CARE OF BABY POULTRY

Getting the best start for you baby chicks and other poultry is one of the most important first steps.  We provide the foundation by providing you with the healthy robust babies from the start.  If you feed and manage them along the lines we provide, they should grow into wonderful adults.  If you short change things or cut corners along the way, it will more then likely cost you in the end.  Raising poultry is fun and exciting and we wish you all the best of luck.

Before the chicks arrive – make sure that you have your brooder area cleaned up, disinfected, and ready to go.  Your brooder can be anything from a plain cardboard box that you throw away when it gets soiled, to a fancy store bought model.  The long clear storage containers that can pick up at Walmart also work wonderfully.  Which ever one you choose, line several layers of paper towels in the bottom.  NEVER use newspaper.  Newspaper is slick and your chicks can end up with spraddle leg or worse.  We have personally used the rolls of drawer liner that you can also get at walmart in their kitchen section.  It has small holes in it and provides a nonskid surface so that the baby chicks don’t slip and fall. It is very easy to take out, hose down and throw in the washer to clean.  It is also the perfect width for the clear containers.  We don’t put wood shavings in any of our brooders for the first week or two.  Until babies get going good, they have a tendency to eat the shaving and can become compacted and die.  Never use cedar shavings, as they are highly toxic to poultry.

For Pictures and instructions for making the inexpensive brooders above, go to www.poultryhelp.com/brooders.html.

Heating – Your heat lamps for your brooders should be tested and set up and running at least 24 hours before the chick’s arrival.  We use the red heat lamp bulbs.  We find we have less chick picking at each other with the red bulbs then the clear ones. The Temperature should be in the 90-95 degree range a couple of inches off the floor.  Drop the temperature by 5 degrees per week to 70 degrees, after which the birds should no longer need the heat source.

Day of Arrival – Refrain from handling and playing with the birds for the first 24 hours after arrival, to give them time to calm down from the stress of shipping.  We recommend that for the first day to have their drinking water at about 98 degrees F.  We also add 2 Tablespoons of sugar to each quart of water to help boost their energy.   With the birds being so small, they will drink a lot of water that first day and using cold water can rapidly decrease their body temperature and can put them into shock or make them sick.  Upon arriving home, take each baby 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 a time or two and you will see them lift their head to swallow.   For all our baby chicks, no matter what the breed, we also put shiny marbles in the waterer.  The marbles attract the birds attention and they will pick at them, drinking along the way.  This is very important for Turkeys and Peafowl.  It is also important for bantams and guineas as this keeps them out of the water and from getting wet or possible drowning.

Feed – Purchase feed recommended for the baby poultry that you have purchased.

1. Commercial chick starter containing about 20% protein is recommended for starting bantams and layer type baby chicks.

2.  Turkeys, Guineas and Peafowl should be started on Turkey or Game Bird Starter containing at least 28% protein.

Besides putting the feed into the feeders, sprinkle some on the floor of the brooder.  The baby chick’s natural curiosity will have it picking at it.

Baby Turkeys

Use the basic information that we have provided above, but watch more carefully as turkeys tend to chill faster then chicks.  Baby turkeys tend to be a slow learner and you need to watch and make sure that they know where the food and water is and that they are eating it.  Again putting some on the floor for the first couple of days helps.

Baby Guinea Keets

Again use the basic information provided above, however watch them closely for piling up.  The temperature may need to be higher for the bantams and Keets.  Make sure you either purchase special water founts or like stated above, add marbles to the standard chick founts so that they can’t get into the water and drown or get chilled. 

Baby Peachicks

Peachicks may require slightly warmer temperatures than baby chicks.  You can tell that Peachicks are comfortable when they lay in a close group with necks stretched out as they sleep.  If they peep they are too cool, when they're quiet, they are warm enough.  Have your heat source warm enough at one end of the brooder, and have enough room for the chicks to move to the cooler end to seek their own comfort zone. 

The pictures below shows the best indicator of when the chicks are comfortable.