The Brooder Box
No matter your reason for having chickens, if you will be raising them from chicks, you will need to set up a brooder box inside a warm space for when the chicks first arrive.

A brooder box doesnt have to be a box at all, it can be an area in the corner of the basement that is blocked off and has a light for warmth. It could be a large, heavy corrugated box also with a lamp. As long as it has heat, water, and a soft floor and no predators like dogs, cats, or even little children can get at it, it should do just fine.

If you want some really wonderful instructions on how to make a brooder box from a refrigerator box you can get from an appliance dealer, the very nice folks at Backwoods Home Magazine, have instructions and pictures. Go to the reference section and click the link.

Once you have the flock in the brooder box, you will need to keep it really warm, about 95 degrees the first week. (Ok, thats more than a little warm for you and me, but for a chick; its toasty.)

You are going to drop that temperature about 5 degrees each week until youre at a very comfortable 65 70 degrees. By that time your little chicks will be much bigger than they were when they arrived, and they will have enough feathers to maintain their body heat.

Be careful not to hang the light too low, the reason the chicks need so much heat is because they dont have feathers. That also means they can burn easily, hang the light low enough to provide heat, and high enough where they dont burn themselves or overheat. Also, dont use a bulb with a high wattage; if you can find one thats about 15 watts, that would be ideal. You control the temperature of the box by raising and lowering the light as opposed to how hot the bulb burns.

Chicks are adorable, soft little things, and of course, if you have children around, they are going to want to pet them. Its really important in the first few weeks that they not be handled more than necessary. You can explain to the kids that chicks have a very sensitive system and they need to do a little bit of growing before theyre handled so they dont catch cold. Theyll still be cute in three weeks when they can be handled a little.

Make sure your brooder box has walls at least a few feet high. As they grow, theyll become curious and you dont want them flying out. Dont put newspaper on the floor, at least not by itself, you dont want them on a slippery surface. You can put paper toweling down because it has traction or wood shavings.

Also, we know theyre small, but they really do need that 1 sq. ft. of space. They are going to live in that box for six weeks, at about 3 to 4 weeks, they are going to start determining who the top chick is which means pecking at each other. This will exacerbated if they dont enough space to move. Theyve been known to do each other serious damage with their beaks if they are too crowded.

They will also need water, so you will have to have a watering system. Again, this doesnt have to be fancy. Use something the chicks can dip their beaks into. Backwoods Homes suggest something as simple as the lid from a 5 gallon bucket. You will have to teach your chicks to drink their water from whatever device you use. You can do this by taking each chick and dipping his beak in the water and making sure he drinks. Do this when you get them so they can learn it quickly.

And, of course, they will need food. You can buy a feeder that will provide proper spacing for each chick. You might want to consider using a medicated feed at least until theyre out of the box to assist their growing bodies. Once theyre ready for the outdoors, you can go organic without lasting effects.

You are going to keep your babies in the brooder box until they are about six to eight weeks old when theyll be ready for their permanent home. If the nighttime temp stays above 50, you can move them outdoors. You can do the same thing with your chicks that you do with plants that have been under lamps inside, you can have them outside for a few hours and then move them back in and gradually get them used to the out of doors.

Things to watch and listen for: If your chicks are content in their new home, you will hear some peeps as they walk about getting to know their neighborhood, if they may a lot of noise, or sound distressed, you know theres something wrong.

If they all gather in one corner hovering together, the box is either too hot, or theres a draft. If theyre languid, check to make sure the temperature isnt too high.

One other thing, you might be tempted to place your brooder box in some area of your home, like the kitchen, thinking that your kids might like to watch them since they cant touch them for the first few weeks. Were not telling you how to raise your younguns either flat or webbed footed, but the wings on chicks are covered with a fine powdery substance and as the wings grow out, that substance goes all over the place and it doesnt discriminate. If you want to keep the brooder box in the house, consider the basement or an area where you dont have a lot of furniture or clothing or a place where you dont mind being covered with chick dust.

Chicks arent fussy. They dont need fancy accommodations, they need a place where they can be warm, get food and water, and have space to move around. We ve heard of chick condos made of boxes with windows cut out of them, weve heard of converted childrens pools used for brooder boxes and for halfway houses for when the chicks were moved outside from the brooder box but before they went into the coops. As longs as you understand the basics: they need access to food, water, and warmth; you can make a home for your chicks in almost anything.