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The Care of Baby
Chicks
Arrival Date- First Day instructions.
Be sure to have your brooder area set up and heating source tested out so
the birds can go straight into the brooder as soon as they arrive. Refrain
from handling or playing with the birds for the first 24 hours. We
recommend for the first day to have the drinking water at 98 degrees F.
This is because the birds are small with little weight to them on arrival.
They will drink a lot of water which if too cool can rapidly decrease
their body temperature and put them into shock or make them sick. Take
each chick, one at a time and with your fingers hold the chick’s head
and do a quick dip of the chick’s beak into the water and then let go of
the chick. You can add 1-2 tablespoons of sugar to 1 quart of 98 degree
water and shake well. Use this mixture for the first 8 hours and then
change to regular water. Normally the chicks will not start drinking or
eating until they have first warmed up. The temperature should be 99
degrees 1 inch off the brooder floor directly under the heat source. Make
plenty of room so the birds can walk away from the heat source when they
get too hot. Lay down several layers of paper towels all around the
brooder floor and sprinkle chick starter on the paper towels. Their feet
will not slip on the paper towels and they will eat and pick at all the
sprinkled chick starter. Change the paper towels out as needed. The next
day remove the paper towels and/or sprinkled feed and use your normal
feeder.
FEED:
Use a chick starter/grower. Sprinkle feed on a
paper towel in the area where the chicks will be. The chicks find the feed
more easily this way at the start. Do this the first day. Then put the
feed in troughs low enough so the chicks can see and reach the feed
easily. Use one foot of trough feeder or one round feeder for every 25
chicks. Never let the chicks run out of feed. Adding chopped boiled egg
yolk on top of the feed gets the chicks off to a good start and encourages
them to start eating feed right away. It is important to remove all
uneaten boiled eggs after 2-4 hours. We don't recommend adding grit
because the chick starter/grower feed is formulated for what the chicks
need to digest the food. Chicks should stay on a full feed ration of chick
starter/grower until they are 4 1/2 - 5 months of age. -EXCEPTION!
You may want to limit
feed intake on the Jumbo Cornish cross starting at the 14th day by taking
the feed away at night. This seems to help slow the growth of the bird
just enough to allow the skeletal structure of the
bird to catch up with their fast muscular development.
WATER:
Have a 1 gallon chick waterer for each 50 chicks. Do not
medicate first water. For the first day you can add 1-2 tablespoons of
sugar to 1 quart of 98 degree water and shake well. The second day go to
regular water about 98 degrees. The third day use room temperature water.
DIP THE BEAK OF THE CHICK IN THE WATER BEFORE YOU TURN IT LOOSE. Your
chicks will be thirsty when you get them. A taste of water right away
helps them to find more water soon. Most baby chick loss is caused because
the chick doesn't start to eat or drink. Never let your chicks run out of
water.
HEAT:
We have found that using a drop light with
reflector shield is a good source of heat. Use a 75 - 100 - 150 watt bulb
and use as many lights as you need to keep the birds comfortable. Hang a
reflector light from something secure so it does not come loose and drop
down burning something or hurting a bird. The wattage of bulb you are
using will determine how high you will hang the reflector over the middle
of the birds. Chicks of 1-7 days of age should have an air temperature 1
inch off the floor of 95-100 degrees below the reflector light. Lower or
raise the reflector to achieve this temperature allowing plenty of space
for the birds to go to a cooler temperature. Regular white bulbs are fine;
however, after 1-2 weeks red bulbs might work better to reduce feather
picking.
The
temperature may need to be slightly higher for Bantams and other small
bodied birds. A thermometer will help a lot to
insure that you have the proper comfort level for the birds. Reduce the
temperature 5 degrees per week until you reach 70 degrees. They shouldn't
need much heat after that. Start with one or two bulbs per 50 chicks in
cold weather. Then watch how the birds act - see diagram at bottom. The
birds need a small light at night to keep them from piling up even after
they don't need it for warmth. Be sure to watch the CORNISH CROSS as they
grow faster than other birds and will overheat more quickly.
SPACE: Try to provide 1/2 square foot per chick at the
start. For starting 50 chicks use a draft shield (see below) and make a
circle about 5 to 6 feet across. For 100 chicks, make a circle 7 to 8 feet
across.
The ducks and geese should be
raised separate Other Important Matters:
DRAFT SHIELD: Cardboard put in a circle about 12 inches
high around the chicks helps cut down drafts on the floor. Be sure the
circle is large enough to allow the chick to get away from the heat if it
wants to.
LITTER: Large pine shavings make a good litter,
however, do not use small shavings or sawdust because baby chicks learning
to eat will eat it and possibly die. Rice hulls, straw or hay, also makes
a good bedding. Do not use sand; the birds may eat it and can cause their
craw to have impaction and cause health problems and death. Put the litter
all over the floor at least 1 to 2 inches thick. On concrete floors use
3" - 5" of bedding. Do not use cedar
shavings, as they are highly toxic to poultry.
PICKING: It is very common for birds to use their own
beak to groom or pick themselves. The new feathers growing in are brushed
with their beak and the oil gland above the tail
provides the oil for their beaks to groom their feathers. New feathers are
full of blood and if pulled out will bleed some and this can attract other
birds to pick at this area. Baby chicks will often pick each other if they
are too hot, too crowded, without fresh air, or short of room.
