Raising Chicks: Week 9

If you purchased chicks at our Chick Days event, your chicks should be nine weeks old now.

Temp: Whatever temp it is outside!

Feed: Start & Grow Medicated or Non-Medicated - because they are babies, you can free feed them. Fill up their feeders when they are empty. They won't overeat.

This week: What a change one week can make!

This week we're focusing on keeping your chicks cool instead of warm! Las Cruces has certainly warmed up and since your chicks are outside, we need to focus on keeping them cool. 1. Make sure there is ventilation in their coop. Check out the picture above. We made a 3 inch gap in the top of our coop to let hot air rise and escape. We made sure to staple some chicken wire to the top so the chicks stay in and the predators stay out. 2. Finished with your 2 liter water bottles? Fill them with water and freeze them. Take them out of the freezer and put them in the yard. Chicks will go lay on them if they are warm. It's practically free. 3. Similar to above - do you have one of those gallon plastic tubs which ice cream comes in? Once you've emptied it (yum!) refill it with fruits and veggies and water. Freeze it, dump it out and let the chicks enjoy it as a nice treat. Just make sure that it doesn't contain onions, avocado, garlic or raw potatoes.

Featured product: Rooster Booster Vitamins & Electrolytes with Lacto Bacillus When it gets hot, we need to replenish our electrolytes - this is the same for humans and poultry. This product helps chickens do just that. It's $7.99 for 8 oz. Mix 1 oz. with 16 gallons of water. It'll last you a while!