How to Set Up a Chicken Brooder

These chicks arrived in the mail. The U.S. Postal Service has been delivering chicks for over 100 years.

For their first six weeks of life, the baby chicks will live in a temporary home called a brooder. This can be made from a large cardboard box, plastic storage bin, old aquarium or even a metal feeding trough. To your clean brooder, add a layer  (a couple of inches deep) of fresh kiln-dried pine shavings to the bottom.

Baby chicks will also require a constant supply of fresh water. This small chick waterer has childrens' toy marbles placed in the drinking trough to prevent accidental drowning. Sometimes this can accidentally happen if the chicks fall asleep at the waterer.

There are a variety of feeders designed for chicks on the market. Here is one type of feeder filled with chick feed. Chick feed has all the required nutrients for the baby chicks during their first six weeks of life.