Healthy chicks make a great investment.
If you want fresh eggs, fresh poultry, garden pest eliminators and a great supply of fertilizer, look into buying baby chicks. Chickens also make great pets, and their upkeep is relatively inexpensive and easy. Just give them a small shelter and the proper food and they'll supply you with company in the garden and plenty of fresh, wholesome food.
Instructions
Buying Baby Chickens
1. Find a farm supply store carrying the breed of chicks you prefer. Americans are great for meat and eggs; Mediterranean are smaller, but good for eggs; Asiatic and English are great for meat. It's better to buy locally because shipping chicks almost always results in some deaths.
2. Check the source. Make sure the hatchery stocking the chicks is supervised by the state agency of the National Poultry Improvement Plan, so you're less likely to end up with diseased birds. The hatchery should vaccinate their chicks for Marek's disease.
3. Place your order at least a few months ahead of time. Although many people buy their chicks in the spring, you can also buy them as early as November.
4. Understand the terms of the purchase. Some hatcheries check the gender of the chicks before shipping, but if you're buying "straight run chicks," the hatchery will not. In the latter case you can't depend upon having an equal number of males and females.
5. Once the chicks arrive, look them over before taking them home. Never take home a chick that looks ill.
6. If the chicks aren't fully feathered, they need a warm place to live. A metal tub with a heat lamp with do the trick, as long as you keep a thermometer handy. Start the chicks out at 95 degrees F. Each week, drop the temperature by 5 degrees.
7. Once the chicks have feathers, keep them in an ordinary chicken shelter. However, stress in chicks can lead to disease, so introduce them to their new home little by little.
8. Be sure to buy chick starter at the same time you pick up your chicks. Keep a good supply in their house, and make sure to use chick water containers, which prevent the animals from falling into the water source and drowning.
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