The beginning of a bird’s life is undoubtedly the most important time for years to come, and it’s not uncommon for even experienced farmers to make mistakes while they are caretaking for chicks. Catastrophic errors in proper set up, and assumptions made during chick brooding can deplete a population from its max, in some cases reducing it down to a mere 20% of birds. To find out why this happens, we have decided to break down the factors that lead to the biggest failure rate among poultry rearing, and the most common mistakes when setting up chick brooders.
The Critical Role of Temperature Control
Without a doubt, one of the most important factors when setting up a chick brooder is to keep it at the right temperature. Chicks are highly temperature sensitive at a young age and have very high mortalities if the temperature cannot be reliably kept constantly warm. The brooder temperature needs to be checked and readjusted frequently until the birds get older and feathered out.
Generally, the guidance is to start with a temperature of 95°F (35°C) on the first day, then lower it by about 5°F each week after that until it has settled to what is close to the outside temperature. Temperature control is not only a matter of survival. It is also central to healthy development. Using a good thermometer and making gradual changes should help your chicks avoid the health problems caused by overheating or chilling.
Humidity Management in the Brooder
Humidity, a boy among men, a teenager confined to the back of the room. Yet humidity levels in day-old chick brooders is as important as temperature to the development of your chicks. Specifically, humidity levels affect the respiratory health of the chicks more than any other factor and help with the growth of the proper feather fuzz that chicks require to maintain their body temperatures when their mother or another animal isn’t keeping them warm. The optimum retention of evaporated water vapour from your chicks’ breathing holes when combined with the warmed up bedding and faecal moisture is essential in maintaining around 40-60 per cent humidity in a chick brooder. A measure under 40 per cent humidity can cause dehydration and increase the risk of contaminating the chicks’ respiratory tracts with bacteria. Any humidity higher than 60 per cent, and the moisture can serve as a good base for bacteria and fungal growth, which also increases the risk of disease among your chicks.
Balancing this is not always easy, and sometimes it will take a little bit of adjustment to get it right. A good hygrometer placed in the brooder space is important to keep track of humidity levels. If you want to increase humidity, you could add a water tray in the brooder space, or a humidifier. On the other hand, if you want to lower excessive humidity, ventilation can be adjusted or you can add a dehumidifier. By regularly maintaining humidity, as well as the temperature, it’s possible to provide a good environment for the chicks to get off to a good start in life, which is important for their survival and, ultimately, their growth.
Choosing the Right Bedding Material
The next step is to choose the right bedding. It should be absorbent, non-toxic and easy to change or clean. Pine shavings are the most widely recommended type of bedding because they are highly absorbent and have relatively low dust content (which can cause respiratory problems). So, stay away from cedar shavings because their aromatic oils are toxic to chicks. If your coop is large, fresh pine shavings can work well. However, if you have a small brooder, you will quickly run out of shavings, so you’d need to replenish them at least once a day if you want to keep the coop clean. A less absorbent but more durable option for bedding would be chopped straw or hay, which you can find at many feed stores and grain mills.
You will definitely need to change this bedding more often than you have to change the pine shavings, but it can work if you keep the coop small, keep an eye on it, and have plenty of extra straw or hay tucked away. You can also use recycled paper products for bedding, and there are commercially available chick beddings with high absorbency and the additional benefit of being completely dust-free. Each type of bedding has advantages and disadvantages, but what you want to be sure of when you have it in the brooder is that it keeps the bottom dry, and that it is safe for your chicks to peck at when they are exploring their new home.
Various kinds of bedding stuff
Pine Shavings: Pine shavings are great for chicks since they soak up messes well, and are easy to clean up. But if left uncleaned, they’ll be a little dusty and can create breathing problems for your birdies.
Straw (comfortable and easy to clean but messes aren’t soaked up) is another option. It’s not preferred, as chicks might try to eat it, and can cause illness.
Paper Pellets: Absorbent, clean and non-dusty but harder to get and more costly.
Sand or Dirt: Some keep the area clean with sand or dirt and let their chicks behave the way they want. But it takes too much cleaning, and it is not comfy for their chicks.
Ensuring Proper Ventilation
Make sure to provide good air flow to the chick brooder. Fresh air, especially at night, will help to keep the air clean, especially warding off the ammonia gases that can develop in the chick droppings. too little air circulation and you risk respiratory problems, as well as the spread of disease But if you make the small space too open, you run the risk of drafts that can chill the chicks, especially when they are first hatched. With a ventilated shroud system, you can have good and controllable airflow and help to guard against drafts.
This can be done by making a vent detachable so the opening can be carefully adjusted as needed or through the use of a fan that is placed so it does not blow air directly at the chicks and is set to a low speed. Periodic monitoring of the environment, particularly the air quality and temperature in the brooder within the cage, will inform adjustments to the ventilation systems that in turn maintain a quality growing environment that allows the birds to develop to their fullest potential.
