Brooding the chicks

A few short pieces of advice:

You can tell if the chicks are too cold or too warm by how they position themselves and behave. If they bunch up under the heat lamp, often with loud urgent peeping, they are too cold and the lamp needs to be lowered. If they are as far from the lamp as they can get, they are too hot and you need to raise the lamp.

Generally, the temperature is correct when they sleep sprawled out towards the outer edges of the area heated by the lamp.

For the first few days any bedding should be covered with paper towels in order to give them very good traction; if they slip and slide or have difficulty walking on the bedding, they can develop spraddle leg, a deformity that requires splinting if they are to be able to walk as adults.

Feeding plain chick scratch for the first feeding helps prevent rump pasting, a disorder in which the chick becomes unable to defecate and can die if the blockage is not gently removed with a damp cloth.

Good beddings include pine shavings, sand, and ground corn cobs. All beddings should be covered the first few days not only because of the risk of spraddle leg, but because the chicks don't know what is - and is not - food. They will fill up on the bedding and possibly starve to death if they have access to it.

A very low sided cardboard box, like the lid of a shoe box, makes a good first feeder. Be sure the chicks can reach the food.

When do chicks go outside? They need to be fully feathered. In this weather I put mine out around eight weeks. They will need a shelter and to be confined to their run until they are big enough to deter cats. They can go out in the yard around 12-16 weeks, depending on size.

All chickens should be enclosed inside a very predator resistant run or coop from one hour before sunset until one hour after dawn. Nights, and especially the period around sunrise and sunset are very active times for predators.

While your chicks are brooding, you may choose to make pets of them. This is done by picking them up and holding them in your cupped hands, with your fingers slightly over their backs to keep them from jumping out. Be very careful not to hold them too tightly because they will suffocate. Hold the chick until it calms down, speaking to it gently. Continue speaking to the chick for a few minutes after it has relaxed. Start with only a few minutes per day per chick. After a few days, you may choose to continue speaking to the chick for a longer time; do not be surprised if it falls asleep in your hands. Do this for all chicks you wish to keep as pets. Do not do this if you intend to eat the chick when it grows up because it is very difficult to process a chicken when their is an attachment.