Gotta love chick week.
Well, this week was a rodeo.
The first week of raising chickens is always the craziest, they’re at their most vulnerable and need the most attention. Heat and maintaining brooder temperature is key, as chicks can’t thermoregulate until several days after they’re born. You can catch your breathe and start to relax a little after the first week or so, but until then being mother hen is nonstop.
Thermoregulation is a process mammals have to maintain body temperature—when your internal temperature changes, sensors in your Central Nervous System (CNS) send signals to organs and systems in your body. Chicks do not have the ability to thermoregulate until they’re about 4-6 days old.
In came the rodeo—the inclement weather this April did not do us any favours. We got off to a great start, couldn’t have asked for better weather on chick day, but all that sunshine was quickly replaced with cold, wet, and even snow in the days that followed. That meant even more regular chick checks to make sure everyone was comfortable and warm. Our brooders are inside of an old barn, which does offer great shelter, space, lighting, and ventilation for our chicks, but this time of year it can tend to be cold. Fortunately, the extra insulation we added to the brooder walls this winter in anticipation of a cold spring and the multiple heat sources between our lamps and heat plates did the trick. Despite the cold wind and snow outside, our chicks had warm bedding and each other to huddle up in under the heat plates.
Aside from the brooder conditions and temperature, there are a few things about the chicks themselves I like to keep an eye on: their weight, their crop, and their overall behaviour.
Weight: I weigh the chicks the very first day they arrive, on the fourth day, and on the seventh day. Monitoring and tracking their weight in the early days helps to make sure they’re growing at a healthy rate and getting off to a good start. It also lets you know whether the flock is growing at a consistent and similar rate, as well as identifies any runts that might need special attention. It’s amazing how fast broilers grow, in the first week alone they’ll more than double their weight.
Crop: I like to think of a chicken’s crop as its lunchbox. It’s a pouch on the front of their breast that holds food before it goes into their digestive system. A chick’s crop should feel a little firm but pliable with a smooth consistency. An empty or airy crop means the chick needs more food, a hard crop means it needs more water, and a lumpy or grainy crop means it’s eating its bedding and/or is stressed.
Behaviour: Healthy chicks are active chicks, when they’re not sleeping. You can often tell how the flock is before you even lay eyes on them, just as you’re approaching the brooder—you can hear them chirping playfully, their feet rustling through the bedding as they run around. A quiet brooder, if they’re not sleeping, means they’re likely afraid or stressed, hiding from a potential predator or threat. It’s also important to pay attention to their placement throughout the brooder, they should be spread out pretty evenly. If they’re huddled up it likely means they’re cold, if they’re too far away from the heat source they’re overheating, and if they’re off in the corner it likely means there’s a draft they’re trying to get away from. Also keep an eye out for bullies, as chickens that are bullying or pecking others are likely just reacting out of stress. If you figure out what’s upsetting a bully and can calm them down and rid them of their stress then they’ll normally quit acting up—in many ways, they’re really not all that different from us.
Molting is the shedding of an outer layer or covering and the formation of another. For chicks, molting involves the shedding of down and growth of feathers.
The chick phase never lasts long, a week in and they’re already starting to molt and feather up. As crazy as chick week can be, you do really need to enjoy it while it lasts. They don’t stay chicks for long and very quickly lose their cuteness. White Rock broilers have been bred for decades to do one thing: grow, and they’re damn good at it. Make no wonder in just 8 weeks they reach full maturity. After just a week puberty is already hitting these chicks like a brick wall and they’re entering their awkward teenage years, their fluffy complexion and down replaced with tiny feathers starting to sprout up all over their bodies. Like teenagers they’re also starting to come into their own, more and more their personalities starting to come through.
I’m always reminded in the first week how rewarding it can be to raise a flock, especially the first flock of the season after a long winter. There’s something special about tending to them each day, watching them grow, and learning what makes them tick. As I write this the sun is even starting to poke back through the clouds. Here’s to a healthy flock and the warmer temperatures ahead.
