Caring for baby chicks isn’t difficult but does require attention to certain essentials, the primary one being heat.
Aside from a quality diet and fresh, clean water, baby chicks will thrive if kept warm and given the chance to scratch, forage and incrementally acclimate to their environment by spending increasing amounts of time outside when it’s warm enough.
This article outlines some of the most important, but sometimes overlooked, aspects of baby chick care including when they can come off heat, whether to use a heat plate or a lamp and some problems you may face including butt pecking, drowning in water bowls and eating bedding material.
How Soon Can Baby Chicks Come Off Heat?
When to take baby chicks off heat is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in the care of your hatchlings.
Taking chicks off heat too soon can impair their development and result in the death of chicks that are not yet able to regulate their own body temperature, and don’t have feathers to keep themselves warm.
Baby chicks need access to a heat plate or heat lamp constantly when they first hatch.
As they grow, baby chicks continue to need heat on demand until they’re fully feathered which is usually about six weeks of age.
Chicks can generally come off heat permanently anywhere from four weeks to eight weeks, with six being the usual.
You’ll notice that chicks begin to spend less and less time under the heat plate, but still retreat there at night and throughout the day when it’s cool.
How soon baby chicks can come off heat permanently varies depending on factors like:
- How well the individual chicks have feathered up and how large they’ve grown
- Ambient temperatures i.e. local climate, weather and time of year including whether there’s wind and rain
- Coop design —Are there warm nooks and protection from the wind? Protection from aerial and other predators? Will the babies escape through the gaps in electric poultry fences? Is there power to offer a heat plate just in case during the transition phase?
- Flock dynamics —Will older birds attack the youngsters?
- Whether the chicken keeper is on hand to monitor and bring them in if the weather turns or the chicks show signs of being too cold/tired
Far better to err on the side of providing heat a little too long than to withdraw it too soon.
Once nighttime temperatures are consistently warm, your chicks are fully feathered and you notice all of them choosing to spend the night on top of the brooder, or beside it, instead of underneath … you can be fairly confident the time is right to transition your chicks from the brooder to the grower pen or to begin integrating them with the main flock.
Can Baby Chicks Go Outside To Play?
In mild weather, chicks can spend increasing amounts of time outside during the day as they get older.
Chicks as young as a few days can venture outside for a short spell, maybe half an hour depending on conditions and under close observation.
Provide a heat plate on a long outdoor extension cord and this time lengthens.
Chicks cheeping loudly, rather than chattering contentedly are likely to be cold.
Clustering together or standing motionless and closing their eyes are other signs chicks need to be returned to the heat plate in the brooder.
Wind breaks, such as a simple piece of tin or the side cut from a cardboard box is essential, but beware chickens may peck at and eat cardboard.
An upside-down box with a hole cut out of one or two sides as a door will give the chicks a way to get out of the wind and to generate some body heat.
Make sure food and fresh water that cannot be knocked over is always available.
Position the enclosure so the chicks can choose whether to be in sun or shade.
Heat Plate Vs. Heat Lamp For Baby Chicks
The traditional way of heating a brooder box is to use a red heat lamp.
The red light was said to conceal any red skin or blood, protecting against feather pecking.
However, the best available option is now a heat plate that can be raised or lowered depending on the age of the chicks.
Heat plates are superior to heat lamps in several ways, because they:
- Use less power
- Pose lower fire risk when close to chicken bedding materials like pine shavings, hemp fiber, rice hulls
- Don’t emit light, so allow more natural brooder conditions and don’t interfere with sleep cycles
- Only warm the immediate area under the plate, avoiding an overheated brooder box
- Are easier (Simply raise the plate as the chicks get bigger, no need to calculate how many degrees to raise the temperature by each week)
- More closely simulate the mother hen by providing a place to hide and feel safe in addition to warmth (Studies show chicks raised with brooder plates are less fearful than those under lights)
A heat lamp may cost more, but is arguably worth the investment.
