Spring on the homestead often leads to a major case of chick fever! Whether you are looking to start your first homestead flock or wanting to add to your existing homestead flock, there are some things to consider before getting chicks this spring for the homestead! These 6 tips for buying chicks will help you evaluate when the best time to get chicks is, where you want to get your chicks from, how to pick out chicks, and the best way to prepare your homestead for chicks. Considering all these things before rushing out to get chicks is essential for raising a healthy and productive homestead flock!
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#1. The Perfect Timing
Do you ever wonder why chicks are usually associated with spring when eggs can be incubated and hatched all year round if needed? That’s because spring is naturally the best time to raise chicks. Just look at nature. Birds typically mate in late-winter, early spring and then the rest of spring is spent building nests, laying eggs, and hatching young. The same would be true for a chicken’s ancestors.
Spring:
Spring is a good time to raise chicks because, in most regions, the weather is just cool enough that disease-causing organisms are not super prevalent yet. However, the weather is just starting to warm up enough that raising young chicks isn’t too challenging from the cold temperatures. The gradual increase in temperature allows the young chicks to slowly build up immunity to the organisms in their environment. Spring chicks are also able to mature and grow in their adult feathers before cooler fall weather comes.
Summer:
Summer may also seem like a good time to raise chicks because of the warmer weather. However, warmer weather also causes disease-causing organisms to be more active and prevalent. Raising chicks during the summer requires careful cleaning and good management to help the young chicks build up a strong immune system despite more exposure to disease and parasites. Summer chicks will also not have as much time to mature before cold weather comes in the fall and winter.
Fall & Winter:
While some breeders do raise chicks in the fall and winter, in many regions it is just not practical unless you have a special set-up for housing the chicks inside in a safely heated area while they mature. The cold, damp weather often associated with winter in many regions makes it not the ideal time for raising susceptible, heat-reliant chicks.
Thus, spring is the perfect time to add chicks to your homestead!
#2. Well Sourced
Aside from timing, another thing you will want to plan out when getting chicks for the homestead is where you will source the chicks from. There’s nothing like walking into the local farm store, hearing all that cute cheeping, and wanting to take home a box full for the homestead! However, where you source your chicks from will influence the quality, longevity, and overall health of your homestead flock.
Hatching
Let’s start at the beginning: hatching chicks. Hatching chicks is one way to add chicks to your homestead. Instead of sourcing chicks, you now have to source quality hatching eggs to incubate. There are several ways you can aquire hatching eggs:
- mail order eggs
- collect eggs from your existing homestead flock
- buy eggs from a local breeder
Mail ordering hatching eggs is the most risky source of acquiring eggs. Aside from the fact that shipped eggs may arrive damaged and cracked, shipped eggs also have a lower hatch rate. The stress from shipping and handling will affect how many eggs develop and reach the final stages of incubation. Collecting eggs from your own flock or buying hatching eggs locally is the best bet for getting a good hatch rate.
Hatching eggs to get chicks also requires that you have the right equipment for incubation. Naturally, a broody mother hen would be ideal, but not every homesteader may be ready to take on the task of caring for a broody hen and her chicks, especially if this is going to be your first homestead flock. If you are not using a broody hen, you will need to invest in an incubator and the accompanying equipment needed for hatching eggs on the homestead.
Breeding
For homesteaders who already have an existing homestead flock, breeding your chickens may be an option for acquiring chicks this spring. You will need to have a rooster with your flock in order to get fertile hatching eggs. As long as your rooster is fertile and your whole flock is in good health, you should be all set to start a basic breeding operation. Chickens breed year-round, but roosters do tend to be the most active in the spring, which is perfect for collecting eggs for a spring batch of chicks.
Breeding chickens on a professional scale does require a little research and networking with other poultry breeders. However, if you are just looking to add to your homestead flock, a simple homestead breeding operation will work just fine!
Hatchery & Farm Store
Hatching eggs isn’t for everyone (although I guarantee if you are on a modern pioneer journey, you will want to give it a try at some point). Which now brings us to sourcing chicks instead of hatching eggs. The obvious source for chicks would be your local farm store. The chicks at most farm stores come from commercial hatcheries.
