Raising Chickens

There are two types of chicks to raise: the ones you practically took care of from the moment they were hatched and the ones that you bought from hatcheries which are already taken care of and just needs further nourishing. Basing from the two choices, there are also two ways of properly raising the chicks before becoming the perfect chickens.

Chicks hatched from your own poultry’s eggs basically need 4 things: comfort, warmth, food and water. Comfort can be based from your own personal touch and how you hold the chicks. Warmth is taken from the mother or if you plan to separate the chicks on an early stage, an incubator or what others call as a heat lamp is essential. Usually the incubator is composed of two or three light bulbs depending on the number of chicks that have hatched.

The very first thing to do is fix the place where you will put your hatchlings – the brooder. It must have a temperature that is neither too cold nor too hot. Either of the two extremes will contribute severe negative conditions to the chicks. Your incubator must have a temperature that’s 90-95 degrees. If you have settled with the 95-degree heat, maintain it until the end of the first week. Your temperature must decrease every week by 5 degrees until you reach the 6th week.

The floor of your chick’s pad must be made of cardboard or piles of old newspapers. This can be used as an insulator for keeping the temperature in the room in proper condition.

Have the drinking station of your chicks always cleaned. Aside from that, the proper way of refreshing your chicks is to give them boiled water. Something as little as these creatures are too vulnerable to germs. Their baby immune systems aren’t that mature to fight away bacteria and harmful microorganisms that may invade their body. Better safe than sorry. Grain coffee is also an alternative but will cost you. You have to make sure that what you give them is not that hot to handle.

To serve their drink, pour the contents in a jug, turn it upside down standing on a dish. The leak coming from the inverted jug is sufficient enough to accommodate their need for nourishment.

Chicks are a little particular with their food. They don’t eat anything “old”. They want their food dripping with freshness. Initially, you could give them milled oats. You could include bits of boiled eggs into the milled oats. If you think giving them that is a bit too mushy, you are welcome to go to feed stores for poultry raising. Some who are fond of feeding anything to their chicks have this intuition to feed them bread. Which is totally wrong. Because feeding them bread is a sin. This can kill them.

You could also include lettuce cuts into the diet. Squeamish or not, you have to provide their favorite menu – bugs and grubs. They eat these little wiggly things and gobble them up so fast.

Just don’t make any mistake of giving these to newly hatched chicks.

You have to be very particular of the space that you have provided for the young ones. Cramping must be avoided. This might result to trampling and worse, cannibalism. Chicks grow quickly. That’s why you have to ensure that their room is big enough for their proper accommodation.

Do replace the cardboard or the newspaper placed under their pad every time you notice it’s soiled. Even you wouldn’t like the idea of sleeping in your own feces.

Being a starter in the world of raising chickens, one of the important thing you should consider and is also necessary is the fact that you can protect your raised chickens without even being on a shot-gun watch for 24 hours every waking day; that is why you have to build a pen that will last for a very long period of time. Before building, planning and gathering is the very first step.

Location is the first thing to consider. Do you live in a rural or in an urban area? Your answer will depend on the chickens you can keep. Usually in rural communities, the number of livestock you want can be unlimited but when in urban settings, raising chickens can have restrictions regarding its number. Or sometimes, they are totally banned.

Another thing is the kind of chicken that you are planning to raise. If they weigh heavier, this will be an advantage because this kind of status will make it more difficult for them to fly away. A simple wire and post design pen can be used. But in most instances chickens are more prone to flying away. Especially if they are not used to the place, a fence with a higher walls or wires is more appropriate.

The place where you construct your pen must be safe and sturdy enough to withstand any predator’s mark. It should be constructed in a way that your poultry are not easily snatched not only by scavengers but also by people who are pretty much interested in chicken stew. They must be protected and locked-in, especially at night.

What is a post and wire type of pen? It is by far the simplest kind of design wherein materials like posts, strong wires, fence staples are used. The tools needed to help you complete the job are the ordinary hammer, wire cutters, crowbar and sledgehammer. Gathering these materials are the very first thing you have to do upon planning.

Fence post can’t be bought one at a time but in bundles. If you became worried that the excess lumbers will go to waste once the fence is finished, worry no more. This is because fence posts can be used in incredible purposes like supporting beams for sheds. Chicken wire is usually used. But for safety purposes a stucco wire is stronger and is more recommended for holding building sides.

There are really no actual fence staples, that is why the local staples used for wiring can be used as an alternative. Skimping the staples should not be stressed. You need a lot while construction is ongoing and also additional supplies in cases of emergencies.

The sledgehammer is used to pound the post into the soil. Weight is the first thing that you have to take note of when choosing a sledgehammer. Make sure that it is not too heavy that you can’t lift it up and not too light that you will need to exert all your efforts just to pound your post.

The crowbar is used for digging a hole where the pole will be placed. Lastly, the regular hammer will be useful for those hardheaded staple wires to dig in the posts.

Now that all materials are properly intact, you can plan on the actual building of the pen.