![]() Photo © Gail Damerow, excerpted from Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, 4th Edition.ĭO clean waterers daily. To minimize stress, chicks should drink soon after they hatch and eat within five hours. Damp conditions in a brooder - whether caused by spilled water or a leaky waterer - are to be avoided. They’ll tend to get wet and chilled, and the stress will open the way to disease. Chicks will walk in it, tracking litter and droppings that spread disease. The easiest way to provide water to newly hatched chicks is to use a 1-quart (1 L) canning jar fitted with a metal or plastic watering base, available from most feed stores and poultry-supply catalogs.ĭON’T be tempted to cut corners and provide water in an open dish or saucer. Chicks shouldn’t be able to roost over or step in the water. This way, a chick drinks more and spills less. ![]() The basin should be high enough to keep the water level between a chick’s eye and the height of its back. A waterer should be the correct size for your flock’s size and age - chicks should neither use up the available water quickly nor be able to tip over the fount. Here are a few dos and don’ts for making sure you’re meeting your new arrivals’ food and water needs.ĭO make sure chicks must have access to fresh, clean water at all times. ![]() Like any other babies, they must also be kept clean and well fed. Newly hatched chicks are not entirely helpless, but until they grow a full complement of feathers, you’ll need to keep them warm, dry, and safe. Photo © gina pina, via Wikimedia Commons.
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