Chicken Preppers

We’re just under one week out from getting our new baby chicks from the Murray McMurray hatchery in Webster City. We got our confirmation letter in the mail a few days ago confirming our chicks would be ready by 9 AM on Tuesday, March 26th. We’ve also both put in for PTO on Tuesday because, let’s be honest, we’re totally just gonna be watching these little fuzz-butts run around all day 😉

In preparation for their arrival, we’ve been doing a lot of research into common issues small baby chicks can run into on their first few days of life – and whew are there a lot of them. To be honest, any time I read through the lengthy list of potential ways your chicks can accidentally murder themselves, it’s a little impressive any of these little fluff nuggets can even make it to adulthood…

Here’s just a sampling of the various ways these small fluffy cuties can get themselves into trouble.

Issue: Space requirements

Baby chicks require a goldilocks amount of space. Too little and they can all pile on top of each other and smush the unfortunate ones at the bottom. To big of an enclosure and they find themselves at the opposite end and far away from brooder plate (aka chick heater) and can get cold (especially an issue as chicks can’t regulate their own body temperatures well for the first 3-4 weeks).

Our Plan:

We didn’t really want to mess with having to move the chicks between a bunch of different sized enclosures to scale with their outrageously fast growth rate. So we opted to start with a single large puppy playpen (total of 18.2 sq ft). For 10 newborn chicks the recommended minimum size for their first four weeks is 2.5 sq ft total and after that it’s 5 sq ft (or more) up until they are  adults (20 sq ft). To address the need for the smaller area in the beginning, we’re going to add in some temporary cardboard walls to our setup to keep them corralled until they can get the lay of the land. Our next blog post will cover more info/details into how we created this crazy brooder contraption 😉

Issue: Picking on Each Other

The other issue is if you put them in too small of a space they can pick on each other causing sores or wounds to appear. Worse yet is chickens are designed to peck, they peck everything just to see – it could be food, you never know. So chicks that are wounded or injured with their bright red blood or dark colored scabs get bullied even further by their “loving” siblings.

Our Plan:

We’re installing a color changing dimmable light bulb as their lighting source. No only will this allow us to be able to create a indoor “day/night” schedule by adjusting brightness levels, but it also allows us to change the hue of the light to different shades/colors. Turns out chicks can’t see bright red blood spots or scabs if you change the color of the light to red, so chicks with healing wounds can be put under a red lamp instead of a white one and blend right in to the rest of the flock.

Issue: Keeping Water Clean

So, uh chickens poop. They poop everywhere. EVERY. WHERE. And this includes their waterer. Poop in their water can lead to all sorts of gross chicken sadness, so you’ve got to balance providing clean room temperature water and your sanity at scrubbing out all the poop.

Our Plan:

We’ve got some vertical poultry nipples (similar to hamster water bottles) we’re going to attach to standard 20 oz water bottles after the first week. This allows them to peck at the nipple to release a drop of water and not be able to poop in their own water supply. (#birds)

Issue: Water Depth requirements

If you are going the standard waterer route, you also need to be mindful that chicks, especially little ones, just kinda fall asleep when they’re tired. And yes, that means they can fall asleep in the waterer and drown. Or they discover water is fun, splash around a bunch, then get chills from being soaking wet.

Our Plan:

We took a standard waterer and added some glass beads around the base of it. This reduces the overall depth of the water in the container, still allows them to drink what they want and prevents them from being able to fall down into it. As a plus it also keeps them more dry as it prevents them from standing to deep in the cool water.

Issue: Spayed Leg or Spraddle Leg

You need to be mindful of what type of bedding and flooring you use, especially during their first few days in the brooder (aka chick home). If the bedding to too slippery they can easily lose their footing and end up doing the splits. Afterwards, these chicks are unable to properly get their feet back under them and will just lay or scoot around on their bellies. Other chicks with vitamin deficiencies or those raised in non-ideal conditions can develop this condition as well regardless of flooring type. If it’s not addressed, and not addressed quickly, the chick will no longer be able to support his or her own weight and be deformed for life.

Our Plan:

There’s a number of creative ways to prevent this in the first place, but accidents do happen so we want to plan as though they will have spraddle leg. First off we’re going to be using some temporary anti-slip flooring (aka paper towels) to line their small area of the brooder to keep them on sturdy footing. This can be removed after the first few days once they (literally) get their feet under them. We’ve also packed a number of supplies to keep on hand in case one needs to make a quick chicken splint to get them back up and moving around while their legs heal.

Site note: Chickens with tiny splints are so pitiful and so cute:

Issue: Pasty Butt

Yup, you read that right. That’s literally both a thing that can happen AND the actual name for the issue. Knowledge. You’re welcome. Pasty butt is pretty common for stressed birds, and as most birds are shipped in a dark box for 1-3 days right after they hatch, which trust me, has got to be stressful. Basically pasty butt is like nasty diarrhea which sticks all over their fluffy butt feathers and prevents them from eliminating properly. Without removal and cleanup of this build up, chicks will die.

Our Plan:

We’re skipping the shipping. We’re picking our chicks up in person! We’ll also be working on getting our chicks used to being handled, picked up and examined, especially during their younger days/weeks. Each time we change out their water or fill their food, or clean their bedding, we’ll have a checklist of things to do and check each chick for to ensure they’re doing well and growing strong! If they do get pasty butt, the best solution is to soak the poor chick in water and gently rub off the mess. Think of it like gum in your hair, don’t pull – that hurts! But soak and rub everything out. Then you can put some petroleum jelly around (not in) the area to prevent more mess from sticking to their soft baby chick feathers.

So basically at this point, if they make it to adulthood it’s a miracle.

First Aid Kid:

We also decided after some research, we’d create a small chicken themed first-aid kit to keep with our fluffy ladies. That way should something go wrong, instead of going into a panic trying to find tweezers, we’d have them ready to go in a handy-dandy bin. Here are some of the items we included and why we included them:

• Vetrx Poultry Aid, 2 fl.oz – This is great stuff to use to prevent/treat mites as well as help a chicken with upper respiratory issues.
• Vetericyn Plus Antimicrobial Poultry Care Spray – A great general wound care spray which also helps prevent the growth of bacteria/infections.
• Chlorhexidine Solution – This is actually a reptile enclosure cleaner, but also works great as a general animal safe cleaner that’s both antibacterial and antifungal.
• Styptic Powder – This is a dual purpose item, as it works great for dogs too. But applied to a wound or cut toenail it stops bleeding fast.
• Super Glue Gel – Works for a quick fix to a broken beak.
• Neosporin – Generic infection prevention for wounds or cuts.
• Large 2×3 inch non-stick pads – General wound cover which won’t stick to feathers or skin.
• Sav-a-Chic – A premixed blend of electrolytes and vitamins to help a chick/chicken recover after a stressful event or injury. They’ll be getting a dose of this right after they arrive!
• Green-Goo – A frostbite preventative and general wound care salve.
• Generic Disposable Latex Gloves – Sanitation/handling of sick or wounded animals.
• Generic (unscented!) Epsom Salt – Used for soaking sick birds (like pasty butts) or aiding in the recovery from illness or other adult issues like being egg bound.
• Generic Tweezers, Scissors and Forceps – For pulling and cuttings things that need pulled or cut.
• Generic Vet wrap – For holding non-stick pads to wounds. General wrapping purposes without the sticky tape.

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We’re prepped. We’ve planned. We’re ready!