Fresh Eggs Daily® with Lisa Steele

Getting baby chicks this spring? You're going to need a shopping list of baby chick supplies so you're ready when they arrive! Any new hobby, or project or recipe (or bringing a new baby home for that matter!) requires a shopping list. And raising baby chicks is no different.  Your first time getting ready for your chicks to arrive, you might feel overwhelmed with all the supplies and choices available to you. So I've created this shopping list of baby chick supplies to be sure you're ready for your new arrivals - whether you go pick them up at the feed store or have them shipped to you at home.

Knowing what to look for when you're choosing your baby chicks can result in a healthier chicken flock down the road. Faced with an array of adorable peeping baby chicks, it's hard to keep a level head, but taking a moment to narrow down your choices can result in a healthier chicken , and therefore much more pleasant chicken keeping experience down the road. Knowing what to look for when choosing baby chicks at the feed store to bring home with you isn't difficult and well worth taking the time to do.

Basic baby chick care that you should know in order to raise happy, healthy chicks. You've done your research into how many chickens you are allowed in your area, you've chosen the breeds you want to raise, maybe even placed your order for day old chicks due in the spring or checked with your local feed store about when chicks will be available. Now what?

Common baby chick  health issues, sickness and diseases and how to prevent and treat them naturally. Buying day-old baby chicks from a reputable breeder or hatchery will generally result in healthy chicks, but sometimes things still go wrong, and if you raise chickens long enough, eventually one will fall ill. It's a good idea to be aware of some of the more common baby chick health issues and diseases as well as know how to treat them.

Getting started with baby chicks isn't difficult once you are familiar with the basics necessary for them to grow up into happy, healthy chickens. So you've decided to start raising chickens!  I assume you've checked with your town or municipality and know the rules as far as how many chickens you are allowed, if you need a permit for either the chickens or their coop (or both), if you can have roosters, etc.  And now you're ready to get started.

After hatching in an incubator, baby chicks will be just fine left where they are to dry off and rest up before being moved to the brooder. After waiting patiently for three long weeks for your eggs to hatch, it's hard to wait a minute more to move your newly hatched chicks to the brooder you have set up for them... But it really is best for them to just leave them right where they are - in the incubator.  There's really no rush to move them. 

Proper planning and following these four steps will help with introducing new chickens to your backyard flock. Once you have been raising chickens for awhile, you're eventually going to want to add new chickens to your flock. Whether you've lost a few to illness or predators, or you are finally ready to expand your flock, that day will come. And you might have heard horror stories about adding new chickens.  And I hate to say it, but they're (mostly) true.

From "albumen" to "zip", this glossary of common chicken keeping terms will help you get acquainted with the jargon. When you first begin raising chickens , you're bound to run into chicken keeping terms, abbreviations and phrases that might seem like a foreign language at first. There definitely is a bit of a terminology learning curve when you are just getting started. From "albumen" to "zip", this handy glossary of 100+ common chicken keeping terms you should know that will help you get acquainted with the some of the jargon associated with backyard chickens.

Now more than ever, people are looking to convenient, healthy sources of food for their family. And that means bringing back an American tradition: raising chickens. Backyard chickens provide delicious, fresh eggs right from the coop! People want to know that they can trust what they are eating, and what the food they're eating is eating. They're looking for sources of convenient, readily available, nutritious sources of food for their family that are raised and grown locally, not overseas and raised without pesticides or antibiotics.  And that means bringing back a time-honored American tradition: raising chickens! Backyard chickens provide delicious, fresh eggs right from the coop and aren't difficult to raise.

Chickens and ducks are very different when it comes to feeding, housing and caring for them. Although we have been raising both chickens and ducks for almost 15 years, and they have been sharing a coop and run for the majority of that time, they are actually very different in so many ways. 

What do goslings eat? Feeding baby geese the correct feed at the correct time in their life is critical. Goslings, or baby geese, are like any other babies and need lots of nutrients, vitamins and minerals to help them grow up to be strong and healthy. We're brand new goose parents, so I did a lot of research, reading and asking questions before they arrived to be sure I knew how to best raise them. This simple chart gives you the guidelines you need to ensure you're feeding your babies correctly.

Is it your first time raising ducklings? Or maybe it's just been awhile and you need a refresher.  Here's a handy guideline for feeding ducklings the proper feed for each stage from hatch to laying age to ensure happy, healthy ducks. Baby ducklings are like any other babies and need lots of nutrients, vitamins and minerals to help them grow up to be strong and healthy. This simple chart gives you the guidelines you need to ensure you're feeding your babies correctly.

Older hens might not lay eggs any longer, but they still play an important role in a chicken flock. We just lost our eldest chicken, Charlotte, this last February.  She was nine years old. Even though I knew the end was coming - she had slowed down quite a bit in the last few months and her zest for life just wasn't there like it had been - it was still hard to lose her. 

Adding a bit of protein to your chickens' diet can be a good thing, but don't reach for the canned cat food. During the fall molting season, adding some high-protein treats to your chickens' diet can be beneficial.  Since feathers are made up primarily of protein, that extra boost can help the molt go smoother.

If you do nothing else besides feed your chickens, fill their waterers and collect their eggs, adding these two things to their water will reap you tremendous health benefits for your flock. I firmly believe in an ounce of prevention. In fact, wasn't it Benjamin Franklin who said "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? He was a smart man - and I bet he wasn't even talking about chickens!