Preparing The Brooder Before The Chicks Arrive

A brooder is simply a warm, dry, draught-free space with a heat source, food and water, and enough room for the chicks to move away from the heat when they want to. Set it up and run it for a full twenty-four hours before your chicks arrive, so you can check the temperature and iron out any problems while the box is still empty.

A sturdy crate, a large plastic storage box, or a purpose-built brooder all work well, positioned in a shed, garage or spare room away from cats, rats and curious children. Ventilation matters as much as warmth: chicks need fresh air, but they must never sit in a draught.

• Floor space: allow roughly twenty-five chicks per square metre in the first week, thinning to about ten per square metre by week four.
• Bedding: use dust-extracted wood shavings about 5cm deep. Avoid newspaper, which is slippery and can cause splayed legs, and never use cedar shavings.
• Heat source: a brooder lamp suspended above the box, or a brooder plate that chicks tuck under as they would a hen.
• Round the edges: a roll of cardboard or a fine mesh guard keeps chicks out of corners and away from the lamp fitting.

Getting The Temperature Right

Aim for about 35°C at chick height — measure with the thermometer at the level of their backs, not at your own eye level — and reduce this by roughly 2 to 3°C each week until you reach around 20°C, usually by week five or six. With a lamp, simply raise it a little each week.

Chicks are the best thermometers you will ever own. Watch them closely:

• Huddled in a tight pile under the lamp: too cold. Lower the lamp slightly.
• Spread out along the edges, panting, wings held away: too hot. Raise the lamp.
• Evenly scattered, eating, drinking, dozing and chirping softly: just right.

The brooder must be big enough for a cool corner, so that a chick which has had enough of the heat can walk away from it. Brooder plates suit this well because the chicks choose when to press against the warm surface.

Clean Water, Offered Correctly

Chicks can survive a day or two on the yolk they absorbed before hatching, but they should have water in front of them as soon as they arrive. Use a shallow dish — a jam jar lid or a proper chick drinker — and drop in a few clean pebbles or glass marbles so that the water is too shallow to drown in but still easy to reach. Never leave a deep bowl in with day-old chicks.

Gently dip each beak into the water once as you settle them in; most will quickly get the idea. Fill with room-temperature water and refresh it two or three times a day, because chicks scratch bedding into it constantly. If your chicks have travelled any distance, a poultry vitamin and electrolyte solution in the first day's water gives them a helpful lift.

Choosing The Right Starter Feed

Chick crumb is the correct first feed: small, digestible, and formulated with the protein and minerals a growing bird needs. Offer it in a shallow, non-tipping dish, kept topped up so they can eat little and often throughout the day.

One point worth checking before you buy. Some chick crumbs contain a coccidiostat, a medication that helps prevent coccidiosis. If your chicks have been vaccinated against coccidiosis, that medication will cancel out the vaccine, so you must use an unmedicated crumb instead. Ask the breeder or supplier which applies to your birds.

Chick grit is a separate matter. Chicks eating only crumb do not need it, but the moment you offer anything else — a little chopped grass, a few scrambled egg crumbs, some finely chopped greens — they need a small dish of chick grit to help them digest it. Keep treats to a minimum in the first week and let the crumb do the work.

Hygiene, Handling And Garden Birds

Check each chick's bottom once or twice a day for the first week. A pasty, stuck-on dropping needs gentle cleaning with a warm, damp cloth, as it can block the vent. Remove any wet or soiled bedding immediately, and wash your hands before and after every visit to the brooder.

This is where your garden birds come in. Wild birds carry infections that chicks have no immunity against, so keep the brooder well away from feeders, bird baths and nest boxes, and never wear the same footwear into the brooder area that you have worn while topping up feeders. Once the chicks are outdoors, keep their run and drinkers separate from anything the wild birds can reach, and store feed in sealed bins to discourage rats and mice.

The First Few Weeks And Beyond

By three or four weeks the chicks will be feathered enough to start exploring, and by six weeks most will be ready to come off heat entirely, provided the weather is mild. Reduce the temperature gradually rather than switching the lamp off overnight, and move them to a secure outdoor run in short sessions at first, lengthening them as the birds harden off.

Finally, never keep a single chick on its own. A pair or a small group will settle faster, eat better and grow into calmer, friendlier adults — and there is no better entertainment than a brooder of busy chicks finding their feet.