Advice
How to take care of your chickens
I have been asked many times about how to take care of your newly purchased chickens from us.
Also about the chick care, heating and guide temperature, how to wean them off the heat and move them to the coop.
▪︎ I use the below charts as guides, place mobile thermometers + Hygrometers down their floor to check and up on the brooder plate (if you use this instead of a heating lamp).
• Make sure your chicks have either natural daylight (preferably) or if is a darker room over the day, supply a warm light bulb above their feeder and drinker. I supply extra light esp in the winter months (shorter daylight or rainy days) so I light the room from 5 am to 11 am (if it is gonna be a sunny day and my windows are big!) And from 4-5 pm (when the light is dim outside) up till 10-11 pm and this is for chicks under 7 weeks old. So that means 18 to 20 hours of light in a day, otherwise, if they are not active, they will not eat as often and will die.
• Always keep their feeder and drinkers cleaned daily (remember plastic can build bacteria faster!). Virkon tablets are a great disinfectant, but always rinse very well after.
• Always clean the chicks very often, avoid air drafts, moist/humid places to keep them in or mold in the room.
• Always try to use dust-free bedding (WE use in our coops ProBed shavings which is amazing and smells great, never had coriza or any respiratory disease in our flock and we found that keeps mites away. Also for the day old chicks, pet-pads changed daily especially if having many at once. After their 1st week of life we use either ProBed or a big shaving like Bedmax.
• Always keep your chicken feed away from moist, mold, humidity, best in dry, clean plastic bins. Clean the food bin each time the feed is finished, NEVER top up the feed bin or feeders!
• Use high-quality food and COMPLETE FOOD! We use Allen & Page for appropriate stages and ages, it has proven terrific and budget-friendlier than anything else, with birds doing terrific on their feeds!
• Giving treats: try and give them treats after they had their complete meal, preferably in the afternoon and don't fill them up on treats as they will count as imbalanced meals.
• When your chicks have turned 6-7 weeks old, weather-dependent, or when they are better feathered, you can look to move them out. From weeks 5-7 try wean them off artificial heating by doing it a little every week, and keep the warm bulb if the room is dark.
• Adult chickens should have 12-16 hours of natural daylight to be able to feed themselves and 8-12 hours dark for sleeping cycles (season-dependent).
• When you plan to take them out, beforehand check the coming week's forecast.
• Check weekly their breast & legs, if they put on weight consistently or even better use scales and either mark with animal marking spray or rings, keep a diary. If they feel cold they might get skinny, poor, snotty or not put on weight, they can get mites even faster when their immune system is low.
• Offer your Chickens twice a year (roughly) spring and autumn wormers (like Flubenvet, take note that: Flubenvet is NOT an effective treatment for tapeworm or coccidia!). If you suspect parasites internal or external, the best is to consult a veterinary practitioner for diagnosis and treatment.
Key things:
Draft free coop/shelter/box/brooders.
Dry, clean spaces
Fresh water
Feed containers clean without moss/bacteria build or mud (if the drinker/feeder won't look appropriate for yourselves to drink then it won't be for chickens appropriate either!
Quality food
Supplements can help when they change feathers or during winter/wet/cold periods especially to sustain healthy laying.
Plenty of natural light in the day, 8-12 hours of darkness for their sleep cycles for the adults.
In the winter, when it's darker most of the day, you can put up a warm light bulb in their coop (we use solar ones) just to light their feeder and drinker, working between 3 pm to 9 pm. You can find on Amazon it comes with an outdoor solar panel or you can find the more expensive ones with battery for storage and a bigger and more reliable solar panel.
Birds can get poorly quicker in the winter months and their immune system can lower if the day-light is insufficient for them to be active to feed appropriately or too cold and wet, so ensure fresh, dry, dust-free bedding and that they are internal-external parasites free.
I hope we covered as many important facts about chicken care, if you need more support please contact us.
Remember, what you give them, they will give you back!
