Raising the Not So Grown up Chickens

As the chicks get older, they would require less maintenance. Meaning, there are still some things to take care of but it’s less delicate than when dealing with babies.

There are quite a few differences between taking care of newly hatched chicks and those that are like 2 weeks up to a month old. These are the chicks that already have prominent feathers and their bodies are bigger compared than when they were quite smaller. These are also the chicks that you bought from hatcheries.

The basic needs are still important like food, water, comfort, and warmth. Those four essentials can never be taken away from the list even if they are already old enough to lay eggs.

The list remains the same, although, now that they are more grown up, their needs have increased. Their appetite and hunger increases, their need for space increases, their need for water increases. Everything about them increases. Thus, you should make proper adjustments and see to it that every matter is taken care of.

Unlike in their early stages, water must be boiled or otherwise, sterilized for ensuring that the water they drink is safe enough not to upset their stomach and affect their health. But now that they have already grown for a bit, any kind of water will do. Just be sure that you’ll give them clean water like something that came directly from the faucet. Not yet ensured with the water’s safety? Then boil it.

You could now disregard the idea of putting an upside down jug on a dish. If you don’t take it away, the chicks will just frequently trip it over and the jug will fall and all its contents will be spilled. Use something that will not have the tendency to fall in any kind of motion, a pot or plastic water container can do. You can also buy the appropriate water container in agricultural stores.

Baby chicken foods can still be given. Though at times, you can introduce new kinds of stuff like including mashed potatoes in their meal. True, they hate potato peelings but they love the inner part of it especially when it is mashed. You could also include veggies like lettuce cut into pieces, cabbage, and grass is also a fine recipe to feed them. Insects? A first-class favorite.

When it comes to the temperature, you have to lessen your efforts and worries. Since these grown up chicks already have literary grown feathers, not full, but it’s getting there, sort of, warmth can be erased from the topic. The few feathers that they have grown are enough to keep their bodies warm during cold nights. But just to be sure that they get the heat they deserve, keep the heat lamp but in a more minimal state. Maintain a 20 degrees temperature within the chicken’s vicinity.

Chickens love to bathe in dust for some unexplainable reason. To add up to that, they love rubbing their feathers into the soil, and wag their feathers clean. It’s beginning to look like a tradition. With this kind of activity, it is therefore necessary to have a sandbox or let them roam around so they can dustbathe freely. But even so, maintain a clean environment. Provide a wider space for them to romp and for them to have enough room to sleep and not overcrowd.

If problems do arise, common sense can always work. These basics will definitely help you raise the chickens you need.

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Raising Chickens 101: Growing Up A Chicken

Only a couple of weeks after the baby chicks are hatched and they are starting to grow their new feathers. For a while, it’s hard to distinguish which chicks are male and which are female. But after sometime, the comb and wattle will grow bigger on the males and the hen will stay smaller.

Young hens are called pullets. Pullets are mostly for egg-laying. They will start to lay eggs at five months but can’t start laying fertile eggs until a year old. Chickens lay most of their eggs their first year. Then a little less their second year. And so on.

If a chicken wasn’t killed for meat and was treated okay, the chicken could live up to 12 years. Think about how many eggs that would be in all.

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Keeping Chickens As Pets

Chickens by nature are evasive of human contact as most animals and birds are. Chickens raised as pets would not tend to run away as much when the bond and the trust have already been established. They would not mind too much the stroking and the cuddling when truly acclimatized to human contact. The chicken may run to you when they know that you bring a treat but that is just as far as it usually goes.

The evasiveness is not totally lost. From time to time, even, with the best care, they would try to steer clear of people. Staying clear out of people and other animals is its natural inclination and often its only defense to survive longer. To raise chickens as pets that will follow you around, seek your company and even nap in your lap, hand raise the chicken while still a baby chick. When the chick is handled gently and treated well, good bonding results, so does trust.

Chicks are one of those gentle precocious creatures and they are fun to watch and nice to have around. They could very well eat whatever little morsels given to them and walk around after hatching. Very young chicks though will need a heat source. In place of the mother hen, that provides the heat by gathering them under the wings, you will need a lamp as their source of heat.

You will also want a place to keep them. Young chicks would fit well in a shoebox or something similar so long as there are small openings for ventilation. Stuff the box with paper towels, as they are easier to replace daily. Clip the lamp in the lip of the box and cover it with cloth to regulate the heat. Ideally, the heat inside the box should be warm to the touch but not exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

The chick will also need layers mash or starter mash inside the box and clean water. Provide the water in a shallow dish weighed down with pebbles to keep the water from spilling as chicks would scratch and walk about in the box. You would know if the chick in uncomfortable or hungry when they peep loudly, when not, the chick chirps contentedly. As the chick grows, food consistency will be different. Starting from a starter mash, it will need crumbles and then pellets. This is no cause for worry though as the feed is basically made of the same mixtures and components, the differences accounts for the degree of coarseness of the milling only.

As the pullets grow, it will eat just about anything that catches its interest. It will also need a dirt run, preferably a sunny spot, to take dirt baths on. For this reason, it is best to supervise its activity if you have a garden, as it would peck at grass as well as the next Begonia.

Keeping chickens as pets is great to those who love its very sociable nature.

Chicken Keeping Secrets - Guide To Keeping Backyard Chickens

Raising Chickens: Taking Care Of The Baby Chicks

Taking care of the chicks does not require much although they may need extra attention.

If the chicken house is big, you will need to separate them from their mothers so that they are not pecked by other chicken or trampled on. The basics that the chicks will need are a clean dry place that will protect them from direct sunlight or cold and a lamp to warm up the place. When there are plenty of chicks, a separate house will be needed although for smaller numbers, a box placed in a space in the garage or a separate room will suffice. No matter where you keep your chicks in, the space provided must be secured from predators and other birds and animals.

When there is no special house to keep the chicks, a sturdy box is a very good and logical choice as it will cost nothing and could be moved around when there is a need. Place wood shavings in the floor of the box, if there are none, layers of newspapers will do. To insure cleanliness and prevent the chicks from diseases, remove the top sheets of the newspapers every day.

The chicks will also need a heat lamp. A good way to do this is to hang a 60-watt light bulb near a corner of the box about eighteen inches from the chicks. If the lamp is lower than that, cover the lamp with a piece of cloth to control temperature. A good way to know whether the temperature is right is when the chicks congregate beneath the lamp when they roost. When the lamps temperature is too strong, the chicks will tend to spread out inside the box away from the lamp.

The height of the heat lamp must then be adjusted about two inches higher every week to wean them off the heat. After two weeks, the chicks will still need the extra heat but reduce the hours that the lamp is on especially during summer months.

The chicks will outgrow the box and you will need additional accommodation for them. Even so, provide a lamp where they could huddle together and get heat especially in the coldest hours of the morning or and when they need it, otherwise turn the lamp off to get them acclimatized to normal temperatures.

Clean water must be provided but even chicks scratch or step inside the water pan that could topple it. To prevent the newspapers or wood shavings from getting wet, place stones inside the water pan for ballast. Replenish food and water in the hopper daily and clean it from droppings.

Mix vitamins and minerals into the water to insure that the chicks grow healthy and to boost their resistance to diseases. This is especially important during the first week. For food, you can mix crumbs to the starter mash that you feed the chicks.

Taking care of the chicks will require you to follow manufacturer's instructions for ratio and proportions of vitamins, minerals, and crumbs that you mix with their food.

Answers To Raising Chickens - A Complete Guide To Keeping Chickens