Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (83 page)

Since chicks have an inherent instinct to peck and may peck at feed almost immediately on being placed in the brooder, make sure they are drinking before they start eating. They seem to experience less of a problem with sticky bottoms if they get a good dose of water before they get a belly full of feed, especially when the feed is commercially formulated chick starter.

Starter ration for chicks contains a mixture of grains, protein, vitamins, and minerals. It is higher in protein and lower in calories than rations designed for older chickens. Never feed lay ration to chicks, even as an emergency measure if you run out of starter. The high calcium content of layer ration can seriously damage a chick’s kidneys.

If you run out of starter, or you forget to pick some up and you have chicks to feed, you can make an emergency starter ration by cracking scratch grains in the blender or, if you have no scratch, by running a little uncooked oatmeal through the blender and mixing it 50/50 with cornmeal. Grains are high in calories and low in the protein, vitamins, and minerals a chick needs for good growth and health, so don’t use this mixture any longer than necessary.

If you have extra eggs on hand, mashed hard-boiled egg makes an excellent starter ration. In the old days before commercial rations were available, farmers typically started their chicks on mashed boiled eggs. After the first few days, the chicks were fed oatmeal and cracked grains until they got big enough to forage for themselves. Chicks that are fed cracked grains also need grit. If your local farm store doesn’t carry chick grit, use cage-bird grit from a pet store.

Some brands of commercial starter are medicated with a coccidiostat to prevent chicks from getting coccidiosis. Whether or not you need medicated starter depends in good part on your management style. Use medicated starter if:

You brood chicks in warm, humid weather.

You brood large quantities of chicks at a time.

You keep chicks in the same brooder for more than 3 weeks.

You brood one batch of chicks after another.

Your sanitation isn’t up to snuff.

You shouldn’t need medicated starter if you brood in late winter or early spring (before warm weather allows coccidia and other pathogens to thrive), you brood on a noncommercial scale, you keep your chicks on dry litter, and your chicks always have fresh, clean drinking water. On the other hand, if you’re
raising your first-ever chicks, using medicated starter gives you one less thing to worry about while you work through your learning curve.

In areas where chickens are big business, farm stores may offer a starter ration, a separate grower or finisher ration for broilers, and a grower or developer ration for layers and breeders. Switch from one ration to another as indicated on the labels, gradually making the switch by combining the old ration with greater and greater amounts of the new ration to avoid problems related to digestive upset.

In many parts of the country, farm stores carry only one all-purpose starter or starter-grower ration. If you can find only a single chick ration, continue using it until broilers reach butchering age and layers/breeders are ready for the switch to lay ration.

Soon after they hatch, chicks start looking for things to peck on the ground. If they don’t see anything else on the ground, they’ll peck their own feet. To help them find feed, sprinkle a little starter ration on a paper towel or paper plate. As soon as most chicks are pecking freely, remove the feed-covered paper before it begins to hold moisture that attracts mold.

For the remainder of the first week, put the starter in a shallow lid or tray, such as a shoe-box lid or anything with sides of a similar height. When the chicks start scratching out the feed, switch to a regular chick feeder, available from farm stores and through poultry-supply catalogs.

Like chick waterers, chick feeders come in several styles. A good feeder:

Prevents chicks from roosting over or scratching in feed

Has a lip to prevent billing out

May be raised to the height of the birds’ backs as they grow

Is easy to clean

One style of chick feeder is a base, similar to a drinker base, that screws onto a feed-filled quart (1 L) jar, and has little openings through which the chicks can peck. Because this style has a small footprint, it’s ideal for use in a brooder where space is limited.

Another style is a trough that comes in various lengths, the shortest of which is about a foot (30 cm). Those designed for baby chicks have a lid with individual openings into which the chicks peck. The styles designed for growing chicks have either a reel to discourage birds from perching over the feed or a grill to keep them from scratching in it.

If you use a round or trough feeder with individual openings, allow one slot per chick. If you use an open trough, allow 1 linear inch (2.5 cm) per chick to 3 weeks of age, 2 linear inches (5 cm) to 6 weeks of age, and 3 linear inches (7.5 cm) to 12 weeks. Count both sides in your measurement if chicks can eat from either side.

Like grown-up chickens, chicks waste feed through billing out — the habit of scratching out feed with their beaks. To minimize wastage, fill trough feeders only two-thirds full. An inwardly rolled lip discourages billing out, as does raising the feeder so it’s always the same height as the birds’ backs.