Having incubated your eggs and had good results the last thing that you want to happen is to lose them when you transfer to the brooder. I never remove chicks from the incubator until they have been hatched for 24 hours which enables the chicks to dry properly, If you take them out before this the risk of chilling is greater.

Do not think that chicks need to feed or drink in the first 24 hours - they can survive for three days on the remains of the egg sack which is retained within the body of each chick.

There are three main factors that will ensure that you raise your chicks adequately and no chick will survive without them. They are:

The Brooder

Mine are all raised up from the floor and I do this as it ensures that the heat is constant. If you place brooders on the floor they are more likely to suffer from heat loss from drafts. I also have no corners in my brooders as chicks tend to keep together. If you have corners your chicks might suffer as they huddle so closely that any chicks which are directly in any corner will be crushed and die. All you need to do to eliminate corners is to get some cardboard and fix it securely to the side of the brooder to form a rounded area and this will eliminate any areas within the brooder that chicks can crowd into.

The tops of my brooders are wire so that any excess heat can escape; you need to maintain a constant heat without over heating your chicks.

Always prepare your brooder properly before you put any chicks into it i.e. have a clean brooder. Mine are always disinfected with Jeyes fluid and you must put in clean bedding.

There are many choices for bedding material in a brooder all of which I have tried. Many I have encountered problems with. The best I have found is shredded paper which you can prepare yourself but using a cross cut shredder which cuts the paper into small oblong pieces. The reason I use this is that when the chicks go to the toilet the paper clumps together and you are able to remove the soiled paper easily. I probably clean the paper out at least every hour. It only takes minutes but it keeps your brooder clean.

Put in the food and water containers, which should all be quite shallow Remember that your chicks must be able to get to any food and water dishes and will not be able to do so if they are too high. For the water containers again I use very shallow dish with small clean stones which I then cover with muslin so that the chicks can drink from the water container without the fear of them drowning or getting soaking wet which is dangerous as they will get very cold very quickly and will die.

Lastly you need an infra-red heat lamp. Mine are hung on chains to enable me to control the heat. I do this by moving heat lamp upwards to reduce the heat inside each brooder. You also need a thermometer which will tell you the temperature inside the brooder. Start your chicks off at the same temperature as your incubator - 37.2 degs - this again ensures that your chicks do not suffer from chilling.

For the first three days I keep the heat at 37.2 deg and I then start to raise the lamp by moving it upwards on the chain. I have found that by raising the lamp about 2 inches upwards each day that I can control the heat within the incubator at a rate that the chicks are comfortable with. When you first start to move the lamp always check your brooder within the next hour to make sure that your chicks are moving freely around the incubator and that they are comfortable with the heat withdrawal. If you go to the brooder and they are all huddled together then you have moved the lamp upwards too far and need to lower it again.

My chicks stay in the main brooder for 20 days at least, they are then moved to what I call a floor pen. This is set up the same as a brooder but they are bigger. They still have a heat lamp which again is raised upwards as the heat is withdrawn. After a further 4/7 days in the floor pen I then start to turn off the lamp during the daylight hours. On the first day it is turned off for one hour then on for an hour then off for two hours on for two hours throughout the day. I then turn the lamp off for longer periods until I am sure that the chicks can manage without the heat supplied.

Again when you make any major changes to the chick’s environment you always need to check regularly that all chicks are thriving. By withdrawing the heat gradually the chicks are able to adjust to the temperature around them without going into shock with any drastic heat changes.

At around 5-7 weeks after the chicks have been without heat indoors for two days you can then start to introduce them to the outside world. All of mine go into an ark which is moveable so it can be brought inside if the weather is inclement and every ark is put inside at night for the first week.

All of these timings are dependent on the time of year and the outside weather. In the winter you will need to keep any chicks inside longer to allow them to adjust properly.

One other thing to watch for with chicks is that they are expelling faeces properly. If they cannot go to the toilet properly and the vent becomes blocked in any way they will not thrive so you have to become mummy hen and clean there bottoms just like she would! If they cannot expel faeces they will not feed, grow and thrive.

I have found that following all of the above that I have produced many good quality birds that are very healthy and once they are outside they continue to thrive and grow. Once your chicks have been transferred to the outside world they will still need to be watched carefully and you will always need to ensure that the environment that they live in is closely monitored for red mites and worms. Both these will need to be constantly watched for and treated, as both will, if left unchecked, cause any chick or chicken to become ill and probably die.

This article is only a guide and is based on my own personal experience. I very rarely lose any chicks or chickens once they have hatched but then everything I do with my chickens is always based on constant care and attention. I have raised over 1,000 chicks this year alone and only bought one in. Every other bird has been born and raised here.

I hope that you find this article helpful and may I wish all chicken lovers good luck with their chickens as there is nothing more satisfying than looking out at your chickens thinking - “I can remember the day you were hatched.”

Sue Lusher operates Venns Poultry and is based in Wix, Essex.