FIRST DAY

1. Clean and disinfect the area where the chicks are going to reside. Lysol is good, bleach
makes terrible fumes. I used a plant mister to get a fine mist into all the cracks and
crannies. One time I did not disinfect and the coccidiosis stayed in the room and the new
batch of chicks started dying.
2. Turn on the heat lamps (See Heat Needs) at least a day or more before your chicks arrive,
so the walls and floor have a chance to warm up as well as the air, and the disinfectant
has time to dry.
3. Make sure there are no drafts.
4. Make an area (See Space Needs) for the chicks in a larger chicken house or barn, with
cardboard walls 2 feet high and round corners. If they get frightened, they will try and
huddle in the corners and some often get smothered. If there are no true corners, it is
harder for them to do this.
5. You will need some litter for the floor. Wood shavings, chopped straw, chopped corn
husks will work. If you leave the straw too large to start with, they may find it hard to
walk on. Don't use anything slippery. They are not strong enough while they are small to
keep their legs from slipping in opposite directions, and they get straddle legs. Their legs
go sideways and there is no cure. They can no longer walk.
Put a few inches of litter on the floor, covered with an old sheet. You can get these at a
thrift store for a couple of dollars. The chicks peck at whatever is at their feet, so if you
don't cover the litter they will eat it and die. After about 3 days they have learnt what is
feed and what is not, and you can take the sheet away, leaving the clean litter underneath.
As the litter gets dirty, you can add more on top, or if you start with about a foot deep, it
can be stirred very slowly each day with a rake to keep the dry litter on top. Be very slow
about your movements, especially with the meat birds. They frighten very easily and are
prone to heart attacks. If you want to remove the litter and replace it, again, be very, very
slow about your movements.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of molasses to 1 gallon (4 litres) of warm water. Give this to the chicks
for the first day or so. It will help them recover from the journey. They are able to survive
for 3 days on the yoke sack that they draw into their bodies just before they hatch, but
they need water on their arrival. You can usually buy chick waterers at the local feed
store. Some will screw onto the neck of a quart canning jar. I dipped each chick's beak
into the water when they arrived to let them learn faster where the water was.
7. NEVER LET THE FEED GET WET AT ALL. Ergot fungus grows rapidly
(overnight) on wet feed, and the chickens literally drop dead. If you clean up all the wet
feed, and disinfect, they should stop dying within a day or so. Don't let them eat the
disinfectant either.
Put the feed (see FEEDING YOUR CHICKENS) on the lids of the shipping boxes, or make
your own, to start with. They are cardboard, about 24 inches x 24 inches x 2 inches high.
Keep the feed on the cardboard for the first few days, until the chicks know what they are
looking for. After the chicks have had a drink, stand them on the feed. They instinctively
peck at whatever is at their feet.
8. Check on them regularly to see that they are not too hot or cold.

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CORNERS
Remember to make them round so the chicks cannot huddle together and smother each other.
WATER
Give them luke warm water with molasses in it when they arrive. Keep the water away from the
feed to stop the feed from getting wet.
HEAT
I always used a minimum of 2 lamps in case one of them burned out. I bought a ceramic light
socket with the heat resistant wires already attached. Make sure the socket is rated for the
wattage of heat lamp you will be using. I used 250 watt infra-red heat bulbs. I attached the heat
resistant wires to a plug and plugged it into an extension cord. You can then hang the bulb from
the ceiling at the appropriate height to get the right temperature. Don't put the feed or water
directly underneath the heat lamps.
FEED
Use crumbles to begin with. The pellets are too large for the chicks. Stand the chicks right on the
crumbles, with the crumbles in a flat cardboard lid, so that they can find the food.

SPACE NEEDS
Hens, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, need 2 square feet of floor space per grown mid-
size laying hen. I, personally, find 3 square feet per bird is more comfortable.

 Day old chicks

100 chicks arrive in a box about 24 inches x 24 inches. I give them a space about 30
inches x 10 feet because of the way I set up the heats lamps, feed and water.
 New born to 1 month - 1/4 square foot per bird
 1 month to 2 months - 1/2 square foot per bird
 2 months to 3 months - 1 square foot per bird
 3 months to 4 months - 2 square feet per bird
 4 months to adult - 3 square feet per bird

HEAT NEEDS
Measure the temperature at the edge of the heat circle created by the heat lamp, at the height of
the backs of the chicks.
Ideally, the chicks should spread out around the edge of the heat circle. If they huddle under the
lamps, they are too cold. If they go as far away as possible, they are too hot.
They must have ventilation without drafts to allow the escape of the moist air that they create.

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They also create a tremendous amount of very fine dust as they grow.
Layer Chicks
Start at 95° F for day old chicks. I found hanging a 250 watt infra-red heat lamp 18 inches above
the floor was about right.
Broiler Chicks
Start at 85° F° for day old chicks. I found hanging a 250 watt infra-red heat lamp heat lamp 24
inches above the floor was about right.
Layer Chicks and Broiler Chicks
Reduce the heat by about 5° F per week (raising the lamps about 2 inches each week seems to
acomplish this) until you get down to 70° F. After that, they should be fine on their own.

COMMERCIAL FEED
NEVER LET THE FEED GET WET AT ALL. Ergot fungus grows rapidly (overnight) on
wet feed, and the chickens literally drop dead. If you clean up all the wet feed, and disinfect, they
should stop dying within a day or so. Don't let them eat the disinfectant either.
Use medicated or non-medicated starter feed as you choose, but if you decide to use non-
medicated, coccidiosis is a real threat. See Coccidiosis The chicks drop like flies once it gets into
the chick house. If you use non-medicated feed (and even if you don't), make sure that you
thoroughly clean and disinfect the chicks' area with a disinfectant before the chicks arrive. Lysol
is good, bleach makes terrible fumes. I used a plant mister to get a fine mist into all the cracks
and crannies. One time I did not disinfect and the coccidiosis stayed in the room and the new
batch of chicks started dying.

Broiler Chicks only

First Day start the chicks off on Broiler Starter Crumbles, (23% protein) Again, use medicated
or non-medicated as you choose.
At 5 weeks switch the chicks to Broiler Grower crumbles.
At 6 weeks I switched the chicks to Broiler Grower Pellets. They should be big enough by now
to be able to cope with the bigger chunks. Any time from now on they should be big enough to
be put into the freezer. Make sure that they have not had the medicated feed for the required
number of days, according to the package, before you slaughter the chickens.