Which treats can baby chicks eat?

Every year when we raise chicks I start to feel bad for them. It must be boring eating the same feed every single day! Unfortunately for them, chick feed is formulated to be nutritionally complete. So they don't need anything else. 

I still like to give them occasional treat and lots of special attention. When feeding chicks treats though, you need to be careful that you give them healthy snacks most of the time.

Oh, and grit.

While chickens love treats like bread, it's really not that good for them. If you think about it, white bread isn't all that good for us either which brings me to the first rule of chick treats: If it's not good for you, it's not good for them. 

Just like when feeding adult chickens treats, things that shouldn't be given to chicks include alcohol, caffeine, lots of salt and spoiled foods.

How to raise chicks (for beginners)

You've decided to raise chickens and like lots of chicken keepers you want to start with chicks instead of already grown hens and roosters. It's more fun after all! Learning how to raise chicks comes with a little bit of a learning curve though.

Baby chicks need special food, a waterer they won't drown in, a heat source and a special home till they are big enough to move out to the chicken coop. Don't worry...it's actually easier than it sounds.

There are many reasons why you might decide to raise chicks. Many people want to raise hens for eggs or want their children to learn where food comes from.

Also kids can learn a lot from the responsibility of caring for chickens without having a pet inside the house. 

Starting with chicks is a cute way to do this, though they usually do end up in the house till they get bigger.

Treating pasty butt in chicks

It's late in the season but one of my perma-broody Silkies just hatched another set of chicks. Unfortunately one of the chicks has pasty butt but I realized I've never talked about how I treat pasty butt in chicks, so lets get to it!

It's actually super simple and usually only requires a few minutes of effort. Even though it doesn't look like much, pasty butt can kill a chick rather quickly.

What is pasty butt in chickens?

Pasty butt is when poop sticks to a chicks normally fluffy bum area. It starts with one little bit of runny poop sticking to the butt feathers after they poop. Sometimes that's the end of it and that little bit dries up and flakes off. 

Often though, the poop will build up till their vent is basically 'pasted' shut. When that happens the chick cannot poop at all. Not being able to poop can be deadly because the poop inside their little system builds up and the toxins kill them.

It mostly happens to very young chicks, usually less than 2 weeks old. Though it can happen in older chicks, it's not common.

Luckily treatment is as easy as clean the butt, oil it up so more poop can't stick and fix the issue that caused the problem in the first place. Sounds easy right? Let's get started.

Buying chicks. Where should you get them?

It's almost chick time! Are you excited? I certainly am. Have you decided if you're hatching or buying your chicks this year? If you're buying: where are you buying chicks from? Do you prefer the feed store, a private breeder or some other option? There are 5 different places you can buy chicks, though they all have pros and cons. 

If you chose to go with a more personal option like breeders and local farmers, then you'll also have the chance to learn more about the breed and your particular chicks. However if you go with one of the large hatcheries, you'll get to pick from a larger number of breeds. Plus there's the expense to consider as some options are cheaper than others.

So, how do you decide? 

Caring for a chicken with cross beak

Unfortunately I had a chick with cross beak hatch a few weeks ago. This has happened a few times over the years, but this is actually the first time I've ever seen it in a guinea! Cross beak is when the bottom and top beaks do not align properly. This can cause problems for the chick but with proper care and attention she may still be able to live a long and happy life.

Cross beak, also known as scissor beak, is a lateral beak deviation. Meaning the bottom beak deviates to the side and the top beak remains in it's correct position. Or vice versa, actually.

It could happen either way, though in my experience the top beak is generally the one in the correct position.

According to Poultry DVM Beak deformities occur somewhat commonly in chickens, and can be congenital or acquired. They can be caused by a number of different factors, including poor diet, genetics, trauma/injury, disease/parasites, tumor growth, and inappropriate incubation technique.

Scissor beak can vary in it's severity with the mildest cases being barely noticeable. Moderate cases can be managed with proper feeding and trimming of the beak to help it align more closely. Severe cases can require hand feeding and many chicken owners chose to cull in these situations.

Broody hens, how to care for them

Broody hens are the easiest way to add new chicks to your flock. A good broody will take care of the chick rearing and all you really have to do is provide food and water. That makes it so much easier than caring for a brooder full of chicks! 

