The Savage Ways of Baby Chicks: It’s a Chick Eat Chick World

I had heard that chickens were cannibalistic from a number of sources before I started raising them, but I always thought that meant that they would eat chicken meat or eggs if you fed that to them. An I knew they pecked at each other, but I always thought that was more of a social hierarchy development mechanism more than an attempt to eat each other, but Twain Lockhart (poultry feed specialist for Cargill) painted a different picture for me.

Twain started by answering a few questions about feed, mostly the difference between the baby chick feed I was feeding my hens, and the feed I should start feeding them when they start laying eggs. The egg laying feed formula, according to Twain has a lot more calcium in it because the hens use a lot of calcium to produce eggs. A hen low in calcium might lay eggs with very thin shells, or even no shells at all. Sometimes a chicken owner might even have to supply ground sea shells for the hens to eat–which they will eat if they know they are low on calcium.

The baby chicks, however need something different. Baby chicks need a formula rich in protein to help them grow. In addition to the soy and corn that are the base of the feed, there is also some pork and ground beef bone in the mix to provide the 21-26% protein Twain says is essential to baby chick growth. If the baby chicks feel like they are low on protein, it could spell trouble for the other chicks.

Twain says that when the chicks are low on protein, they peck at each other to try to get feathers which are high in protein. If by mistake, they happen to draw blood, the other chicks will see it and gang up on it and likely kill it. Here is a video of chicks fighting over a piece of mozzarella cheese I found on YouTube. Keep in mind, the chicks in this video are going for the cheese. Imagine what would happen if they were out for blood.

Twain, who prefaced his statement with “no one should ever do this”, said that even if one were to take a red felt-tipped marker and put a red dot on a baby chick, the other chicks would probably kill it and eat it.

In addition to giving your chicks regular feed, Twain says they will eat pretty much any edible green that grows in your yard, and that they love crickets and meal worms. He even says when they get bigger, they will catch small lizards and mice. I have yet to see any of my hens catch anything bigger that a worm, but I really don’t know what they do all day while they are out in the yard. I am just glad that I fed them properly and they didn’t turn on each other for a carnal dose of protein.

Choosing Your Breed

When I was thinking about getting chickens, there was really only one characteristic I was looking for in them which was friendliness. I had never had a pet before (except goldfish) and thought if I was going to get a pet I would want one that would love me as much I intended on loving it. So to find the perfect pets, I started researching different breeds online.

The site I found the most helpful in selecting which chicks to order was mypetchicken.com. Mypetchicken.com has a breed selection tool that made me realize there were more factors I needed to consider in buying my chickens than just whether they are friendly. Some of the factors you can search by include:

-Heartiness in winter (which I needed to consider being in Wisconsin)
-Rareness
-Whether or not they will bear chicks
-What color eggs you want (anywhere from white, to brown to blue)
-Rate of egg laying
-Docility

I decided to narrow my search to my chickens which would be friendly and also to ones hearty enough to survive the winter. The other factors weren’t that important to me so I chose the “does not matter” option when I did my search. Unfortunately, my search left me with 22 breeds to chose from so my work was not yet over.

My roommate Chad really liked the Barred Plymouth breed because they were supposedly one of the most friendly breeds (according to his research) and because he thought they looked really pretty. I was planning on getting four chicks (the maximum number Madison allows) and figured I could get two Barred Plymouths and two of some other breed. I eventually settled on purchasing two Easter Eggers to grow up with my Plymouths. The Easter Eggers are a unique species which lays eggs that can be blue, green, brown, or even pink (though they will only lay one of these colors throughout their entire life).

After choosing your breed, you need to decide whether you want to pay an extra dollar/chick (on top of the $2.50 they cost initially) if you want to get the chicks immunized (not really sure against what) and fifty cents/chick if you want females. Then you just have to choose your desired delivery date and wait until they come. Good luck choosing your chickens!

The First Few Weeks

The first week was an adjustment week for everyone involved. The girls suddenly seemed to big for their box at the foot of my bed so I moved them into a refrigerator box in the basement. While they were enclosed in the laundry room, I still tried to keep them safe from the cat (or from escape) by providing a screen mesh cover for the box.

The chickens needed to be kept between 85 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and the cooler basement meant I had to get the light even closer to the box. Each week after I was able to move the light a little higher, as typically the chickens can handle about five degrees cooler temperatures each week.

They seemed happy but they were growing at a rate which made the box seem smaller by the day. In fact, in a month and a half, Whiskers went from 44g to 481g.

It wasn’t long before my roommates and I agreed that having chickens in our house made the place smell like chickens (which is not really the aroma you want to smell every time you come home). So the next step was building a coop.

The First Night

The first night was the roughest for me…I am not sure how it was for the girls really. They were the chirpiest I would ever hear them on that first night.

I set up a small cardboard box with some holes in it at the foot of my bed for the girls. I had the heat lamp clamped right above the wire-mesh top I fashioned to protect the girls from my roommate Matt’s cats, and I was the typical nervous new father.

Sleeping with a glowing red light and constant chirping was a new experience for me and I couldn’t help but wonder if the chirping meant I had done something wrong. Were they too hot? Were they too cold? The internet said they should be between 85-90 degrees for their first week; which is what my horse-themed outdoor thermometer said before I went to sleep.

When I was awake I worried that I did something wrong. When I dozed, I had dreams that the lamp had gotten too hot over time and that the girls would be extra crispy in the morning. I must have gotten up five times to check the temp.

Me happily tucking the girls in

In the morning the girls were all quietly sleeping in one corner of the box. Not huddled too closely indicating and sign of being cold, but just comfortably resting. I hoped the nights would get easier for me and that I would continue to provide an environment that not only kept the girls alive overnight, but also helped them grow to be happy adult hens who would enjoy life in my yard while teaching me responsibility and providing me delicious eggs when the time came.

The First Day

I was awakened early that Tuesday morning by an 8 a.m. phone call from an unknown number with a Madison area code. It was still summer vacation and I wasn’t planning on getting up until at least ten. Around nine-thirty, I began to awaken again, this time my mind was racing.

I had been expecting baby chickens any day and Tuesday was actually as late as I expected them. I rolled over and checked my voicemail in a bit of a panic. I still didn’t have all the supplies I needed.

Sure enough, the message was from someone at the post office saying they had a package for me. In most instances the post office will deliver the package to my house, but I knew in the case of chickens they would have to be picked up (probably primarily for weather concerns if the box had to be left outside).

I rushed to get dressed, skipping the shower I take first thing almost every single morning and went straight to Farm and Fleet to get a feeder and a heat lamp (baby chicks are supposed to be 85-90 degrees their first week of life and these girls were less than two days old).

I went straight to the post office and when I got to the counter I said I got a call about a package for me.

The lady looked at me and said, “You must be the guy with the chicks.”

Sure enough, the chicks were there. I could hear them chirping in the back and I only wish I could have seen the smile on my face as I carried that chirping box out the front door of the post office walking by half a dozen other people who would likely not be getting live mail that morning.

I had my roommate grab the video camera and film as the box was opened, though I had some reservations about making this video. The website recommended that if I had kids not to open the box in front of them in case one of the birds didn’t survive. The company MyPetChicken.com had ensured live arrival, but understand that not all infants survive, though shipping chicks is supposedly safe as the chicks do not need to eat or drink for the first day or so of their lives.

Either way, my chicks were healthy, and I got them set up in a box at the foot of my bed. Caring for baby chicks indoors was going to be my first challenge.