Baby chicks begin filling feed stores and arriving in post offices around the country in late February each year, so I have rounded up some tools to help the new chicken keeper with chicken breed selection, chick housing options, feeding questions and trouble-shooting problems common in baby chicks.
If you are new to chickeneering, welcome! If you’re an ol’ pro, you still might find a few tips here that will help you keep your chicks healthier and happier and keep your family safe while doing so. The entire pet chicken experience is immeasurably more enjoyable when knowing what to expect.
Each topic below is a clickable link to its article on my blog.
Things I Wish I Had Known Before Getting Chickens
Some lessons in chicken care are painful and expensive to learn by experience, so in the hope of sparing some growing pains for those about to embark on chicken-keeping, my Facebook fans and I have written a of things we wish we had known before taking the chicken plunge.
Tips for Breed Selection
The enormous array of breeds available to choose from can be daunting, but it’s important to make an informed decision about breeds in order to avoid disappointment for the chicken keeper as well as unnecessary challenges for the chickens.
Buying Chickens to Start a Laying Flock
What You Need to Know About Vaccines,
From Dr. Mike Petrik, The Chicken Vet
Tips for Choosing Healthy Chicks
How Much Heat Do Chicks Really Need?
Baby Chick Care Basics
All chicks need to thrive is a caring chicken-keeper with safe, warm, spacious housing, food and clean water.
The Dangers of Heat Lamps & a Safe Alternative
Of all the advances in baby chick care in the past 10 years, the Brinsea EcoGlow Brooder is the most important since it ensures that families are able to safety care for chicks without the fear of burning the house down.
The Ultimate Brooder Setup (with Video!)
No need to invest in expensive housing for chicks- with a little creativity, you can make a brooder that perfectly accommodates day old chicks with the flexibility for expansion as they grow!
How to Sex Chickens
Even the most reliable sexing methods used by commercial poultry operations have a margin of error and sometimes chicks get mixed up in the bins at the feed store. Always have a plan for roosters if you cannot keep them and learn how to distinguish males from females as early as possible.
What to Feed Chicks
Chickens at different stages of development require different feed formulations. This article explains what they need at different ages and stages of development.
Treats: How Soon, How Much, Which Ones?
The wrong treats and treats in excess can be harmful to a chick’s health, stunt growth and shorten their lifespan. So, we should be aware of what can they eat, what should they not eat and how much is too much.
5 Common Problems in Chicks with Solutions!
The five most common problems in baby chicks are all easily treated!
Picking, Causes, Prevention & Solutions
Picking can run rampant in a brooder, resulting in serious injuries and death, so it’s critical to control the factors that cause picking and address injuries urgently.
When Baby Chicks Need a Pedicure: Manure Balls
When to Move Chicks From Brooder to Coop
How to Reform a Broder Bully
Chicken First Aid Kit & Emergency Housing
Kathy Shea Mormino
Affectionately known internationally as The Chicken Chick®, Kathy Shea Mormino shares a fun-loving, informative style to raising backyard chickens. …Read on
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Baby chicks begin filling feed stores and arriving in post offices around the country in late February each year, so I have rounded up some tools to help the new chicken keeper with chicken breed selection, chick housing options, feeding questions and trouble-shooting problems common in baby chicks.
If you are new to chickeneering, welcome! If you’re an ol’ pro, you still might find a few tips here that will help you keep your chicks healthier and happier and keep your family safe while doing so. The entire pet chicken experience is immeasurably more enjoyable when knowing what to expect.
Each topic below is a clickable link to its article on my blog.
Things I Wish I Had Known Before Getting Chickens
Some lessons in chicken care are painful and expensive to learn by experience, so in the hope of sparing some growing pains for those about to embark on chicken-keeping, my Facebook fans and I have written a of things we wish we had known before taking the chicken plunge.
