Bringing Home Baby Chicks

THE FARMHOUSE

After months of waiting, chick day finally came to the Farmhouse! Seventeen peeing, fluffy baby chicks are living in our bathroom and we’re all so excited about it. This is our first time having chicks (we adopted our last flock of chickens), and we’re thankful for guidance from Nana, who’s mentoring us through this. Today I wanted to introduce you to our flock and share all the details on ordering and caring for chicks. Get ready, this is going to be cute…

Ordering chicks

Back in March, Nana asked Garrett and I if we’d be interested in getting more chickens (we have one adopted hen already) and we hardly had to think about it. Yes! While chickens are a BIG commitment (they require frequent care and can live for 5-10 years) and it’s not a decision that should be taken lighting, we’ve felt a pull towards self-sufficiency and more home-grown food and chickens fit with that. Plus our kids are getting older and they can help with the chickens. So Nana ordered 16 laying hens from our local Old Mill Country Store (similar to a Ranch and Home). Here are a few things we considered when placing the chick order.

Breed

Let me back up and mention that Nana has owned chickens for years and years, so we deferred to her on most of the decisions. She selected the breeds of our flock based on what was available and tried to get a varied flock with varied egg colors. She ordered 4 each of the following breeds:

Americana - comes in many colors but lays a blue-ish egg
Barnevelder - a dark chicken that lays light-brown eggs
Black Sex-Link - a black chicken with orange penciling; lays light-brown eggs
Brown Leghorns - a brown chicken that lays white eggs

We’re not 100% sure what breeds we ended up with - certainly not 4 of each like we were expecting - but with chicks in such short supply, we’re super happy they’re here at all! Oh and we ended up with a 17th chick - a ‘rare exotic’ (possibly a Polish?) - the next day as well.

Vaccinations

When Nana mentioned we were getting chicks to Garrett’s sister, a vetrinarian, she strongly encouraged us to get the chicks vaccinated by the hatchery). So we did. Our chickens got vaccinations against Mareks and Newcastle diseases on day one.

Gender

We ordered all female hens. Roosters (males) can be helpful in protecting a flock and of course they’re necessary if you want eggs to become chicks, but honestly I don’t enjoy them. Well at least I haven’t enjoyed roosters so far in life. They are often aggressive with the hens, generally unfriendly, and scare the bejesus out of the kids. BUT…when we placed the order for our chicks, we were told the gender is usually only 90% accurate. So that means we could end up with a rooster or two or three. Time will tell…

chick day!

Nana got a call on Thursday to pick the chicks up at the store (thankfully they’re doing curbside pick-up!). The chicks were only a couple days old but peeping and active in their cardboard box. We’ve been quarantining with Nana and Papa so she drove them right over to the Farmhouse. The kids were ecstatic! We took lots of videos and we’re sharing those today in a vlog-style video below. The video also shows you what our chicken setup looks like in the bathroom.

One note…you might notice that our laying flock actually expanded to 17 chicks. Well one more chick (pictured above) came the next day as a free ‘rare exotic’ add-on from the hatchery where Nana ordered meat birds from (we’re also raising 25 chickens for meat this year - they’re in our outside coop). The chick is a Polish breed if Instagram is correct and it should grow to have a goofy-looking feathered-fro on it’s head. It’s all of the kid’s favorite chick right now.

About that video…

brooder, Feed, water, heat - Our indoor set up for the chicks

We’re keeping our chicks inside right now to keep them warm. It’s common to keep chicks inside for weeks and weeks until their feathers are fully developed and they can handle outdoor temps. I shared a lot more about our setup in the video above so check that out, but here’s a list of the supplies we have for the chicks (including lots of hand-me-downs from Nana):

Brooder

We set up their “brooder” (a cardboard box with tall sides) and filled it with a thin layer of wood shavings. Eventually they will outgrow this setup so we’ll either move them outside to the new coop (with plenty of heat) or get a bigger box in a couple/few weeks. I’ve gathered that it’s uncommon to brood chicks outside, but Nana’s always done that in their predator-safe coop and with plenty of heat lights (and not during cold temperatures).

Heat Lamp

Chicks need a heat source while they grow feathers, so we’re using a heat lamp for that. Nana had the metal lamp and we bought the bulb at the same store we bought the chicks from. We’re hanging the light over an old tripod.

Nana gave me this tip on how to decide how high to hang the light (and thus how warm to keep the chicks): if the chicks are all huddled together under the light, then they’re probably cold and you should lower the light a bit. If the chicks are dispersed away from the light, then it’s probably too low and needs to come up a bit. We check our chicks hourly during the day and adjust the hanging length based on that tip.

The-Grit-and-Polish---Laying-Hen-Chicks-with-Heat-Light-On.jpg

Feeders

We’re using two feeders (hand-me-downs from Nana) and filling them about twice a day with chick feed we bought at the same store as we bought the chicks from. When in doubt about what kind of feed to get or what your chick needs, ask the employees. They are a wealth of information!

We’re checking the chicks regularly during the day and filling the feeders when they’re low.

Water

We’re changing out the water a couple times a day. The chicks tend to get the water pretty messy with wood shavings and feed and whatnot so it needs changed even when it’s not low.

What do chicks cost

Our chicks cost between $3 and $3.50 each (remember, they were vaccinated). Our order of 16 chicks cost $51 plus tax. Not a lot, but of course there are other costs: heat lights, feed, waterer, feeders, a coop… And the upfront cost of the chicks will surely be nothing compared to the lifetime feed bills. I’m keeping track of their expenses on a spreadsheet and am curious to calculate if it’s cheaper to buy organic eggs at the grocery store or keep chickens at home? I suspect the former, but either way, nothing compares to that farm-fresh-egg taste!

When do chickens start laying eggs?

Chickens start laying eggs around 6 months. So we can expect a full laying flock this Fall. I’ve heard that the Leghorn and Sex-link breeds start laying earlier (around 16 weeks) and I wouldn’t be mad if they did.

How many eggs will we get a year

There are a ton of variables in egg production including breed, age, feed, commercial operation vs. backyard chickens, etc. But somewhere in the 100-200 per year range is what I’ve seen. Some breeds can yield up to 300 eggs per year. Of course that doesn’t account for winters. Chickens need at least 12 hours of sunlight to lay eggs, so here in the Pacific Northwest, chickens don’t lay in the winter. Eek! You can add artificial light to their coop if you want to keep them producing year round.

Assuming 15 of our chicks are female and make it to adulthood, and we get an average of 150 eggs/year/chicken, we’ll be looking at 43 eggs a week (when producing). That’s a lot of eggs! Plenty to share with grandparents and friends :)

a coop

For the past couple of years, we’ve been housing our chickens in a pen in the garden that was built by previous owners. It worked, but it’s not great. We’ve also struggled with predators and lost a handful of chickens to a bobcat and possibly a raccoon. So this year we decided to build a coop that we can predator proof and have a chicken run and make the whole thing convenient to use. More to come on that to come…

Chickens and kids

Besides an unfriendly rooster, we’ve had good experiences having chickens with young kids. Our biggest issue has been with our 2-year-old who is a little too lovey with them. She’s declared herself the chick’s ‘mother hen’ and disappears to hold them frequently. A loving embrace can often turn into a less-than-gentle squeeze. So we’re working with her on that.

It’s been really fun to see how excited the kids are about the chicks. Weeks ago our 6-year old compiled a list of names, which I’m sharing below. On the back of this list: ‘Sinda, Betty, Tiny, Teensey, and in case of roosters: Venus, Mars, and Neptune.” :)