Preparing The Brooding Area

Incubating and Hatching Chicks can be fun but ensure you have a brooding area ready. Andy Martin used to be a contract poultry farmer rearing parent breeding stock from 0 - 19wks and grandparent 0 - 72wks birds. During this time he reared over 1 million chicks and won several national industry awards in the process. Andy now runs UK Countrystore where he advises and supplies electric fencing to farmers & smallholders alike and has kindly written this article for us, sharing some of his vast knowledge.

When rearing a small number of chicks, a large cardboard box is often adequate for the job but if you hatch more than a few, you'll need a bigger brooding area. However many chicks you hatch, the same principles will apply and there a few pitfalls to watch out for as Andy explains....

Cleanliness is Vital

The area should initially be cleaned THOROUGHLY to eliminate any bugs and residual disease which may be prevalent. Even if other birds have been reared in the area successfully, the inherent bugs within that area will need to be killed and the area disinfected before another batch of chicks can be reared properly. This procedure will be covered in another article.

Heating your Chicks

The area should provide heat to the birds preferably from above so a heat lamp is ideal for smaller numbers of birds and gas brooders for larger numbers. N.B. If buying a new brooder then Maywicks are the only real option to go for that will provide accurate, temperature control at ground level as other makes have less sensitive thermostats that cause greater variations in the max & min ground temperature which is NOT good for birds.

Ideally the heat should be constant and will put 30 degrees on the back of the birds for the first few days. This should drop to 20 deg at 28 days but the initial week is the most important. The space below the heat should be large enough for the birds to move away if they get too hot or they will stand with their wings out and pant and dehydrate.

Wood shavings can be used on the floor to provide insulation from the cold. These also have the advantage of absorbing moisture from droppings and water spillages. Why we use litter on the floor is discussed here.

Avoiding Drafts

An important factor of the brooder area is that it should be as draft-free as possible. You can see this more with turkey chicks & poults. If there is a draft at one end of a brooding shed, they will all congregate at the other end. It sounds strange I know but it is not uncommon to have a few hundred chicks all huddled at one end of a shed. I used to brood pens of around 1500 and would use 50cm high cardboard pinned to bales of shavings (so it would stand up) in large circles as this would prevent drafts from disrupting the chicks. I have seen the consequences on several cold nights where slight drafts have caused the chicks to pile up together for warmth only to cause several to smother so draftt prevention is something which should not be overlooked.

Lighting

Light should be distributed evenly, as weak birds will scurry off into the shadows and not eat, making the flock less even in size which will result in problems with bullying later on. A good 60w bulb hanging near the food container is ideal as the heat and light will help to draw the birds in and in turn show the birds where to find food.

Water

Water should be readily available 24hrs a day to newly hatched chicks as should feed. Notice I mentioned water first as this takes top priority for the bird as it will have enough nutrition from the yolk sack to keep it going for 3-4 days. After 5 or 6 hours, the chicks crop will be noticeable and will be soft to the touch.

Both feed & water should be under the heat and to the side so birds in either area have them freely available. The water should be changed regularly as bugs grow very fast in warm conditions. Be careful if you are using liquivits (liquid vitamin supplements), follow the instructions carefully as the sugar in them will dehydrate the chicks if too-high a concentration is used. This can be seen by thin, wrinkly legs in a chick and a number of specialist poultry vets actively discourage their use in day old chicks.

Increasing the rearing area

Expanding the size of the pen should take place when the birds are ready and not before. I've had plenty people tell me over the years what square footage to make available to certain ages / weights of chicks and when to increase the size to the next stage but nothing beats looking at the chicks. No-matter what theory someone invented the only real way was to watch how the birds moved within the group and how they held themselves. Pullets tended to mature slightly faster than the males in the first few days (this may be breed specific) but the males need the larger pens to increase in size more often.