Tips for Breed Selection
The enormous array of breeds available to choose from can be daunting, but it’s important to make an informed decision about breeds in order to avoid disappointment for the chicken keeper as well as unnecessary challenges for the chickens.
Buying Chickens to Start a Laying Flock
What You Need to Know About Vaccines,
From Dr. Mike Petrik, The Chicken Vet
Tips for Choosing Healthy Chicks
How Much Heat Do Chicks Really Need?
Baby Chick Care Basics
All chicks need to thrive is a caring chicken-keeper with safe, warm, spacious housing, food and clean water.
The Dangers of Heat Lamps & a Safe Alternative
Of all the advances in baby chick care in the past 10 years, the Brinsea EcoGlow Brooder is the most important since it ensures that families are able to safety care for chicks without the fear of burning the house down.
The Ultimate Brooder Setup (with Video!)
No need to invest in expensive housing for chicks- with a little creativity, you can make a brooder that perfectly accommodates day old chicks with the flexibility for expansion as they grow!
How to Sex Chickens
Even the most reliable sexing methods used by commercial poultry operations have a margin of error and sometimes chicks get mixed up in the bins at the feed store. Always have a plan for roosters if you cannot keep them and learn how to distinguish males from females as early as possible.
What to Feed Chicks
Chickens at different stages of development require different feed formulations. This article explains what they need at different ages and stages of development.
Treats: How Soon, How Much, Which Ones?
The wrong treats and treats in excess can be harmful to a chick’s health, stunt growth and shorten their lifespan. So, we should be aware of what can they eat, what should they not eat and how much is too much.
5 Common Problems in Chicks with Solutions!
The five most common problems in baby chicks are all easily treated!
Picking, Causes, Prevention & Solutions
Picking can run rampant in a brooder, resulting in serious injuries and death, so it’s critical to control the factors that cause picking and address injuries urgently.
When Baby Chicks Need a Pedicure: Manure Balls
When to Move Chicks From Brooder to Coop
How to Reform a Broder Bully
Chicken First Aid Kit & Emergency Housing
Hello I just watched your video on using the pet playpen for raising chicks, that is a great idea. I see Amazon has different sizes and we plan to get 8 bantams so I was wondering if we need one the next size up from the one you had on your video. Also do you keep them in there until they are ready to be introduced into the ladies coop & run in their own coop &run in the big run at about 6 weeks?
I always suggest getting the biggest you can. There’s no such thing as too much space for chickens to live in. This should help with the second question: https://the-chicken-chick.com/when-to-move-chicks-from-brooder-to/
I have 4 hens that are broody and they all are sitting on eggs..however I have a 2 week old chick that hatched out from the incubator..is there a way that I can put it under one of those 4 hens WITHOUT them pecking on it? Hope to hear from you soon .
No, ma’am.
We just had our first hatchling and I’m not sure what’s best – leave chick with momma (and if so how to do so) or separate and care for chicks as you do when hatched from an incubator?
This article covers that topic: https://the-chicken-chick.com/caring-for-broody-hens-facilitating-egg/
Hi,I really appreciate your inputs on my situation Dr happy and what could I do with-out you. Thank you in advance.I was in a relationship with this guy for the past 1 and a half year.. We became close real fast and were very serious about each other… he’s German and was in the country for her internship.. he left after first 6 months and came back after a couple of months.. he said that he had come down for me.. WE started living – in.. We discussed faMILY, KIDS, future, moving to EU together.. everything was going good until… Read more »
Please HELP!! Everything I know I’ve learned from you and my Ladies are one and a half years old – WERE doing just fine. One of them, Raven my ameraucana, is looking quite raggedy, perhaps because they are all shedding a bit. But she hasn’t laid an egg in over a week now!! I’ve checked her vent and nothing seems amiss, but we so miss her daily egg!! My Ladies have free roam of the back yard, and I’ve peeked under bushes to find nothing. She’s always used the laying boxes prior to the past week!! What do I look… Read more »