The BEST Chick Setup We've Ever Tried | Raising Day Old Baby Chickens | Backyard Egg Laying Hens

hey guys welcome back to oak abode i hope you don't mind the sound of some peeping because today i'm doing a video with our new chicks for 2022. today i'm just gonna go over the whole chick setup that we have this year we've changed a few key things i guess three main key things it is so much easier and it is so much cleaner than anything we've done in the past and as a bonus it's also cheaper but i guess there are one two three four main components that i'll go over and if you want to stick around for the end of the video i will introduce our new chicks one by one so there's the brooder container and then there's a feeder there's a water and then there is a heating plate or a heated brooder which keeps the chicks warm in march in wisconsin it is way too cold to have baby chicks outside without a mama some people do put them outside with a heat lamp or a brooder i'll go into why i don't use heat lamps in a second but i've also had people message me and say that they had chicks die because they thought that as long as there was a heat plate that they would be okay definitely not true it can get too cold for chicks outside even with just the heat plate itself so we like to keep ours inside that way we don't have to worry the main thing that we changed this year is the brooder container so i got this container off of amazon i'll link it for you guys below so this is more of a small animal play pen number one it zips all the way around so it is kind of like a tent material it's got mesh so it's super breathable but it zips all the way around and it's totally enclosed the reason that this is a really good thing is because chickens love to scratch and especially baby chicks you won't be surprised how quickly they get power in those little chicken legs when they get older they send those shavings flying and they end up everywhere this is really nice because when they get older and even now they kick stuff around and it's not going to come out even if it hit the ceiling of the brooder itself it's all zipped in so we don't get shavings on the floor which is amazing it is such a game changer another thing i'm loving about this brooder container is that it is light i always end up having to move my chicks for some reason or another but having a big tub to move around is just clunky and annoying so the nice thing about this is it's light so if i do want to move them it's easier on the body to move now it is bigger this probably has at least twice the square footage or floor space that our previous brooders had for kind of the same number of chicks so for that reason i'm really hoping that we fiddle with them a lot less last winter we were kind of planning to make a youtube video building like the ultimate chick brewer we were gonna have it really big and we're gonna show how to construct it but as everybody knows right now lumber and just construction materials are ridiculous and it was gonna cost so so much more to try and build a big heavy clunky brooder than it was gonna be just to buy this tent off amazon so i am super happy about this find i wanted to share this with you guys so in case you are looking for breeder now or even just like a playpen we do have a play pen we really like and it comes doesn't come with but you can buy a cover for it too so i'm going to link the chick play pen that we like to use for the outdoors i'm gonna link the cover for it that way we don't have to worry so much about predators but as far as having something that's cheap something that completely keeps the mess inside this is a real win so far i don't trust the bottom to be waterproof we're using new water this year that is not spilling the traditional kind of like waters you just buy from the chick store those are the ones i used for like four years and i would prop it up doesn't matter they would always still find ways to knock it over so when i was using that water it was really important that the bottom of the brooder container was waterproof i don't know if the bottom of this is waterproof i think it's probably water resistant don't quote me on that what we did is we put a tarp underneath this container itself so that on the off chance that there is some kind of big liquid spill that way our floors are protected so it's not as aesthetically pleasing but the floor is protected just in case in summary this thing has been a total game changer and the bigger size has meant that the shavings go a lot further okay the second thing i want to talk about is the water that we chose so in the past like i mentioned we kind of used the traditional chick waters that are cheap at the store readily available when you pick up chicks especially when they're an impulse buy which i think most of us are guilty of believe me i hate to buy things twice but this year after four years of hating raising chicks because of the water problems this year i splurged and i got a nipple drinker i was worried that the chicks wouldn't be able to figure out the nipple drinker not the case these chicks figured out the nipple drinker not even 15 minutes after i put it in and all i did was take my finger and tap on the nipple drinker part just a little bit and i kid you not these chicks they were only a few days old so they're super impressionable at that point but these chicks all ran over to check out what i was pecking at and then they started pecking at it and within minutes they were squared away with the nipple drinker the really nice thing about this one is