breed of chicken, a silkie, is known to have a strong instinct to hatch eggs. ISTOCKPHOTO/IRINA IGUMNOVA

Raising baby poultry is easy and a great deal of fun. Many people start with chickens, but you might also consider ducks, guineas, turkeys or geese. You can order chicks from a hatchery, buy them at a local farm store, or allow a hen to hatch eggs and raise the chicks for you. Raising purchased chicks is easy, but remember that they rely on you for their every need.

The Chicks are in the Mail

Just before hatching, a chick absorbs and stores the last of the egg yolk it’s been feeding on throughout incubation. This last bit of yolk can sustain the chick for several days before its first drink or meal, providing a window of opportunity for shipping chicks from a hatchery to your front door.

When your chicks arrive, open the box in the presence of the postal clerk or carrier. Shipments from a reputable hatchery are insured, and the hatchery will likely replace losses if there are a large number of fatalities. That sounds scary, but I’ve rarely had problems. It is not unusual, however, to have a couple of losses (either in transit or within the first day or two) of weaker chicks that just didn’t have a good start. Even in the best of circumstances, transit through the postal system is stressful for chicks. Provide them with warmth, water and feed immediately.

Setting up a Brooder

A brooder is a warm, draft-free environment to replace a mother hen’s body heat. You can buy a commercial brooder, but it is cheap and easy to assemble one from materials on hand (a large cardboard box will work for a few chicks).

The brooder must have a heat source. Any lamp with 100- to 250-watt bulbs will work for about a dozen chicks. Or you can buy a special brooder heat lamp or use small electric heating elements. For temperature control, lamps can be raised or lowered. The closer the lamp is to the floor, the warmer the air at the chicks’ level. Secure the lamp or heater so it’s not too close to combustible surfaces (litter, cardboard or wood sides) — usually 18 inches or so, as recommended by the manufacturer.

Another option is a “hover,” a boxlike structure of metal or plywood, suspended a few inches above the brooder floor and containing a heat source. The chicks retreat under the hover to warm up, or range for feed, water and exercise in the cooler area outside.

The standard recommendation is that brooder temperature be maintained at 95 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week and reduced by 5 degrees each week until the chicks’ bodies are completely covered with feathers. Just observe the behavior of the chicks: If they huddle up under the heat, the brooder is too chilly. If they retreat to the perimeters of the brooder, the heat source is too intense. If they are scooting about like water bugs, the temperature is “just right.” Of course, like all babies, they need to sleep a lot, so don’t worry if you see individuals immobile on the litter.