One of the lovely sights of Spring is seeing newly hatched chicks.  Whilst raising them is enjoyable and highly rewarding, it’s important that their specific needs are met to ensure they grow into happy, healthy laying hens. Providing optimum nutrition from the Smallholder Range and the right environment is key to giving your chicks the right start in life!

What to feed baby chicks after hatching?

Immediately after hatching, you can start your chicks on the Smallholder Range Baby Chick Crumbs on an ad-lib basis in combination with free access to water.  Baby Chick Crumbs are formulated using high quality ingredients tailored to provide your chicks with a fully balanced daily diet to meet their nutritional needs, encouraging natural steady growth. They will provide your chicks with a good protein level of 17.5% supporting growth and feather production, and contain a fibre level of 4% to help maintain a healthy digestive system. The Baby Chick Crumbs are manufactured in our drug free mill (no coccidiostats) with no genetically modified ingredients and the crumb like consistency is the perfect size for young chicks’ tiny beaks.  Provide the fresh feed daily in a specially designed chick feeder.  The feeder will reduce the likelihood of spills and contamination.

As well as providing your chicks with Baby Chick Crumb, they should have constant access to clean fresh water from a special chick waterer. Water plays a key role in overall health, wellbeing and aiding bodily functions. It is advisable to clean the waterer daily to ensure it is free of droppings.  Daily cleaning of the chicks’ feeder and waterer helps prevent disease.

What to do after chicks hatch from incubator:

Chicks hatched from an incubator, rather than under a hen, may need to be shown how and where to eat and drink in the brooder.  Place the chick feeder and waterer no more than half a metre from the heat lamp and use your finger to tap in the feeder and waterer to show them how it’s done.  The waterer can be the shallow lid to a jam jar with a stone placed in the water to prevent the chicks from drowning.  To help get chicks pecking, in the first week sprinkle a small quantity of Baby Chick Crumb onto the lining of the brooder as without it, they tend to peck their feet.  Make sure you clean up leftovers daily.  Using kitchen roll or a commercially available mat as a liner to your brooder makes this an easy task; reduces slipping and easy cleaning.

How do you feed baby chicks grit?

When your chicks are a week old, mix fine chick grit into their Baby Chick Crumb. Grit is an essential dietary requirement helping them break down food in the gizzard.  From 5-6 weeks of age, your chicks can be gradually changed to the Smallholder Range Poultry Grower Pellet and then from Point of Lay at 16 weeks, feed the Smallholder Range Natural Free Range Layers Pellets or Crumble.

As your chicks’ feed changes as they grow, keep in mind that poultry tend to select their feed by size and texture and any sudden change from one feed to another can mean that they may not recognise the pellets as food and refuse to eat them or waste a lot by flicking pellets out of the feeder in their search for familiar feed. Use a feeder designed for chicks to prevent food waste.  Ideally when changing feeds, it is best to mix some of the new feed with the old feed for a period of 7 to 10 days. During this time the proportion of new feed in the mix should be gradually increased until the old feed is phased out. This gives the chicks’ digestive system and their learning time to adapt to the new feed, and also ensures that their nutritional needs continue to be met during any feed change over.

The Smallholder Range Baby Chick Crumbs, Poultry Grower Pellets and Natural Free Range Layers Pellets or Crumble are the best way to provide tailored nutrition to your new and growing flock.  Our Smallholder Range meets their changing dietary needs at each stage of their development helping your chicks grow into healthy hens.