When the baby chicks arrive from the hatchery, they have flown across the United States, to our local post office and then through a car ride home to our beginner farm. They are tired, cold and hungry. When you first bring chicks home, whether it be from the hatchery or a local farm store, you need to get them into a warm place right away with food and water. The ideal outside the heat lamp temperature should be 95 degrees. This is to ensure they are not so cold that all huddle under the heat lamp smothering each other. You can tell if chicks are too hot if they are all outlining they space you have provided, or too cold if they are all huddling under the heat lamp. You want the chicks to be spaced out evenly and hearing happy chirping noises.
They need to have grit at ground level, to kick start their gizzards. They also need feed a little higher then their feet, in a feeder that the chicks can not roost on, so they do not contaminate their food. They also need water, a little higher then beak level, so they do not get it clogged and dirty when scratching around.
About every 4 days you need to add about 2 inches of bedding under the chicks, as to always keep their space warm and dry. Every 7 days you drop the temperature about 5 degrees. Make sure you always have food and water readily available to them.
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