While there is nothing ‘bad’ about hatchery chicks, they are not the best quality chicks. Hatcheries get hatching eggs from numerous breeders who breed for that hatchery. Since hatcheries are selling to a very large audience, they need to hatch out many, many chicks every season. The breeders supplying the hatching eggs are usually not breeding for specific qualities or with preserving the breeds genetics in mind.
While the chicks may be pure-bred, very rarely do they meet breed standards for breeds that are recognized by the American Poultry Association. Hatcheries are good sources for hybrid chicken breeds and production chicken breeds.
Mail Order Chicks
You can buy chicks directly from a hatchery or in-directly through a local farm store. For hatcheries that are strictly online, you will have to mail order your chicks. Mail ordering chicks is risky. While reputable hatcheries take careful precautions when shipping out their chicks, it is still risky mailing such fragile, young creatures. Not to mention that shipping is very stressful on chicks.
Mail ordering chicks often gives you a wide variety of breed choices since the online hatchery can list so many breeds on their website without having to ship chicks from each of those breeds to a farm store.
I recommend to try to avoid mail ordering chicks for your homestead. The chicks will be more prone to disease because of the high levels of stress that they experience from shipping. And of course, there is always the risk of causalities before the chicks reach your homestead.
Breeders & Farms
The alternative to buying whatever hatchery chicks are available at the local farm store or from ordering chicks online is to buy chicks from a breeder or farm. Breeders will often specialize in one or two breeds. Farms will often have a wider selection of breeds to choose from. The word ‘farm’ has been greatly distorted to encompass all sorts of livestock raising systems. However, when I’m referring to farm here I’m talking about down-to-earth operations who still consider the health, well-being, and longevity of their birds.
Whether you buy from a breeder or a farm, either one should have an in-depth knowledge about the breed or breeds that they are selling. They should own the parent stock of your chicks and be able to provide you information about the flock’s health history and breed standards. Breeders and reputable farms are often paying more attention to preserving genetics, which allows you to get more pure, healthy chicks who will live a long and productive life.
Some breeders will ship chicks, but most prefer a local pickup or may even ship you hatching eggs. Farms may also have the option to ship chicks, but if at all possible, try to do a farm pickup instead of having the chicks shipped.
If you can’t already tell, I’m biased to buying chicks for the homestead from breeders and farms!
#3. Proper Pre-Chick Prep
Once you determine when and where you are going to get chicks for the homestead, it’s time to cover some proper pre-chick preparations! How much prep you need to do will be determined by where you are sourcing your chicks from. However, there are some preparation basics that will apply no matter where you are sourcing your chicks.
Here are some pre-chick preparations that must be done before getting chicks:
- Heat Source– decide on what kind of heat source you will provide for the chicks, a heat lamp or a radiant heater
- Clean Feeder & Water– buy and/or thoroughly clean up a chick size feeder and water system
- Litter- buy a pack of paper towels to use as brooder litter for the first 2-3 days and buy some large flake wood shavings to use as brooder litter after that
- Feed– buy chick starter feed
- Set Up a Brooder– learn how to properly set up the brooder for your chicks
- Thermometer– get a small thermometer to place in the brooder to keep track of the brooder temperature
- Preheat– about 2-3 hours before you are going to get your chicks, turn on the heat source in the brooder
- Electrolytes– make some homemade electrolytes to use as your chicks’ water source for the first 2 days of their life
- Sugar Water– make up some homemade sugar water (using honey) to give to newly hatched chicks and mail ordered chicks
Source-Specific Prep:
If you are hatching eggs, you will want to do all this prep during the three days (lockdown days) prior to hatching. Once the chicks have hatched and fluffed out, you can move them to the brooder. You can give each chick a sip of sugar water prior to being placed in the brooder. You will also need to teach the chicks where the heat source is and where to find food and water.
If you are buying chicks locally, you will want to have everything all set for when you bring the chicks home. More than likely the chicks will already be a few days old, so they don’t typically need sugar water. You will still need to teach the chicks where to find the heat source and where to get food and water.
If you mail ordered chicks, you should have the brooder all set-up before you are supposed to pick up the chicks at the post office. Since the chicks will have been through the stressful ordeal of shipping, they may benefit from a sip of sugar water prior to being put in the brooder. They will also need to be taught where to find heat, food, and water.
Sugar Water Tip: Too much sugar water can lead to pasty butt. Just a sip or two is all they need.
