Mad About Science: Baby chicks

By Brenden Bobby
Reader Columnist

It’s a bit of an annual tradition this time of year for me to write about baby chicks. If you’re tired of seeing me write about these adorable little dinosaurs, turn the page — you’ve read all of this before.

On the off chance that you emerged this Easter with a cute little fluffy friend that won’t stop peeping and you’re now clueless, you’re in luck. Baby chicks, ducklings and rabbit kits are often sold during the Easter season; and, due to a lack of preparedness by the owner, many are dead by May.

If you aren’t ready to own a full-sized chicken, you may want to begin looking for a new home for your pet immediately. They’re cute now, but they grow into dinosaurs before your eyes.

Caring for baby chicks is a bit more difficult than rearing a kitten or a puppy. Mammals are especially suited for surviving most conditions, whereas birds require very specific care to survive and thrive. Chicks are unable to regulate their body temperature for the first few weeks of their lives, requiring the feathers of a mother hen to keep them warm in the coop. Chicks can survive without a mother hen, but they require an ample heat source to keep from freezing to death. Often this is done with a heat lamp, which is only slightly safer than a space heater.

A heat lamp must be secured so that it cannot fall into the chicks’ enclosure — called a brooder — and it needs to be far enough away from the chicks so as to not burn them, but close enough to ensure they stay a balmy 95 degrees Fahrenheit. 

A simple trick for deducing the heat of a brooder without a thermometer is to watch your chicks. If their beaks are open and they appear to be panting like dogs, or are pushed to the very edges of the enclosure, it’s too hot for them and the lamp needs to be moved away. If they’re all huddled together directly under the lamp, it means they’re too cold and in danger of suffocating each other or freezing. An even spread around the brooder is always a good sign and means your baby chicks enjoy the temperature.

Chicks require special feed from the farm and feed store to thrive. Medicated crumble is balanced just for them, while also protecting them against parasites that commonly afflict chicks. They also enjoy mealworms as a treat, but try to avoid inundating them with snacks until they’re at least a few weeks old. These birds have tender digestive systems that can be easily disrupted and lead to death or disease if the proper balance is not maintained. 

Meanwhile, the most common forms of sickness can be identified through how lethargic a bird may be acting, and the consistency of its poop.

They should be dropping little nuggets tinged with white. Runny poop can sometimes mean the bird has just had a lot to drink, or if it’s sustained could mean a host of other medical problems and you may want to isolate that chick in another brooder. Blood in a chick’s stool is never a good sign, and this bird should be isolated immediately. 

Poop will often stick to the bird’s butt while they’re young — a condition called pasty butt that can lead to blockages and intestinal woes for the bird down the road. While pasty butt is fairly common, a bird that consistently suffers from it is likely having some kind of health issue and should be monitored or isolated if it seems lethargic.

Gauging a lethargic chick is a difficult feat for a new owner. Chicks are comically narcoleptic and will transition from running around the brooder to falling completely asleep faster than you can snap your fingers. One universal truth is that chickens in general like to move around; whether it’s exploring or scratching or bullying other chickens, you can tell how healthy it is by how much it’s moved over the course of about an hour. A bird that has remained stationary and has slept for 20 minutes or more may be in need of closer inspection.

Unfortunately, when it comes to baby chicks, death is a common occurrence. Birds are a numbers game, and it’s the reason why they lay their eggs in clutches. A mother hen will often lose at least 25% of her brood, and the number for a home brooder can easily exceed a 50% fatality rate — even if the human rearing the birds does everything right. 

Identifying causes of death are an important practice for the aspiring chicken parent, and noticing symptoms and trends can mean the difference between losing a couple of birds and burying your whole flock.

Finally, knowing when it’s time to transition your birds to the great outdoors and providing them with adequate shelter are critical parts of raising chickens. Chickens should be fully feathered before they venture outside, and they should be provided with a coop that will give them shelter from the myriad dangers of North Idaho. 

Each chicken should have no fewer than two and a half square feet of space per bird, or you may notice aggression begin in your flock. An adequate coop should also be able to insulate the birds from cold winds and rain while also protecting them from predators.

The small, lightweight coops you often find at farm and feed stores this time of year are not adequate shelter for your birds — especially if you own more than two. This wood is frail and designed to rot, and it’s easily picked apart by racoons, skunks and weasels. 

I always recommend building your own coop if you can, otherwise many people will convert a garden shed into a chicken coop. Adult birds poop a lot, so account for that wherever you house them — it should be easy to clean, and it will likely be unusable for any other purpose after your birds have lived in it for any period of time.

Are you looking for more detailed advice on your new feathered friends? Stop by the library and pick up any of the Storey’s Guide to Poultry books, and you’ll be raising show birds in no time.

Stay curious, 7B.