Avoiding Chickastrophes
Raising chicks has many perils, but knowing what some of these issues are can keep you from losing an entire flock of young birds.
Raising chicks has many perils, but knowing what some of these are can keep you from losing an entire flock of young birds.
the local farm-supply store has hundreds of week-old chicks living carefree lives in wood-chip-lined water troughs every spring. The signs above the shiny watertrough homes tell everyone the breed of chick and the price, but it might as well be telling everyone that raising these cute little chicks is the easiest task on the farm. It very well might be the easiest job on the farm for the individual buying a half-dozen chicks and putting them
in a cozy little cardboard box in their house. However, many hobby farmers aren’t purchasing small quantities of chicks at a time and don’t have the luxury of keeping them in a controlled environment such as inside their home. It can all seem like it’s going well, but in the blink of an eye, a chicktastrophe can occur. I have seen hobby farmers lose entire flocks of chicks over the course of a day or night.
While hobby farmers may not have the luxury of always raising chicks in a controlled environment, knowing the risks and doing small things to mitigate those risks can lead to successful maturation of your chick population.
In my experience, the key elements to watch are space, size, temperature, pests and weather.
Space & Size
Space is the final frontier, and it can prove to be a constant battle if you have a sizeable group of chicks you have purchased. The fact that your chicks will more than double in size
while they’re in your brooder box is a complicating factor. Adding a few simple designs elements to your brooder will help immensely.
First, recognize that your chicks are going to want to stay together to keep warm. They’ll share their body heat in an attempt to keep their own body temperature regulated. Where problems arise is when the chicks start to climb on top of each other and pile up. The chicks on the bottom will be suffocated at that point.
When designing your brooder, a simple way to minimize the potential for your chicks to pile on top of each other is to eliminate corners in your brooder. If the brooder area is curved like a circle, the chicks can easily move along the edge and not get pinned in a corner as easily.
It’s also important to recognize that chicks are born with a desire to roost. Giving chicks small rods or poles just a few inches off the floor of your brooder will disperse the group, not leaving you with as many birds following the crowd.
It’s important to have enough space for the chicks to keep from piling on top of each other, but it is also important that they be confined enough that they can feel the warmth of the heat source you might have in the brodder keeping their body temperature at an optimum level.
Consider the Cold
Keeping your little chicks warm is imperative. A baby chick needs to keep its body temperature between 103 and 107 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s really hot for us, but chicks need that heat to survive.
Many people will use heat lamps to create the needed heat for chicks, but just hanging a light in a brooder won’t necessarily get you the results you desire. You’ll need to spend a little time to see how high (far away from the floor of the brooder) you need to hang your heat lamp. Obviously, the farther away from the floor of the brooder, the cooler the temperature on the floor of the brooder box and the wider the span of heat. The closer
you hang your heat lamp in your brooder, the more intense the heat will be and the more narrowly focused that energy will be.
To determine the distance you should hang your light, purchase a thermometer and measure the temperature on the floor of the brooder. You can also take regular readings with a laser thermometer after you have chicks in the brooder.
You can also spend some time watching the chicks. If they are staying out from under the light and have their beaks open panting, then they are too hot. If they are all bunched up under the light, then they are still too cold and you need to make adjustments accordingly.
The main point to remember is that you will need to be active in your analysis of the comfort level of your chicks the entire time they are in your brooder.
There are a few things to remember regarding your heat source and the safety of your chicks. First, your chicks will grow quickly and will be active. As they double in size, your heat source can’t necessarily stay at the same height above the floor of the brooder. The distance from the heat lamp to the heads of your chicks is narrowing.
Also remember that your chicks will become much more active. Your heat lamp will need to be adjusted from time-to-time, but make sure that it’s secured after each adjustment. Your chicks will be jumping and potentially hitting the lamp. Knocking a heat lamp onto the floor of a brooder box can be a real fire hazard.
Lastly, I lost nearly 250 chicks that I ordered from a hatchery because the employees at the post office were not familiar with the needs of baby chicks. They placed the boxes of chicks in the back room directly under an air conditioning vent while they waited for me to come pick them up. They even told me they were
concerned about the chicks overheating. So, take a little time and educate your post office, or even family members, if you are ordering chicks by mail.