they don't knock it over it's not an open water drinking system like the other water was there might be some little drips i haven't honestly seen the bedding underneath become more wet and that's something i wanted to watch for as always i will link this exact one for you guys in the description box below this one comes with two attachments we tried the red attachment first and it didn't work all that well the chicks just kind of had to work really hard to get the water that attachment i think is better for keeping excess water from dripping out if that's your main concern but for really young chicks we switched to this other attachment the black one with the yellow tip and they love it and a lot of people actually believe that chickens prefer this kind of drinker too because if you elevate it they can just stick their beak where the water comes out and then it goes just straight down their throat while they drink instead of having to dip their beaks toss their head up so not only are we having less water mess they're not able to knock it over because it's bigger and it's going to stay put as long as they keep it decently filled but also it's easier for the chicken so i'm so this has been so worth the peace of mind and just not having to change out their water as much as the other thing it keeps the water so much cleaner of course there's not as much of a drowning risk either it's just a little more investment i really do think it'll save us money too because we're not going to go through nearly as many shavings because when they would dump over or make a mess of their other water or what would happen is sometimes they would kick so many shavings into the open water that it would become like a hill and then the water would seep through the hill of shavings and just continue it would continue sucking water out we would have to throw away giant containers of shavings more than once so cleaner water sure it's going to save us money i'm betting in the long run the chickens like it better lower maintenance kind of mad at myself for waiting four years to splurge and buy this one all right kind of along those lines in terms of investments that just make the chicks happier i've talked about the heated brooder plates before why i will never use heat lamps again the heated brooder plates are just a more modern way to raise chicks they're not nearly as much of a fire risk as the heat lamps are and if you even read mostly heat lamp packaging usually they say don't leave unattended which is never a good sign most people can't keep an eye on chicks 24 7 until they're grown up especially i mean everybody's asleep right not only are the heated brewer plates safer than a heat lamp the chicks actually like them better too because they're dark they're cozy they're a lot more like a mama hen would be to them so they feel safer yes they're a little more expensive than a heat lamp but i believe it's well worth it not only for the safety and peace of mind but also because the chicks like it better i like to keep my heated brewer plates on an incline so that way the chicks can kind of i have like one side lower one side higher i don't know if that's recommended or not so make sure you follow the instructions of whatever heat of brewer plate that you get i like to do that with mine because then the chicks can find the perfect little heat spot and pick what makes them happy instead of having to be all in or all out we have had a few different heated brewer plates in the past we got a bigger one this year so i will link that for you below the downside is that chicks do like to hop up on them they're a flat surface and wherever chicks walk they leave little chick poop so full transparency with you guys as always i do hate that these brooders that they walk on them and that they poop on them and that i do have to occasionally clean that off but another upside is they're easier to set up i remember i used to always struggle to find the best place to clamp the heat light on and there's actually a lot of room for user error with heat lamps way too often do i get messages from people saying that their chicks all died because they had the heat lamp too close and they didn't realize that they cooked their chicks or they had it too far away and the chicks eventually froze i mean there's a lot of room for user error i really think the brooders are best for anybody but especially for newbies the heat of brooders are a lot harder to screw up than the heat lamps and the last thing that i'll talk about is just the feeder so there's not a lot to say here it's just kind of the same feeder that we've always used if you want to get a feeder that's scratch proof so they can't waste feed they do make feeders like that i'll link the one that we have and i'll also link some of the more scratch-proof ones we've used those with the adult hens and they do i think they do quite save quite a bit of money on feed what i will say since i have a lot of people ask how do you train chicks to be really friendly is one thing that we like to do is we like to just soak some of the feed in water make sure you research how to safely ferment feed if you want to do this or you just keep it for a day or two and because you can get mold problems and that can damage your chicks obviously it can make them sick people have asked us before if we ferment feed to save feed and supposed to be healthier for the chickens i did the first year and i don't do it anymore because i didn't find that it made that much of a difference in the feed bill and it was a heck of a lot of work