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Brooding Chicks And Other Care For First 21 Days

It’s every poultry farmer’s wish to attain the highest survival rates for their flock of baby chicks.

In the first 1-3 weeks, baby chicks usually die due to brooding related challenges. Well, it is normal to lose about 1-5% of your chicks during this period. Anything higher than that is a threat to your flock.

In fact, some of the losses have a potential of wiping out the entire flock. It is therefore critical that every poultry farmer understands and masters the best brooding practices.

First things first.

What is Brooding?

Brooding is the process of providing special care and attention to chicks that have just been removed from the hatchery, to ensure their proper health and survival.

Brooding can either be natural or artificial. It is considered natural when provided by broody hens and artificial when done in the absence of broody hens.

The main objective of artificial brooding is to provide the right temperature for the chicks that lack broody mothers.

For instance, chicken breeds like kuroilers lay eggs, lots of it, but do not get broody. To continue the cycle of reproduction, fertilized are incubated and hatched by an artificial means after which the chicks are provided special care in the absence of their mothers.

Why brood?

Newly hatched chicks lack a mechanism to control their body temperature for the first few weeks of their life. They are therefore weak to a distressing cold.

Heat needs to be provided from an external source to enable the chicks to take feeds and water.

How to get ready to start brooding

After sourcing the chicks, the next step is transporting them to your farm. That is if they were not hatched at your farm. To be able to get the process of brooding right from the start, here are some of the things you need to get ready before you receive the chicks:

Brooding house/shed MUST be cleaned.

Soak the floor preferably with a strong disinfectant.

Curtains used should be soaked in

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