A broody hen does require a little bit of care though. She'll need a safe place to sit on her eggs for 21 days, food and water. After her chicks hatch she'll need a safe place to raise them.

She will take care of integrating the new chicks into the flock when the time comes. I've found that chicks raised by a broody hen are slightly less friendly with humans than those raised in a brooder.

The fact that it's so much easier to just let a broody hen do all the work though, makes it worth the little extra coaxing it takes to get the chicks to be friendly when they're older!

Treating coccidiosis in chicks

Coccidiosis is one of those diseases that strikes fear into the heart of even the most experienced chicken keeper. When contracted by chicks, coccidiosis can wipe out a whole brooder full in just a few days. Coccidiosis moves quickly and is deadly. Luckily, it's also easy to prevent and treat.

Coccidiosis medication is readily available and is water soluble, so it's simple to treat the whole flock at once. (which is absolutely necessary!)

Treating coccidiosis in chicks is as simple as adding the medication to their drinking water for a few days and keeping their brooder clean.

Before we get to the treatment of coccidiosis though, let's talk about what it is and what the symptoms are.

Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease of the intestinal tract of animals caused by coccidian protozoa. The disease spreads from one animal to another by contact with infected feces or ingestion of infected tissue. Site.

How to incubate eggs and hatch chicks

It's suddenly occurred to me that though I write about raising chicks all the time, I've never actually written about hatching chicken eggs. I've been hatching my own chicks for about 8 years now and I've used everything from homemade incubators to cabinet incubators that hold almost 400 eggs. That's a lot of chicks! 

Since hatching season is rapidly approaching, I think now is the time to talk about incubating eggs and hatching chicks. First, decide if you should hatch chicks instead of buying them already hatched. Most people choose to incubate eggs that they purchased from a breeder to add a new breed to their flock. 

You can buy hatching eggs from a flock clear across the country and have them shipped to you. That's how I get most of my chickens, especially the fancy breeds. Others just like to expand their flock by hatching eggs from their own chickens.

Obviously the easiest way to hatch chicks would be to just let a broody handle the egg hatching. That way you don't have to worry about temperature, humidity and all that jazz. This is easiest if you want to hatch chicks from your own flock. If you don't have a broody though you'll need to use an incubator and that's where it gets a little more complicated.

Related reading: Which incubator should you buy?

How to add new chickens to the flock (without drama!)

Adding new chickens into an established flock can be quite frustrating. The pecking order is very real and even the slightest upset can turn normally sweet tempered hens into cranky brats! It would be great if we could just drop new chickens into the flock and they would all get along, but it seldom works that well.

The easiest way is to introduce new chickens to the flock is to have one of the hens raise them for you. Mama hen will protect the chicks as they grow and they will naturally integrate into the rest of the flock. There are very few squabbles between chickens this way, but it's not always feasible.

Depending on the breed of chickens it could be fairly easy. Docile breeds like Silkies are usually pretty forgiving when it comes to introducing new chicken in their coop. With most flocks though it's best to integrate new chickens into the flock slowly and keep a close eye on them. Even the sweetest hen can peck a chick to death if she sees it as a threat.

You've decided to raise guinea fowl and like most people, you've decided to get started with guinea keets rather then adult guineas. (smart move!) Guinea keets are about the cutest little things you will ever see. They have bright orange beaks and legs and scurry around like crazy little bugs! 

Luckily raising guinea fowl keets is almost the same as raising chicks so if you've raised chicks before, keets will be just as easy.

How to raise guinea fowl keets

The brooder set up that you'll need for guineas is the same as it is for chicks. You can see my recommendations here in Brooder Basics. I like to raise guinea keets in their own brooder separate from regular chicks. 

keets are so small, they can easily be trampled or squashed by bigger chicks. The only illnesses I have seen in guinea keets is spraddle leg and pasty butt so they are pretty hardy for as small as they are.

6 common chick illnesses

Chick season is upon us and just about everyone I know has hatched or bought new chicks for their flocks! By now your baby chicks are running around their brooder happily doing their cute little chick things.