so i don't do it anymore but on just a small scale soaking the feed in water is a really easy way to get safe trick chick treats for some reason the chicks go crazy for just kind of like gooey feed mash that's kind of how i've trained them to my hand i do love to use grub tara treats for older chicks and older chickens ask the company don't take my work this i want to say they say around eight weeks is when they can start to have the black soldier fly larvae i do know they don't really recommend it for little chicks this age i'll still link the grub tara for you guys since you'll probably want it for your adult chickens anyway it's a really good healthy treat really helpful for training them to come when they're called outside you can also just use kitchen scraps too i mean don't think that you have to buy a treat but if your chickens are spoiled like ours they'll probably turn up their beaks at a lot of kitchen scraps and they'll want something special so that's what we use the grub tara for so what else do we have in here we have a rock i don't know why we have a rock it's i guess for them to play on but i'm sure they'll just poop on it and it'll attract flies so we'll probably end up taking that out i put together a list of some chicken toys a few years ago um if you want to have like perches and things some people say it's better for their feet to have different surfaces to stand on instead of just the shaving so i'll link that for you guys but it's not necessary i they do enjoy it though i definitely enjoy it so really that's it four things in our brooder that are really important if you want more details on how to raise baby chicks kind of the one-on-one behind that made a whole video last year so i spelled out step by step what i like to use i would just kind of suggest maybe instead of using the products i linked in that video i like the products in this video a lot better you also might just have something laying around the house that you can use too so that's totally cool all right you want me to know your cheeks i think i'm just going to introduce them one by one i'll tell you what breed they are i did a whole podcast on the breeze that we're considering this year and why so i'll link the podcast for you below and actually this isn't all of them we're gonna pick up some more this weekend chicken math it gets to the best of us this is either a well summer or a cream leg bar they seem to have slightly different colored leg i'm assuming whoever has more of a cream leg is gonna be the cream leg bar i think this one's a well summer i think the well summers have more of a yellow leg but do not quote me on that this one here is a little black osterlorp so the black australops are a dual purpose heritage breed i believe so they will breed true and i've heard they lay a lot of eggs and they're also supposed to be really hearty this one is a lavender orpington we got two of these and people always say that orpingtons are supposed to be the quiet ones but these little lavender orpingtons maybe the buffs are quieter but these little lavender warping tins are our loudest chicks so far so we'll have to see if that holds true with when they become adults too all right here we have a cute little buff orpington i think they are some of the cutest babies buff orpingtons are a really popular breed they're dual purpose heritage breeds so they do breed true they are supposed to have pretty good meat on them and they're supposedly a good amount of eggs although i don't think they're super layers but a couple things that make them special is that they tend to go broody i believe so they might make good mamas but also a lot of people say that their buff orpingtons are kind of the nicest and the tames these ones definitely seem tamer than the lavender orpington so it's kind of an interesting distinction and finally i have a little rhode island red here her name's poppy we kind of get like one random rhode island red every year for no reason but the other one's pip pippi i think pippi or pepe so this one is poppy if we get a boy i think his name will be pappy so that's all for today i hope you guys enjoyed meeting our ticks and seeing our new updated chick set up i hope it's helpful for somebody out there because we are finding this round of ticks has been the easiest so far if you enjoyed this video and you want to stay posted for more content in the future don't forget to hit that subscribe button like i mentioned i'll link our podcast and our instagram below and we also have a website where i will summarize all the points i just talked about and i'll link everything in this video also please leave a comment below with any of your favorite chick raising tips especially ones that have made your life easier because after four years of messy chick raising i am so glad to have found little tidbits of info like this any advice you can offer helps thanks again for watching and we'll see you next time

Channel: Oak Abode

Views: 193,001

Keywords: backyard chickens, raising baby chicks, caring for day old chick, best egg laying breeds, quiet chicken breed, poultry keeping for beginners, how to reduce mess with pets, modern farming, beautiful bird feathering, self sustaining property, permaculture tips, sustainable agriculture, diy nutrition supply, grow your own food, suburban gardening techniques, maximize space efficiency, victory garden ideas, front yard plant plot, depression era living, saving money for recession

Id: wwtNCQcbNJQ

Length: 13min 47sec (827 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 06 2022