I usually add to my flock each year, however, this year I’m not. We have too many things going on for our family and I won’t have the time I need to do it right. If you’re just getting into raising backyard chickens, it’s not hard! But when you’re adding to your flock it does take some time.
Raising baby chicks into beautiful, egg-laying chickens is very rewarding. I remember diving into this adventure many years ago. I had no idea what I was doing! Haha! However, I’m so thankful for the team at Strong Animals Chicken Essentials. They have made raising backyard chickens fun and dare I say easy!
Inside you’ll find First Peep, Chick E-lixir, and Coop Recuperate, along with the Baby Chick Success Guide. They knocked this guide out of the park! It’s probably the best beginners guide out there for preparing for your new fluffy friends.
Chicks are very fragile the first couple days and even weeks of life. They need attentive care. The Baby Chick Success Guide gives you step-by-step directions on how to set up a brooder, heat, food and water. Today, I am going to walk you through each page of the guide.
Getting Started
The very first page gives you a great checklist on things you’ll need to have in place before you get your chicks! Your brooder needs to be at 95 degrees Fahrenheit before you can place your chicks. You will also need food, water and light for them. This checklist is helpful so you don’t miss an important item or step.
Step 1 – Living Environment
Next up, the guide walks you through brooder options. A brooder is a fancy word for where they will live to start out. And after that, it tells you how to set a brooder up!
Some brooder options
On page 8 and 9, the guide introduces you to one of my all-time favorite backyard chicken products – Coop Recuperate! This is the reason I’ve stayed in this hobby for so long! Chicks and chickens are dusty and poop a lot. But Coop Recuperate has made our coop environment enjoyable for both us and our girls. I can’t tell you enough how incredible this product is!
Step 2 – Heat
Step 2 of the Baby Chick Success Guide is very important! Heat for baby chicks is essential. The brooder needs to be 95 degrees Fahrenheit the first week of the chicks’ life. After that, you can drop the temp down by 5 degrees each week until they’re fully feathered. After traveling through the mail or even from the store or hatchery, they will need to get warmed up! Chicks can’t regulate their body temp until they’re fully feathered (around 6 weeks).
Step 3 – Feed
In Step 3, the guide talks about feed, types of feeders and First Peep. Who knew that the size of the feeder matters to your little chicks! We choose non-medicated feed because all of the Strong Animal Chicken Essential products help keep our chicks healthy without the extra stuff medicated feed brings to the table.
Step 4 – Water
Step 4 discusses water, waterers and Chick E-lixir. Selecting the correct size waterer is super important! Baby chicks can’t swim and shouldn’t get wet. If you don’t have a proper waterer in the brooder, chicks can drown or get too cold if they get wet. Just go ahead and buy the smaller sized waterers to be safe! Then add Chick E-Lixir to their water. It’s like a daily vitamin for your chicks. It also contains electrolytes to keep them hydrated. It’s so easy to use! One capful to one gallon of water. They couldn’t make this any easier for us.
Bringing Your Chicks Home
The last few pages discuss bringing your chicks home, pasty butt, roosting poles/bars for chicks and even playtime! If you look closely, on the bottom right hand corner you can see our youngest son, Deacon, having some fun outside with the chicks.
The guide also includes information on all the products available by Strong Animals Chicken Essentials. I use all of these products on a daily, weekly and yearly basis. They have transformed the way we’ve done backyard chicken keeping.
Taking care of our flocks and families is important for all of us. That’s why most of us get into this hobby to begin with. Strong Animals Chicken Essentials take a natural approach using organic essential oils to support your flock’s overall health. In turn, the eggs we eat are rich in vitamins and nutrients and even taste better.
And finally, the back cover talks about this incredible company that I get the pleasure of promoting! Saying yes to this adventure has truly been one of my very best decisions!
You can learn more about Strong Animal Chicken Essentials on their website, getstronganimals.com and follow my backyard flock journey on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube @stronganimalschickenessentials. Have a great Spring, everyone and happy chick season! Send me pictures of your baby chicks since I won’t have my own this year! Haha!
Until next time,
–The Wing Lady