Raising Baby Chicks in your Own Baby Chicken Hatcheries

Raising Baby Chicks

Baby Chickens Are Amusing and Affectionate Pets

Learn all about baby chicken housing, feeding, temperature and imprinting and playtime with your new flock. Learn all about Baby Chicken Hatcheries raising chickens and raising chickens eggs into new baby chicks.

Raising baby chicks and backyard chickens is a very rewarding experience and can provide you with lots of eggs, meat, and some cute companions. Almost anyone can raise Various Breeds of chickens, even if you live in an urban or suburban area. Thankfully, raising chickens in the city can be done!

Chicken Food

Chicken Supplies you will need.

You will want to start your baby chickens on a medicated 20% protein chick starter food for their first two months, followed by a good 18% protein grower food until age four months. At this age you can use layer crumbles at 16% protein. In order to meet your hens Nutritional Needs" you will want to provide the following:

Table Scraps:

Courtesy of lepiaf.geo

In addition to the layer crumbles, it is very beneficial to add scraps such as vegetables, fruits, breads, and almost anything else from your table. They are not at all picky and love many different flavors, so clean out your fridge!

I feed the hens as much of the produce that we either cannot process or eat fast enough, or that became buggy. Watermelon rinds are a big favorite picnic for my chickens.

Natural Bugs

Courtesy of Isadore Berg

When raising baby chicks, the adults need separate quarters, so I let the hens and rooster out during the day when I am home to watch them. They benefit from the sunlight that increases egg production, and from the bugs and seeds they will scratch from under the leaves and grass to supplement their diet.

Chicken Scratch:

This is an inexpensive product containing several grains. It is lower in protein than the chickens require for the full diet, so we use it as treats, scattering so the hens can search for it in the yards. Do not rely on scratch when raising baby chicks that are newborn to six weeks old. The single best diet you can provide is through the practice of Raising Free Range Chickens.

Calcium

Be sure to give your chickens a calcium source to strengthen the egg shells. You can use a commercial oyster shell product, or save money and give your hens their own egg shells for their calcium.

It has been said that you must wash and then crush the egg shells so that your hens do not develop a bad habit of eating their own eggs.

I am short on time for these menial tasks so I tried not washing them, nor crushing them either. It made no difference at all in the hens laying behavior and I had no problems with their cannibalizing my breakfast either. Time saved!

Check out more great pictures of raising chickens

Chicken Grit

Imagine requiring grit in your craw to go with your dinner. We would be in sorry shape, but your chickens need it in their crop to act as sharp teeth to grind up their food. You can provide small crushed rocks daily, or a bowl of course sand works great too.

Chicken Treats

In the coldest wintertime I give my hens and baby chickens warm apple oatmeal. They love it! Other treats that you can hand feed your chickens are lettuce, berries, worms, corn and just about any vegetable or fruit you have in your garden.

My chickens are great about finishing off any stale breakfast cereal the kids tire of, and that goes for stale bread rolls or crusts as well. You can train your baby chicken to come to you immediately when called if you keep chicken treats in your pocket when they are little.