Clean, Dry And Warm Brooder

Big Clean-up Day for Brooder

Wow, little chicks make a big mess...big!!!!! They not only poop a lot but they constantly spill and splash their water everywhere. You will need to do daily cleaning of the brooder such as changing bedding and cleaning any obvious gunk (and chicks produce a lot of gunk).  And then there is the big weekly cleanup of the brooder! This will have to happen weekly till they move permanently to their coop and run (and cleaning the coop is a whole different learning experience)!

We moved chicks into large cardboard box, temporarily, for the brooder cleaning. The box or whatever you choose to put them in, while cleaning the brooder, should be up to the same temp as the brooder before they go in. It's important to maintain the correct temp for the chicks while they are in another temporary area. Sudden change in temp for chicks is another big stressor for them!

Fun for chicks...?

New stuff to peck at!

The Plastic bin brooder is scrubbed very well using a lot of water and a little vinegar or baking soda. Do not use anything toxic to clean ...even if you think you will have no problem rinsing it all out. At this age the chicks are just to susceptible too everything.

The feed and water containers will need to be cleaned and refilled several times a day for the first few weeks. As they get older you will move to bigger containers for food and water and they will need to be still need to be cleaned and refilled daily but the number of times will depend on the chicks themselves, how much food and water they go through and how much 'fun' they have playing in it!

Thoroughly clean the thermometer and any little toys they might already have (I can't stress cleanliness enough)!  Dry everything well with a towel.  If the sun is out and you have time set it all outside. Leave it for as long as you can...sun is a great antibacterial agent.

From chicks to grown up chickens cleanliness of their living area can't be stressed enough!

Liz-

Delivery By U.S. Postal Service !

The chicks are here! The Overnight Mail Carrier delivered our one-day-old chicks on his first stop this morning (I'm still in awe of this even being possible)! They came in a standard shipping box with a lot of air holes and 'Live Animals' stamped all over. I opened the box part and inside was a sweet little nest made of excelsior, a small heating pad and six healthy, noisy, but confused looking chicks.

Six Sweet Chicks

I had the brooder ready for them - clean, dry and warm- so in they went! For the first week the temp is kept at 95 degrees.  Warmth for the chicks is extremely important The temp should drop only 5 degrees each week till at 75 degrees with no sudden extreme temp changes.

The water container, I realized, was more suited a a flock of six or eight grown chicks  -way to big for these babies. I replaced it with a smaller bowl of water and some small stones in it to keep them from falling in and drowning (I'm saving the larger water container for their teenage period).

Queen Of The Water And Rocks

I know that sometimes newly hatched chicks have to have their beaks dunked in water to learn to drink but they found the water and all drank without having to be taught. Same thing with the food! No eating or drinking issues! Yay! I also did a beak-to-butt check on each one to make sure there were no obvious problems. I did find something on the Polish Crested but had no idea what it was and it really didn't look life threatening...but needs to be watched.

Their first day was chaotic for them and me. They spent hours running non-stop in circles, checking everything out. I know that hatching is exhausting for a chick  and they would sleep a lot. Not these...  though they did take a lot of quick, short, stand up naps. I did wonder, since they weren't slowing down, if there might really be something wrong so I check in with some other chick friends and they assured me the six-ring-circus was absolutely normal!  The fact that they had no physical issues that kept them from bouncing off the walls I took as another good sign. Yay!

I'm keeping them and their brooder dry, clean and at 95 degrees. I also need to keep an eye on the strange spot on the Polish Crested.

Liz-