Raising Baby Chickens

 

Since I’ve seen the egg coolers empty at my local grocery store, I decided to add new laying hens to my flock.  I chose to add Rhode Island Reds and Easter Eggers, to our flock.  Rhode Island Reds are a hardy New England bird, and will be right at home here.

Easter Eggers, are a whim that I’ve wanted to try out for a while now.

These are darling tiny baby birds.  I keep them warm with a heat lamp and I clean and feed them in a plastic tub, for a short while.  I use ordinary coffee tins to feed and water the chicks.  Chickens don’t need expensive or fancy digs.  You probably can make due with ordinary items you already own. This part is easy and fun.

You need to have a place for the chickens when they outgrow their nursery tub.

I invested in a large pet cage, to shelter my first flock.  Now it’s ready for this next generation to move into, in their adolescent phase.  This is a very sturdy cage, and easy for two people to move.  I added bicycle training wheels to my cage, so I can move it alone.

The cage is useful when I've had an injured bird that needed to be seperated from the stronger hens. It will be where I keep a bully hen, to reorganize the hens' pecking order, or if I needed to seperate a rooster.

The pet cage is an investment to have, when raising smaller animals.

This cage alone is NOT predator proof.  Predators can dig under or reach through to the chickens inside.  If you put the cage in the open, then stay with them to guard against predators. Always watch your chickens while they are in this cage on the lawns or gardens.

My chickens will be inside the protection of the electric mesh fence, while inside their cage.

The electric mesh fence keeps predators of all sizes away from my chickens. 

The electric mesh fence has been the best investment I’ve made for my flock.  Don’t wait until the chicks are big and you have no place to keep them safe from neighbor’s dogs and raccoons.  The electric mesh fence will keep predators away from your coop, and your chickens. 

My mesh electric fence has worked through all kinds of weather, high winds, rain, ice and snow.

If you don’t have an existing electric fence to connect to, then you will need to buy an electric fence power box, or solar box, and a ground rod, to start up a new fence area.  This is all worth the effort to keep predators away. 

Remember, everyone loves chicken. Protect your chickens. Solid cages and fencing are an investment.