Part 2 of raising chickens

Hi, all, here’s the rest of my post on how to raise chickens.

I raise my chicks organically, so I use molasses and apple cider vinegar and garlic in my water to help them stay healthy, fight disease and pasty butt. (that’s where their butts literally “paste” up and they can’t release their wastes and die) It’s given at a rate of 1 tablespoon of molasses and ACV and one clove of garlic to a gallon of water.

When your chicks are going to arrive in the mail, call the post office and let them know where you can be reached that day. They will likely call you and let you know when they are in. Some post offices will put a post card in your mail box, so find out what they will do before the chicks arrive. You want to be available to get them home ASAP so you can get water into them. When they arrive, I put the heat on in my car as hot as it will go, so they don’t get a shock of cold and then hot. Probably not necessary, but I like to feel like it makes a difference.

As soon as you get them home, you must take each one out of the box and dip it’s beak into food and then water (or else the food will stick to their beaks). They have enough food in them for about 3 days because they absorb the yolk, however, it’s imperative that they drink. This is one of the number one ways you’ll lose chicks. Make sure to dip each one’s beak and then watch to make sure they start to drink. (Note: turkeys often have to be shown several times over the course of several days)

You’ll want to get them mash for the first few weeks, which is just grains ground to a fine grind, a little coarser than whole wheat flour. You’ll also need to get them starter grit, but they won’t need it right away. Chickens “chew” their food by grinding it with rocks that they swallow, so your chicks will need you to provide tiny stones for them so they can properly chew their food.

I grind my own grain, and I use Ronda’s chick starter recipe #3. See here for more information. http://www.greenerpasturesfarm.com/ChickStarterRecipe.html. She has a great website. I also give them scrambled eggs, yogurt, and kefir.

After a few weeks, they can begin to eat grit, worms and diced greens.
They can also go outside as long as they have started to “feather out” and it is warm. Think about the temperature they have in their brooder box, it should not be much cooler than that. Provide them a warm place, like a box, for them to get out of any wind, and do not leave them alone out there. I like to garden while they are enjoying their first days outside, so that I can keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t get chilled.

At about 3-4 weeks of age, you’ll notice a fine dust all over your house. At this stage, they are ready to move to a bigger container, perhaps one that is not in your house any longer. This year, we used an extra large wire dog kennel, created a false floor by putting strips of wood across the horizontal wires running along the walls of the kennel, and topping it with a stiff piece of hardware cloth. We also give them perches at this age as they really want to be up as high as they can get. The false floor makes it nice because at this age, they’ll be pooping a lot more and you’ll be getting sick of cleaning. With the false floor, you can just scoop under them and bring it out to the compost bin. I also go up a feeder size and a waterer size at this point.

If you wish, you can also bring them outside into their permanent chicken coop at this age, as long as you are going to give them a source of heat.

Once they are fully feathered out you can bring them outside and let them start to free range. They will learn after about 2-3 nights where they live if you put them away for the first three nights and lock them in. My chickens always go away as night approaches, and I just have to go out and shut their door. They peep at you contentedly and let you know that they appreciate you.

Chickens are so much fun to watch, and you get to learn about their little games and personalities. I never knew until I started keeping chickens how much fun they are to share your life with. For instance, keep away is one of their favorite games, which is where one gets a worm and begins to peep loudly. She’ll run around and the other chickens chase her trying to get the worm from her. The other fun thing we really like is when one hen is laying a particularly large egg, she will cluck, and the others will “cheer her on” by clucking in chorus with her.

Feel free to email me or leave a comment if you have any questions.