Beat the Heat
When purchasing little chicks at a farm-supply store that keeps its temperature around 70 degrees, it’s easy to see the need for a heat lamp, but what about the need to keep your chicks cool. Many people raising chicks for egg laying will purchase them in early spring and need to fight off the spring chill with heat. Those raising chicks for broilers will necessarily raise them at varying points throughout spring and summer and have to make adjustments to the temperature accordingly. That said, when designing your brooder, make sure the brooder can breathe. It should get some airflow, but it should not be breezy.
In some geographic regions, it will be important to keep your chickens from overheating. It might not be where you’re located but the time of year, as well. Little chicks can easily overheat if the brooder is left in the sun or if there are too many heat lamps being used.
A large group of chicks makes a mess and creates a foul odor. It isn’t uncommon for people to create portable brooders to keep the chickens moving and not have to deal with the manure every day. This is a great idea, but you must recognize the importance of choosing your building materials wisely based on your climate.
There is a big difference in the internal heat of your brooder if you have a light-colored metal roof that reflects some of the sun’s energy or a dark shingled roof that is absorbing all that energy and heating up the brooder.
Pest Problems
One of the most frustrating and devastating challenges to raising chicks are pests. I live in an area of southeastern Illinois where mosquitos and gnats are problems at different times of the year. The gnats are an early spring challenge and the mos
quitos are a late spring and summer challenge. I have seen gnats kill more than 100 chicks in an afternoon when the chicks weren’t protected. Likewise, mosquitos and flies can devastate a chick population if you don’t take some precaution.
If your chicks are still in a brooder, they should be fairly safe from bugs and pests. Owning a mosquito net might be something you want to investigate. It can easily be placed over the top of a large brooder when needed. If your chicks are older and are being transitioned to pasture, make sure they’re well-feathered. This usually isn’t an issue for egg layers, but it can be a real issue for broilers (especially Cornish Cross).
Chicks’ feathers help keep the pests from being able to get to their tender skin. The chicks that aren’t well-feathered might need to stay in the brooder for a little bit longer. This is especially the case if it’s a time of year that has a greater chance of having an increased numbers of pests. Just because some of your chickens are ready to move out of the brooder doesn’t mean that all of them are ready to be moved out.
Building a secure brooder with larger pests in mind, such as raccoons or other predators, is also necessary. I once had a brooder that I built up off the ground on small legs with a wire mesh bottom so I could move it around the farm and not have to clean out the manure. It was great until the night a raccoon ate all the toes off all my chicks as they stood on the wire mesh. Building a predator-proof brooder will also help with retaining heat and minimizing weather-related perils.
Weather Worries
I wrote earlier about the need that chicks have for heat, or at least maintaining a given body temperature. Rain and wind are weather elements that can greatly change a bird’s temperature and can be deadly for chicks and even older birds. When rain and wind are combined, the result can be ruinous. Chicks can easily be chilled when the air isn’t still and warm. They prefer a sauna-like environment. A cool wind can easily lower their body temperatures. Likewise, a wet chick can face similar peril. Even older birds that can’t get out of the wind and rain are in trouble.
When designing your brooder, coop or even chicken tractor, make sure that the chickens will have shelter that keeps them dry. I have seen lots of brooders, coops and tractors with flat roofs. The rain ultimately pools and runs into the structure and then on the chicks. If these chicks are also getting a breeze, they’re likely to become chilled and die. Providing a little slope to the roof (just enough for the rain to run off) doesn’t require much extra effort, and it will keep your chicks much better protected.
Raising chicks on your farm can be a rewarding undertaking, but it can also be disheartening when calamity strikes.
A few key design features for your brooder, coop or chicken tractor can eliminate some of the risks you might face, but daily diligence and oversight of your flock is the best way to avoid a chicktastrophe.
Matt Fowler, MBA, PH.D., enjoys writing about his experiences at The Abundant Farm, an intentional farming operation in Illinois on the Crawfish Creek. The farm challenges his family in the building of a homestead by producing food, products and character while teaching health and bounty to others.