Anyone Can Raise Chickens
(Page 3 of 6)
December 2008/January 2009
By Harvey Ussery
Cleanliness or sterility? Good sanitation in the brooder is essential to prevent disease and distress. But it is a mistake to assume that absolute sterility is either possible or desirable. You should prevent the “caking” of manure in the brooder, caused by overcrowding or inappropriate litter materials (any that are not absorbent and do not fluff up easily). When brooding successive batches, I favor topping off the old litter with fresh material (in lieu of removing it entirely and sterilizing the brooder). The litter becomes biologically active as decomposition proceeds (as in a working compost heap), yielding microbial metabolites that actually strengthen the immune systems of the growing chicks. An earth floor works best for this system.
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Prevent cannibalism. Sometimes chicks start pecking at each other. Some people use an infrared lamp (instead of white light) to prevent the “cannibalism.”
Assuming the birds’ basic needs are met — proper temperature and ventilation, easy access to waterers and feeders, and sufficient protein in their feed — the only inducement to cannibalism would be overcrowding or boredom. Give them plenty of room to run around, and litter they can scratch and have fun in, and you are unlikely to have a problem with cannibalism.
The most extreme prevention of cannibalism is debeaking, which means exactly what the name implies: cutting off half of the upper beak of the just-hatched chicks. Recognize debeaking for what it is: mutilation.
Avoid “pasting up.” Chicks’ droppings sometimes get sticky and cling to the down around the vent (anus). As droppings dry, they can block the opening of the vent — in extreme cases causing the chick to die, simply because it cannot poop. Monitor for pasting up, especially the first couple of weeks. To treat, hold the chick in one hand and gently pull off the caked feces.
Being chronically chilled can bring on pasty butt, so make sure the brooder is warm enough. But I think the condition is most often related to the mediocre quality of many commercial poultry feeds. If purchased feeds are your only option, introduce small quantities of natural feeds from day one: fresh grass clippings or lettuce from the garden, for example. Remove any not eaten within a few hours, to prevent mold.
Vaccination and “medications.” Many sources advise having chicks vaccinated and using medicated feeds to provide subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics. In several decades of experience I have strictly avoided both, and have not had a single case of Marek’s disease (a viral disease that causes paralysis and can be vaccinated against) or losses to coccidiosis (a protozoal infection that causes diarrhea and is treated with the antibiotics in medicated feeds).
(For a complete guide to classic information on starting chicks, read the book Success with Baby Chicks by Robert Plamondon.)
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