How to Raise Baby Chicks
Make a chicken scratch in your itch for pets. You can raise your own baby chicks at home with the proper equipment and care.
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You Will Need
- Hatchery
- Brooder
- Bedding
- Waterer
- Feeder
- Heat lamp
- Feed
- Chicken coop
Steps
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Step 1
Get your chicks
Order your chicks from a hatchery, where they may have been hatched from an incubator. There are many hatcheries online and shipping usually takes place between February and September.
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Step 2
Get a brooder
Make or buy a brooder -- a container where the chicks live and keep warm. A brooder can be as simple as a modified washtub or cardboard box or more elaborate.
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Step 3
Put bedding in the brooder
Scatter cedar shavings over the bottom of your brooder for bedding. A chick's bedding needs to be changed three or four times a week, or more often if it gets damp.
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Step 4
Add a waterer and feeder
Put a waterer and feeder at one end of the brooder. Waterers and feeders can be ordered from the hatchery where you ordered your chicks and are relatively inexpensive.
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Step 5
Install a heat lamp
Install a heat lamp over your brooder. The brooder should be kept at a temperature of 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week. Decrease the temperature by five degrees a week until the chicks have all of their feathers in 5 to 8 weeks.
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Allow the chicks space to move away from the heat in case they get too warm. If they are too cold, they will huddle under the lamp.
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Step 6
Buy food
Buy chick starter feed at feed stores or online. You can purchase non-medicated feed or medicated feed that helps prevent parasite infections.
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Step 7
Watch them grow
Watch your chicks grow. After 4 to 6 weeks, you can transfer your poultry pets to an adult chicken coop for their permanent home.
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The chicken can run at a speed of 9 miles per hour.
