Five Great Tips for Rearing Chicks

Very early in the year we had a determined hen who sat on her clutch of eggs and refused to move, eventually and sadly she only managed to hatch out one egg. Fast forward a couple of months, the days are longer, the sun is shining (occasionally) and the Flyte so Fancy hens and ducks are in full egg hatching mode.

A week or so ago the wild duck who lives on our pond hatched out a tiny flotilla of seven ducklings. Shortly after, a clutch of Gold Hamburg chicks hatched out and we have now discovered a Cayuga Duck sitting very tightly on a nest in the middle of an un-mown clump of nettles and long grass. More ducklings to follow shortly it would seem.

Our Cayuga Cross Ducklings from 2014

With all these exciting little bundles of fluff popping up all over Flyte so Fancy, this weeks blog has five top tips for rearing chicks

1. The best thing to feed your chicks from the moment they hatch is Chick Crumb. Make sure that you put the feed in a container which the chicks cannot tip over or scratch the feed out of. 
2. Water needs to be provided for chicks, but make sure that you put it in a drinker or a container in which they cannot drown. A good idea is to fill the bottom of your drinker with marbles or clean washed stones to prevent this. 
3. If you're using a heat lamp instead of a contact brooder, turn it on a couple of days before they hatch, this will give the area time to warm up for your hatching chicks.
4. If you have been using a hen to hatch and rear your chicks, then you can remove her from them at around four weeks old. However you should leave the chicks together until they are eight weeks old and then move them from their Broody Coop and into a larger house.
5. If you are raising your chicks under a heat lamp make sure it is positioned correctly. Too high and the chicks will be cold, evident from their huddling in a mass in the center. Too low and they will burn, fleeing to the edges of their container to avoid the heat. 

A FSF Chick

Rearing your own chicks can be a very rewarding process and we have many hens and cockerels here at Flyte so Fancy HQ which have hatched and lived here in our poultry paddock all their lives. 

If you would like more information about rearing chicks, or ducks, have a look at our information page on Incubation and Chick Rearing, leave a comment below or call us on 01300 345220 to talk to a member of the Flyte so Fancy Team.

Thanks for Reading

James