SHELTER Baby chicken feathers will not protect them from cold. Therefore, baby chicks should be indoors for at least five weeks. First place that chick lives is called a brooder. Brooder is simple to make because it can be a box, empty fish tank or a small cage. It should be lined on the bottom with newspaper or with mulch. This liner should be changed every few days so it is clean and dry. This is important to keep out the diseases. The brooder should be big enough so that chicks can move and sleep and has enough space for food and water . Brooder can be home to more than one chick. It's important to keep the brooder warm, but it's also important for chicks to get used to outside temperature. Therefore you need to adjust the temperature of the brooder every week. Start with 90-100 degrees F the first week. Then, lower down temperature by 5 degrees every week until the chicks have feathers that will protect them.Often, temperature is kept by lamps. You can move them closer for more heat, or away for less heat.
FOOD AND WATER Little chicks drink a lot of water. Always make sure there is enough. Also, clean the water as often as possible. Chicks leave droppings everywhere - even in their water dish! As soon as chocks hatch, they start scratching for food. This can get messy, so a good idea is to get a feeder. This will keep food in one place. Just like with water, change is often! The first thing you should feed the chicks is called "crumbles". Buy this in any pet or feed store. It has everything chick needs as well as medicine to prevent diseases that can kill them.
PLAY Just like all babies, chicks need play time. They are curious and run around. But, they are babies and need to be watched carefully. If it is warm outside, you can take them out to play for a little bit. Make sure to watch out for cats and other animals!
BEAK TRIMMING It is best to trim beaks of a baby chicken when they are one or two days old. Then you should trim them again in few months. This is just like clipping fingernails. The reasons to clip the beaks is because chickens start pecking on each other and they are actually cannibals. This means that they will peck and eat other chicken. When they are trimmed they can't do it. Therefore, they lose the habit. Once they learn not to do it you don't have to trim them any more.