By far the easiest way to raise baby chicks is to have a broody hen do it for you.
A broody hen is the perfect heat source, mobile and calibrated perfectly to a chick’s needs and educates and socializes baby chicks in all sorts of ways brooder-raised chicks miss out on.
Note that feather dusters should never be used in brooder boxes as they can entangle and strangle baby chicks.
Failure To Thrive In Baby Chicks
Some baby chicks don’t grow and develop at the same rate as their hatch mates.
They may appear small, stunted or fail to feather up.
Their behavior may be lethargic or withdrawn compared to the other chicks, or they may display less balance, agility and appetite.
This overall lack of health and vigor is known as a “failure to thrive” and is different to other common chick ailments such as:
- Pasty butt
- Coccidiosis
- Inability to poop
A chick that’s failing to thrive may have simply arrived unthrifty, or it may have seemed okay initially but then grew weak.
It may not be coping well with the conditions or it could even be suffering the effects of genetic disorders including lethal genes.
With special care and attention, it’s possible to prop up a chick that’s failing to thrive, but these birds should, without exception, be culled from breeding programs.
Culling needn’t mean putting a baby chick to sleep, although depending on severity this may be the only option.
These birds may catch up with some coddling and go on to find homes as pets —but they shouldn’t be allowed to pass on their genes.
Breeding from weak birds will only lead to more weak birds.
Can Baby Chicks Drown In Water Bowls?
As improbably as it might sound, baby chicks have drowned in water dishes.
Chicks straight out of the egg sometimes have trouble righting themselves when they fall on their backs and can be clumsy.
That clumsiness combined with curiosity can get them into trouble.
To avoid the risk of drowning, provide very shallow water dishes for newly hatched chicks e.g. the lid of a jar —although beware they will need constant refilling.
Alternatively you can use a waterer but fill the dish with stones so that the chicks can drink water around the rocks, but don’t have enough water to pose any danger.
Baby Chick Caught In Cage?
Another hidden threat to baby chicks is the brooder box or cage itself.
Baby chicks can easily get themselves stuck in the unlikeliest of places, especially once they start to explore, hopping up on things and discovering they have wings.
Chicks can get themselves stuck and hanging upside down, a position that can cause respiratory and circulatory distress and suffocation in chickens.
Chickens and baby chicks should never be held upside down by their feet or placed on their backs.
A foot stuck between the bars of a cage may lose circulation and begin to die.
If the chick is stuck for long enough, it may end up losing the foot.
Chicks can and do survive with one foot, but the impaired mobility can make them a target and interfere with their ability to evade predators, including hens that can mercilessly peck weak flock members to the point of drawing blood and causing injury serious enough to require culling.
Check your baby chicks regularly (a brooder cam is a great idea!) and do your best to set up a safe brooder box with no nooks and crannies to snag unsuspecting hatchlings.
Butt Pecking In Baby Chicks
Baby chicks that get bored or are subjected to overcrowding may start to exhibit problematic behaviors including some dangerous ones, like butt pecking.
Chicks are curious and will peck at EVERYTHING.
It’s how they discover their environment and find food.
However, a bored or frustrated chick is at risk of turning this attention on its hatch mates.
Butt pecking can result in chicks disemboweling each other as once blood is drawn, the whole clutch will join in and a frenzy can follow.
It’s essential to get chicks out of the brooder on the grass where they can peck and scratch freely as soon as possible, and as often as possible.
Baby chicks that are happy and constructively occupied won’t engage in butt pecking behavior.
How Soon Can Baby Chicks Eat Greens?
Baby chicks can eat greens including grass and herbs (as well as bugs and raw meat like liver) within a few days of hatch, as long as they have access to grit to furnish their gizzards with the tiny pebbles they need to digest the food.
If chicks are spending time outside on the ground they will be picking up the grit they need in the dirt.
An alternate way to provide grit to baby chicks is by putting a dish of local dirt in their brooder box.
This also serves the purpose of exposing the chicks to the local soil microbiology, crucial to developing resistance to any pathogens.
