Green Daily

One of my biggest interests, and one of the biggest topics I bring to the table at GreenDaily is a way to live a more sustainable life through raising your own food free of hormones and chemicals. This includes vegetables and animals, but mainly chickens. This series is an on-going introduction to the wonderful world of raising chickens in a non-rural environment.

Once your new baby chicks arrive, either by mail or purchased from a local hatchery, it is very important to get them to a proper heat source as quickly as possible. They can survive for a day or two huddled together within their own body heat in a small box, but since they have no feathers yet, a true source of heat is crucial very soon.

This small container and source of heat is often called a brooder, which replicates the warmth naturally given by the mother. A brooder can be fashioned quite easily from a medium-to-large-sized box that is tall enough to prevent any drafts at all. You then clamp a heat lamp on one side of box, pointed directly down towards the bottom of the box. This heat lamp should be a 250-watt lamp (the red kind) placed about 18-24 inches above the ground. Place a small thermometer in the heat lamp's hottest spot to keep an eye on the temperature constantly, this is very important. Make sure you get a thermometer than can't be knocked over or obscured by droppings. I speak from experience.

The reason you will place the heat lamp only on one side of the box is so that the chicks can self-regulate their desired temperature. If they become too hot, they will go to the other side of the box. If they're too cold, they will huddle together under the lamp and surely let you know about it, as loudly as they can! This is also important to note: their behavior dictates their comfort level, and they're smart enough to let you know when things aren't right. For this reason, it's okay to have a box that is larger than needed, so they have room to adjust themselves.

This brooder set-up should be established and warmed to the proper temperature before the chicks even arrive, to help them adapt more easily. Start out at 95° F and lower that temperature by 5° F every week until they've established their feathers.

The flooring of the brooder is very important as well. You want to make sure it is not slippery, and can be easily cleaned several times a day. Paper towels work the best for this. I once tried a more sustainable option with a cloth towel, but the fabric gets incredibly caked with wet feed and droppings, that it is not safe to wash with other clothing and generally uses more water than it's worth. Using saw dust or pine bedding is recommended by many people, but be aware that in my experiences it can still become slippery on cardboard, and the chicks may mistake it for feed.

In the next installment of this series, I will talk about nourishment for your new chicks, and the constant battle of keeping the food dry and the water clean!