Whether you decide to buy or hatch your chicks, nothing can make the fun come to a halt faster than a sick chick can.

I have spent more than my fair share of time worrying about the little feather balls, so I know how worried you must be! 

It can be pretty upsetting when you don't know what's wrong with your chick. Luckily there aren't too many illnesses chicks can get so it's usually pretty easy to figure out what's wrong with your chick.

First of all relax, most chick issues are not your fault! Many are caused by genetics or nutritional deficiencies in the breeding stock.

The first thing you need to do when you notice a sick chick is to make sure they have everything they need in their brooder. You'll want to make sure chicks are not too hot or too cold. 

If your chicks are a week old the brooder temperature should be around 95° at chick level, right under their heat source. You'll want to decrease this temperature by 5° a week as they grow. 

Make sure their water is clean and not contaminated with food, bedding or chick poo. Make sure the food is dry and free from chick droppings also. If all that is ok, now we can move on to diagnosing an illness.

Getting new chicks: should you hatch or buy?

If you're anything like me you get chick fever every year! It seems like every time I turn around, there are cute baby chicks right in front of me. I see them hopping around in tubs in feed stores, pictures on Facebook, chick sale emails coming directly to my phone...it's constant! 

Chick days, chick sales, chick events and chicken swaps. No matter how much I tell myself I'm not getting any more eventually I wear down and get a few. Is buying chicks really the way to go though? Or should I be hatching them?

Should you buy or hatch chicks?

There are several really good reasons why you should hatch your own chicks. There are also several really good reasons why you should buy chicks already hatched. If they're going to be your first chicks then I would buy them already hatched just to skip the incubation learning curve the first time around (wish somebody would have told me that years ago!) 

If you're adding to your flock it may be easier to get fertile eggs and let a broody hatch them for you. That way you can skip the brooder hassle. Let's look at the different reasons you might want to buy vs hatch your own chicks.

What is a grow out pen. Do you need one?

It's the time of year when spring chicks are getting big enough to be outside. They are fully feathered and no longer need heat. It's definitely time to get them out of the brooder! Now the big question is: Where do they go from here? 

Most of us are eager to get them into the coop, but if you already have a full grown established flock in there, it might not be such a good idea.

Full grown chickens could injure or kill the younger, smaller chickens. They could keep them from the feed or water or chase them out of the coop and not let them back in. Anything could happen really. 

It's kinda like letting the grade school kids out to play with the high school class. You'd like for it to work and it usually does, but sometimes it goes bad real fast. So what are your options?

You could put them in the coop but separate them from the adults for awhile. Large dog crates work pretty well for this. Or you could put the chickens in a grow out pen instead. 

A grow out pen is pretty much what the name implies: a fenced in coop and home for the chicks to grow up a bit before they move in with the adults. 

A warning about using zip ties to identify chicks. (GRAPHIC PHOTOS!)

WARNING: There are graphic photos of an injured chicken in this post. If blood or open wounds bother you, please do not continue reading this post. Skip to this post or this post instead....they're funny not images of wounds! 

Many chicken keepers use zip ties to tell chicks apart. Especially if they have different breeds of the same age with similar coloring. It makes sense. The problem is when the zip ties are not removed as the chick grows it can cause serious injury. Such was the case with Peggy. 

Yes, son named her...injured leg, Peg leg...get it? *sigh* anyway... 

Peggy was brought to me with a severe limp. There was no known injury or attack, she just started limping one day so she was brought here to see if I could figure out the problem. Thankfully it was easy to diagnose and treat and 1 month later Peggy is just fine now! Read on to see exactly what happened.

Remember: those graphic pictures are coming up!

Baby poultry names, from chick to squealer

I tend to talk about poultry and related birds a lot. I also talk to other breeders of the same birds and I used to have the tendency to call the babies all chicks. Except for geese and ducks, it just made sense to me. Then I started hearing terms like keet and poult. I decided real quick that I needed to research the baby names of all the different poultry. 

So I set off on a mission to find the correct names for all the domestic poultry babies. I found it interesting that both a turkey and a grouse can be called a poult.....they are so drastically different from each other. 

I had never heard of any baby bird being called a squeaker or a squealer and quite frankly, those made me giggle! I learned a whole lot more, and below is the list I compiled from my research.