Adequate Space and Overcrowding Issues
One of the most essential aspects of proper brooder setup is to ensure that there is enough space for each of the chicks being housed. Overcrowding chicks, like many issues in the poultry business, comes with a variety of implications for health, productivity, and the social environment of the birds. In fact, there are myriad changes in behaviour and increases in disease susceptibility and stress associated with the densities faced within an overcrowded flock. To prevent these issues, it is important to provide each of the chicks in the brooder with a space where they will not have to compete with others when they are trying to move around, eat, or sleep.
The general rule of thumb is to provide approximately 0.5 square feet of space per chick. As the birds get larger, their requirements for space will increase, and the brooder housing needs will be adjusted accordingly. This requires careful monitoring of brooder density, so that the crowding conditions do not become excessive, and to provide sufficient space for the growing birds. All of these efforts, aimed at preventing overcrowding, will lead to healthier, happier chicks, improve survival rates, reduce mortality, and will have a positive impact on how well the birds grow and develop.
Lighting: Type, Intensity, and Duration
Chick welfare is greatly influenced by the type of light used in a chick brooder as well as the intensity. It has been demonstrated that light levels, length of day, and type of spectrum significantly impacts on the growth, development and behaviour of chicks. Therefore, use of the correct type and intensity of light is one of the most important husbandry practices. LED lights are recommended as opposed to halogen for greater energy efficiency and lower temperature. Light intensity should be as close to natural daylight as possible to support a chick’s diurnal rhythm and encourage feed and water intake. A bright light for the first week encourages intake of feed and water, however, over the course of the first week, intensity should be reduced as stress and overstimulation could occur.
In terms of duration, 14 to 16 hours of lighting coupled with 8 to 10 hours of darkness is designed to emulate a natural environment. The goal is that this will stimulate them to sleep at night and be active during the day. This reduced intensity of light will also minimise the risk of pecking and cannibalism Furthermore, adequate lighting in the brooder environment is also crucial for developing healthy birds. High lighting levels and rapid intensity changes or fluctuations in colour can cause stress which again will adversely affect their wellbeing.
Feeder and Waterer Placement and Management
Placement and management of feeders and waterers is a key part of the management of health and access to all the chicks. Initially, these should be offered near to the heat source, but not beneath them so as to encourage chicks to use them and to move around to regulate their own body temperature as they do. Spacing around feeders and waterers is also key so as not to crowd them and to ensure all the chicks have access. Providing shallow dishes for waterers will help minimise the risk of drowning, but adding marbles or pebbles to the waterer base will further help to reduce this risk.
It is to keep them clean to avoid disease. The feeder and waterer should be cleaned with fresh water and food every day , also regularly changing waterer height to feed and drink according to the chicken’s growth and it won’t make them stand too high and lose their food and create a mess and dirty their bedding and make them damp and wet , so it’s important to keep the bedding keep dry and clean for a better chicken’s health.
Disease Prevention and Early Detection
It’s far better to stop a disease before it starts in a chick brooder than trying to treat an outbreak when it comes. The most important way to do this is to have a robust biosecurity plan in place, one that strictly prevents people or equipment accessing the brooder where pathogens could be introduced, and one where all equipment and the brooder itself is completely cleaned before the next batch of chicks. Hygiene measures, such handwashing and the use of disinfectant foot mats, can help to minimise the risk of pathogen spread. Vaccination against diseases, where applicable, provides another layer of defence.
It can be beneficial to further your knowledge of routine illness prevention. Early detection is key to preserving the health of the flock. You can monitor chicks frequently – at least once a day – for any signs of illness – such as the chirping of a distressed chick, a chick not caring for her young, or any chicken scrunched in a corner or not moving much, not eating, or having diarrhoea that looks green, runny, or even bloody – to identify and address issues before they become problems. Promptly removing a sick chick from other chicks, followed by a call to a veterinarian to confirm the diagnosis and aid in treatment, is important to preventing the illness from spreading.
The Importance of Regular Monitoring and Adjustment
Cleaning and maintaining the brooder environment, together with regular monitoring and adjusting the heat levels, all play a major part in the overall success of keeping chicks alive. Keeping a close eye on things allows you to detect and deal with problems quickly, from brooder temperature fluctuations to disease to conditions that cause distress (or, in the worst case scenario, death). Doing this can mean that, when a problem is identified, it can be dealt with before a chain reaction of problems starts. For example, lower temperatures may start off by causing chicks to huddle together for warmth, but that simply patches over their need for heat rather than fixing the problem. It can also mean identifying and isolating sick chicks to stop them from spreading illness.
Checks and adjustments help to ensure that the environment changes in pace with the chicks as they grow, from increasing the amount of space as the chicks grow, to changing the light and air conditions to suit developmental stages. The key to a healthy, productive brooder is precision in the timing and extent of monitoring and adjustments.
Handling and Socialization
Handling and socialisation are also critical to raising healthy, well-adjusted chicks. Gentle, low-stress handling of chicks soon after birth will help to habituate them to human touch, making them less stressed by contact with humans as they grow up. Start young – ideally during their first couple of days of life – and follow this up by handling and socialising regularly to encourage them to become used to being handled, examined and moved. But carefully, calmly handling chicks isn’t just about human-chicken relationships; it also helps to socialise chicks to each other. Chicks that have been even lightly and briefly touched by humans become more sociable, more cooperative and less aggressive citizens in the adult flock. They are also more adaptable to unfamiliar places and experiences. Over-handling and stress during the first weeks of life can harm a chick’s health and development, so balance is essential. But short, frequent, positive handling sessions will help to socialise chicks and prepare them for a good life ahead.