Occasionally bright lights also cause them to pick each other and changing
to a red light might help. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
when it comes to picking. Sometimes, however, they pick for no apparent
reason. To stop it try putting in fresh green grass clippings several
times a day and darken the room. Chunks of grass sod can also be set
around for the chicks to pick at. As a last resort, try cutting off about
one-third of the top beak with a very sharp knife or razor blade. Cut from
top to bottom, straight down. Be careful not to crush the beak by pushing
too hard on the knife or razor blade. Do not cut the lower beak, just the
top one. Birds picking EACH other can
also be caused by stress from having lights on 24
hours a day. After you have dropped your heat temperature each week and
now the birds do not require a heat source, remove the light at NOON. As
the early evening comes around and it becomes darker the birds will
automatically lay down by each other to go to sleep. Try not to disturb
them during this time because it could make them pile up on each other and
smother. It is common for them to lay part of their body across each
other, you just don’t want them 2-3 birds deep on each other. To treat
chicks that have been picked, smear pine tar or menthol flavored ointment
on the area injured and keep up the treatment until healed.
After Four Weeks
1. Increase floor area to 3/4 square foot per chick.
2. Increase feeders to provide 2 1/2" to 3" of space per chick.
3. Increase waterers to one 5-gallon fount per 100 chicks.
4. Install roosts at back of brooder area. Allow four inches per bird with
roost poles six inches apart.
5. Open windows in day-time. Leave only partly open at night.
6. Prevent water puddles around founts. Place founts on low wire platform.
7. Chicks can range outside on warm, sunny days, but only if clean range
is available.
SPECIAL SITUATIONS AFTER THE CHICKS ARRIVE
IF THE CHICKS HAD A HARD TRIP: Instead of using the
standard feed and water suggestions listed above, try this: Put 2
tablespoons of sugar in 1 quart of 100 degree water and shake well. Add a
little of this water mixture to a small amount of feed, stir and sprinkle
it around the chicks. Mix only right before you are ready to feed. Do a
small amount at a time. As they eat it, mix some more and sprinkle it
around them to get their attention. Never leave this mixture for more than
a couple of hours; it will sour and cause illness.
REAR END "PASTING UP": Sometimes the stress of
shipping causes the manure to stick to the back of the chick. It is
important to remove this daily. Pull off gently or, better yet, wash off
with a cloth and warm water. It will disappear in a few days as the chick
starts to grow. If chicks appear droopy add a sulfa type drug to their
drinking water as directed on package.
BABY TURKEYS
Use the basic instructions above, but watch more
carefully as turkeys tend to chill quicker than chicks. Baby turkeys are
known to be somewhat dumb -- therefore you have to make sure they know
where the feed is. It is helpful sometimes to put colored marbles in the
water fountains and to sprinkle some feed on cardboard the first few days.
If they do not get started eating and drinking properly you might have
"starve outs". If the turkeys show any sign of diarrhea, add a
sulfa type (Sulmet, etc.) drug to their drinking water as directed on
package. Do not use any slick paper for bedding for turkeys. Baby turkeys
easily slide on slick surfaces and lack the muscle in the leg area to keep
their legs from spreading apart resulting in sprattle-legged poults. We
also recommend a few standard size baby chicks to be raised with the
turkeys in the beginning. The chicks help each the turkeys how to eat and
drink.
DUCKS AND GOSLINGS
Follow the same care as for baby chicks except ducks and goslings do
not need the extra heat as long as baby chicks because of their size and
rapid growth rate. They will require more care, in that they are messier
with water fountains. They can be turned outside at an earlier age
depending on the weather. Goslings love to eat grass and weeds and will
begin grazing as soon as they are turned out. Do not let baby ducks and
goslings out on a pond as they will drown, since they don't have a mother
to get them off the pond. Their down absorbs water. Once they have
feathered out, they can go on the pond. DO NOT MEDICATE WATER FOR DUCKS
AND GEESE!!! Ducks and geese can be raised together. However, do not raise
with any other chickens, turkey or other birds. Since the ducks and geese
are messier with the water, they will cause your other birds to get sick
and die. Once the are fully grown they can be together providing they have
plenty of room. On arrival we recommend allowing the ducks, ESPECIALLY the
Mallards to have only 4 drinks and then take away the water for 30
minutes, then allow another 4 drinks and take the water away for 30
minutes. Do this for a couple of hours before leaving the water in full
time. This will prevent the ducks from drinking too much at the beginning
and going into shock and dying. Also make sure the water fountain and base
are sturdy, you do not want it knocked over into the litter.
QUAIL, PHEASANTS, and GUINEAS
Use the basic instructions for chicks, however, watch
them more carefully for piling up. The temperature may need to be slightly
higher for the smaller bodied birds. It must be regulated closely. Special
water founts can be purchased or if using regular chick founts, add clean
gravel or marbles to take up space so they can't get in the water and
drown or get chilled. It is recommended you use a colored bulb to help
control cannibalism. We do not recommend wire flooring at a young age
because there is too much of a chance for their legs to catch in the wire.
Safe handling of poultry
Live animals and pets can be a source of potentially harmful
micro-organisms; therefore, precautions must be taken when handling and
caring for them to prevent fecal/oral transmission among people. Children
should be supervised as they handle animals and pets to make sure they
don't put their hands or fingers in their mouth. Always wash your hands
with soap and warm water after handling any animal or pet. For information
and free materials contact "United States Department of Agriculture,
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service" at : http//www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/
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