#4. Mail Ording Tips
Despite the fact that mail ordering chicks is risky, there are some perks to mail ordering chicks that may appeal to some homesteaders. Who can resist such a wide variety of cool chicken breeds right at your finger tips? Cheaper prices, low order minimums, and money-back policies may also be of some appeal.
With that being said, here are some tips for if you do decide to try mail ordering chicks for your homestead:
- Make sure you have both the hatcheries phone number and your post office’s phone number handy.
- Don’t plan any important events for the day when the chicks are supposed to arrive. You should pick the chicks up immeditely!
- Ensure that the chicks are held at the post office when they arrive and that you are notified immediately.
- Picking the chicks up at the post office is essential. You don’t want the chicks to be carted around in a post carrier’s car all day!
- If there are any casualities, you should get in touch with the hatchery right away for replacements or refunds.
- Mail ordered chicks will be very stressed out. Make the transition to the brooder as smooth and uneventful as possible.
- Give each chick a sip of sugar water and check for pasty butt as you place each chick in the brooder.
- You may want to give the chicks time to warm up before showing them where to find water and food in the brooder.
- Monitor your chicks closely for the first few hours after their arrival. Watch for pasty butt which can be triggered by stress.
Electrolytes and probiotics are especially helpful for getting shipped chicks off to a good start. Natural supplements for chicks that boost the immune system and promote healthy digestive functions are also helpful to incorporate into their diet.
#5. Chick Picking Tips
I know…. all those chicks look cute, fluffy, and irresistible! As harsh as it may sound, to raise a successful brood of chicks you will want to know how to identify the healthiest individuals from amongst a group of chicks. If you buy chicks at a farm store, ask the attendant if you can choose your own chicks. Some breeders and farms may also let you pick out your own chicks. In circumstances where you are not choosing your own chicks, you can still evaluate the chicks you do get for good health and vitality.
When picking out your chicks, look for these behaviours and characteristics:
- participating in normal brooder activities
- interacts with other chicks
- visits the feeder and water
- visits the heat source but is not huddled or lethargic under the heat
- does not have pasty butt
- eyes are bright and clear, no discharge from the nostrils, eyes, or beak
- straight toes and legs
- is not lethargic, inactive, or huddled in a corner
For more tips on assessing if your brood is healthy, check out How to Tell if a Chick is Healthy! Also, if you identify a case of pasty butt in one of your chicks, you will want to take care of the issue immediately.
#6. Sexed Chicks: It’s a Gamble
Lastly, I should also mention the consideration of sexing chicks. If you are hatching eggs or having a broody hen hatch chicks, then you don’t really have a choice on sexed chicks or not! However, here are some tips for sexing chicks that may help you determine each chick’s sex as they grow and mature.
If you are buying from a breeder or farm, you may or may not have the option of choosing sexed chicks. Unless you are buying an auto-sexing breed or sex-linked breed, young chicks can only be sexed by vent sexing. Vent sexing is very tricky and some breeders and farms just don’t do that practice. Instead you will have to buy straight-run chicks and sex them as they mature.
Most hatcheries do offer the choice of buying sexed chicks. The same goes for farm stores, which will often have bins of sexed chicks and bins of straight-run chicks. However, when buying sexed chicks, it’s always a gamble if the sexing was accurate or truthful. Even though you bought pullets, you may still end up a with a cockerel… or two.
If you are buying an auto-sexing breed or sex link breed, make sure you know what characteristics identify the males from the females so that you can tell what you are getting.
If you end up with a rooster (or two) that you don’t want, then check out these tips for getting rid of roosters. Also, consider these reasons why roosters are good to have on the homestead!
Chick Time!
Chick season on the homestead is always exciting! Considering these 6 tips for buying chicks are important whether you are just starting your first flock or if you want to add to your existing homestead flock. Spring is the best time to get chicks since it gives them a healthy and natural start to life. Choosing to get your chicks from a good source that is somewhat local will also make your brood less stressed and healthier. Prepping properly for your chicks, whether you mail order them or pick them out locally, is important to ensure you are prepared to add chicks to your homestead!
It’s chick time, so don’t miss any of our other tips for raising your chicks like a modern pioneer! Make sure you are a part of our modern pioneer newsletter!
by Alexa
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