Nutritional Requirements for Optimal Growth
Proper nutrition is vital to raising chicks to become healthy adult chickens. During the first few weeks of life, chicks grow rapidly and feathers develop. To support this period of accelerated growth and development, a 18-22 per cent-protein starter feed (icks can receive adequate supplies of the specific amino acids required for growth. Chicks also need access to clean, fresh water as water is essential to digestion and to keep the food pass through the digestive system.
It is also important to balance minerals (eg, calcium and phosphorus) and vitamins (eg, A, E and C) within the diet. Chicks require a balanced, nutritionally complete starter feed to give them the right start for healthy, robust development. Chickens transition to different feeds appropriately for the age and stage of their growth, including starter, grower, layer and finisher feeds as they age.
Transitioning to the Coop
Then comes the all-important, ‘tough love’ step of moving the chicks from the brooder to the coop. When the chicks are old enough, and fully feathered, the time is right to make the move: one step at a time. Eventually the chicks will become truly independent, roaming the biotic countryside mucking out pasture, eating bugs and co-existent, symbiotic life-forms, or simply ambling around enjoying the sunshine. Of course, in between all this they would be eating. From the perspectives of the keepers, the chickens have always been a source of meat practise for the keepers’ valued flock of hens. Over time, only the superb layers get to stay in the brooder, and the remainder of the flock makes way for future batches of chickens bound for the dinner table.
In this situation, a secure, safe and clean space (before they were all put in the coop) away from the older birds and predators can help keep them safe. Continued observation of their health and behaviour, the coop space and keeping the birds supplied with water and feed that is appropriate for this stage of their life helps ensure their comfort and safety during this transition.
Troubleshooting Common Problems
You wade into the melee of confused chicks, poking and prodding and trying to remedy the most common ailments you’re likely to see in the growing flock: caked, stuck-together poop (also known as pasting up); plus how to warm up or cool down a brooder if temperatures get out of hand, to prevent chirping and huddling (too cold) or panting and wing-spreading (too hot).
Accurately tuning the source of heat in response to these signals is important. If there are chick growth disparities, perhaps because of problems with feed availability or bullying, this too can be rectified by changing the pattern of feed dispersion or the isolation of more dominating chicks. Signs of general restlessness, stress or loss of condition – lethargy, or reduced feed and water intake – can allow you to correct problems before they get worse.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
At what age can chicks be transitioned from the brooder to the coop?
Chicks should be moved into the coop when they are all fully feathered (typically 5 to 8 weeks of age, depending on breed and conditions). This is usually the point at which they are able to thermoregulate.
I wonder how he should know if the brooder is too hot or too cold for the chicks.
If the temperature is below or above optimum, chicks will show unmistakable signs. If too cold, chicks will huddle up and chirp loudly; if too hot, they will pant and spread as far as possible from any radiant heat source. These behaviours must be taken into account and adjusted accordingly.
What should I do if I notice pasting up on one of my chicks?
If she is covered in little droppings at the vent area, clean the area with a warm moist washcloth. This is normal in small chicks but can be treated with careful regular checks to ensure that the area is kept clean and healthy.
When should I start handling my chicks for socialization purposes?
Start handling chicks early — as soon as they are responding to the brooder and within a few days after they’ve experienced minimal stress. Be as gentle and calm as you can and provide regular handling for the strongest relationship with your chick, which will improve how they deal with stress and make them more comfortable with you for life. From ‘Disease Prevention and Early Detection
What are the signs of nutritional deficiencies in chicks?
Nutritional deficiencies will manifest as stunted or slow growth, poor feathering, and general lethargy. In severe cases of mineral deficiency, skeletal abnormalities such as the enhancement of secondary sexual characters will occur. If a proper diet formulated for chicks is made available, this will be avoided.
How do I prevent bullying among chicks?
They should be placed in the correct pen size and have an adequate number of feeders and drinkers available so that they have easy access to the vital resources they need, minimising competition. Chick behaviour should be observed and aggressively behaved chicks removed to reduce the likelihood of bullying.
Conclusion
There is nothing more satisfying than seeing chicks ‘powered up’ and raised into productive, healthy adult birds. This process is facilitated with patience, attention, expertise and, for the novice poultry keeper, some conscious time spent learning the basics. The way you start chicks will give them a significant boost in health and productivity throughout their life. The right environment in the brooder is the first step in a successful chicken raising experience. Offering good nutrition as they are growing and developing socialisation skills to help them interact well with humans and their flockmates is also crucial. Problem solving common issues promptly and providing care as chicks grow are important. The transition from brooder to coop occurs at a significant period in their lives. However, it is also a relatively simple milestone to achieve, provided you master the basics for raising chicks I hope that this guide will give both the novice poultry keeper and the experienced practitioner the information necessary to raise chicks well and start successful, healthy, productive flocks.