The only white baby chick

Did you know that white Guinea keets are the only poultry that the white birds hatch pure white and not yellow? They are not albino, just pure white. Chickens, turkeys and even ducks & geese all hatch yellow.

They keep their snow white feathers as they grow but their face does turn to the 'clown mask' that all Guineas have. 

Just an interesting poultry fact I thought I'd share with you!

~L

What to do about wry neck in chicks and adult chickens

We recently had the issue of wry neck rear its ugly little head in our Silkie coop, multiple times. Wry neck is not terribly uncommon in chicks, in fact it's one of the most common problems chicks can have. It seems that Silkies tend to get wry neck more than other breeds and over the years I have had an isolated instance of it here and there. It more common in chicks but it can also effect adult chickens. 

Wry neck is a condition where the chickens neck is twisted. It's also called crook neck, twisted neck or stargazing. Some time the chick's neck twists up so it looks like their looking at the sky, others are backwards and still others are sideways like the little guy in the picture above.

Brooder Basics, exactly what you need to raise chicks

Its chick time again! Our incubators are full and chicks are selling like mad. We get lots of first time buyers and I have spent countless hours explaining exactly what you need to brood chicks correctly. Setting up a chick brooder is pretty easy and only takes a few items like food, water, heat and an escape proof container.

From heat source to feed, all of the item's you'll need can be bought at any feed store so picking up everything you need should be quite simple!

How do I set up a chick brooder?

What is a brooder: A brooder is any type of escape proof container to house chicks in until they have grown enough to be moved into their chicken coop. It will include a heat source, bedding, food and water.

Brooder box

First you need a container. A big box will do or you can use a plastic Tupperware type container, a feed tub, stock tank, aquarium, a baby pool etc. Anything the chicks can't get out of. If you're brooding ducks you'll probably be better off going with plastic as you'll spend a whole lot more time cleaning up wet litter. 

You can get large boxes from the grocery store or save one next time you get something big in the mail or from the store. I get crate style boxes free from the farm equipment dealer. I've also used large bird cages, or guinea pig cages...even small dog crates. 

Dog crates might need to be lined with cardboard at first until the chicks are too big to fit through the bars. See picture below.

Can dogs and Chickens get along?

Many chicken keepers also have dogs. Those dogs can have various roles from family pet to chicken protector and raccoon chaser. Not all dogs are great companions for chickens though! Training and the dogs natural prey drive need to be taken into consideration when deciding to raise chickens and dogs together.

Having pets and poultry together can be a delicate balance. Many times our pets want much more to do with the livestock then we care to let them. Take Ashley for example. She's interested in the chicks from their very first peep. She's their biggest hatching fan, eagerly watching as they make their way into the world. 

(poor Ashley can't watch now that we have cabinet incubators, though she tries!)

Then it goes downhill quickly...

Should dogs be trusted around poultry?

After hatch she's a naughty little pup trying to catch them. We're not real sure what she would do when she catches one though, since she's never been allowed! The funny thing about her is that while she has a fascination with the peeping eggs, and really wants to play with the chicks.....she could care less about them once they get to be about a month old.

I guess they get too big for her. She has been pecked by a rooster when she got too close to his girls though, so maybe that has something to do with it. Or maybe being a rat terrier they have been bred to chase small things?

Are you my mother?

Silkies are excellent mamas. I once saw them referred to as 'The best mama an egg could ask for'. Isn't that the cutest thing? It's true too. They love to hatch babies. They don't care what time of year, or even what kind of babies. When they go broody they will steal eggs if they have to! You know who make really bad mamas? Guineas. Yup...they're the absolute worst! 

Half the time guinea hens crush the eggs while they're sitting. If the keets do hatch out, mama's short attention span just about guarantees she will lose at least half of them. It's like she just doesn't even hear them peeping their little heads off. Drives me bonkers! I spend all day rushing outside and rounding up her keets for her, then she tries to peck me while I'm giving them back! The nerve!

Actually, there are a lot of breeds that don't do so well at brooding chicks. That's why you need a silkie! This is the story of Zippy the silkie hen who would hatch any egg you gave her and love those babies no matter how they hatched out!