Note that insoluble grit used in digestion is different from soluble grit in the form of oyster shell, which provides calcium to laying hens.
Does It Matter If Baby Chicks Eat Bedding?
Baby chicks will eat pretty much anything, including non food items.
It’s best to cover the floor of the brooder with paper towel (something with ridges for grip) or rubber drawer liner cut to size for the first few days after hatching, to give the chicks time to learn what is food.
This lessens the chances they’ll eat large amounts of bedding when you add it later on.
Bedding like rice hulls or hemp fiber might pose less of a problem when consumed than pine shavings which are a popular bedding choice despite evidence pine shavings can be toxic to chickens.
When Do Baby Chicks Sleep?
Baby chicks — like all chickens — sleep from sunset to sunrise, barring any noise or light disturbances.
Chicks will also nap during the day, especially if they find a warm patch of sun.
You may see a chick falling asleep standing up from time to time, as tiredness overcomes them.
In nature, youngsters retreat under their mother to snooze, but in the brooder the heat plate provides this warmth and feeling of safety.
Can Baby Chicks Eat Egg Yolk?
Egg yolk is a rich source of nutrients, suitable for baby chicks from hatch onwards and throughout a chicken’s life.
Raw eggs are a great pick-me-up for a listless or weak chick (or chicken) and most chicks love raw egg.
In an emergency, egg yolk would perhaps be the best and safest substitute if you ran out of chick starter.
See also: Is mash or crumbles better for baby chicks?
How Often Should You Clean A Brooder Box?
Brooders should be kept clean, without being too clean.
Even if a sterile environment were possible, it’s actually counterproductive.
Low level, incremental exposure to pathogens including chicken droppings is essential for building baby chicks’ immunity and resistance to disease.
Exactly how often you need to clean the brooder will depend on what type of bedding you use as well as chick density i.e. how many chicks you have inhabiting how much space.
Rice hulls are fantastic as they wick away moisture.
Hemp fiber is another great option due to its high absorbency and it’s usually less dusty than rice hulls.
Some commonsense rules apply:
- Bedding should be replaced if it gets wet e.g. a spilled water dish
- Manure should not be allowed to accumulate
- The brooder box should never smell bad, musty or moldy
Hanging nipple drinkers are the best way to provide water in chick brooders as they can’t be spilled and keep bedding as dry as possible.
The importance of keeping chicks entertained in the brooder cannot be overstated.
Boredom can lead to bullying, resulting in injuries — or worse.
There are plenty of cheap and easy ways to provide engaging activities for chicks in the brooder.
Is It Safe To Keep Baby Chicks In The House?
It’s not advisable from a human health perspective to keep baby chicks in the house.
To keep baby chicks is to realize the sheer amount of mess they make.
The risk to human health is from inhaling things like:
- Chick dander
- Dust from bedding
- Airborne particles from chicken manure
Brooders are perhaps best kept in protected outdoor areas so they can be close to people without turning the human living quarters into a chicken coop.
A well-used, well-ventilated shed or barn can be perfect if people are about during the day but it’s quiet and dark at night.
Make sure the location you choose is warm enough for heat plates to function effectively.
Conclusion
Baby chicks are a commitment and can involve a surprising amount of work and attention until they’re old enough to join the rest of the flock.
Perhaps the easiest mistake to make with baby chicks is to take them off heat too soon or to hold them back in the brooder too long, resulting in boredom and overcrowding-induced problems like butt pecking.
With a little know-how and preparation, though, incubating your own eggs and raising baby chicks can be a thoroughly rewarding (and addictive!) experience.
References
Gunnarsson, S., Yngvesson, J., Keeling, L., and Forkman, B., “Rearing without early access to perches impairs the spatial skills of laying hens.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science, v. 67, 2000, p. 217-228
Riber AB, Guzman DA. Effects of Dark Brooders on Behavior and Fearfulness in Layers. Animals (Basel). 2016 Jan 7;6(1):3
