Early Hydration
It is extremely important that when you first get your baby chicks, you hydrate them as quickly as possible. They will be thirsty, and hungry. The best way to do this, is to pick them up one-by-one and dip their beak into the water of the waterer. This will not only encourage them to drink, but it teaches them the waterer is for since they have probably never seen one in their short 3-4 day life. For the first 2 days add approximately 3 tablespoons of sugar to one quart of water to help them build up some energy. Then lower it to 1 tablespoon on day 3, then none of day 4. Most deaths in the first few days will occur due to lack of food or water. So watch them, and make sure all of them are getting food and water.
Food
Baby chicks need 20% Chick Starter/Grower Crumbled Chicken Feed. They don’t need it medicated, just make sure it is 20% protein and in crumble form. They are not yet old enough to digest pellets, even if they had grit, so don’t use it. I recommend you go ahead and buy the 50lb bag to save some money. You will use it, and then some probably. They usually take between 5-6 months to start laying, so you will be feeding them starter/grower for a while.
Baby Chick food is different from adult chicken food, so only use baby chick food. Adult chicken food (usually called Layer) has calcium in it to help chickens who are laying with their egg shell development, and calcium can harm baby chicks. Never start feeding a chicken layer feed until it ACTUALLY starts laying eggs. In a group of chickens that were all purchased at the same time, once you start seeing eggs, that is when you can switch them all over to layer food. If you still have some 20% Starter/Grower crumble left, you can always mix the 2 together to get started so you don’t waste the 20% food, but make sure there is more 16% layer food in the mix than crumble if you do this.
Wood Flakes or News Paper
You can start baby chicks off on news paper or shavings. If you use newspaper, do not use the slick color printed stuff that comes out with all the junk in your mail. Only use the non-slick newspaper so their feet can get a good grip. Otherwise it can lead to splayed legs, and you don’t want that. If you use wood flakes to cover their encloser floor, make sure you get wood FLAKES (the white bag at Tractor Supply), not the smaller wood shavings. Baby chicks will try to eat anything on the ground, and wood shavings will not help their digestive tracks. Flakes are usually larger, and therefore less likely to be eaten.
Keeping a Clean Environment
Regardless of what you cover their enclosure floor with, they will quickly cover it with something much worse. This will need to be kept clean. Not spotless, but clean. If you do newspaper, it’s pretty easy to just add another layer for a day or so, then take it out if it gets wet, or stinky. If you do wood shavings, it is usually best to take them out long enough to clean it out and add new shavings. This food and water needs to be kept clean as well. It won’t help them to be eating each others’ poop.
Pasty Butt
If you have never heard of pasty butt, you’re in for a real treat! Sometimes, especially after they have been shipped, baby chicks will develop something called pasty butt. Basically, it is just poop stuck to their rear. The issue is, that will block their vent, which is where their poop comes out, which means they can’t poop anymore. If you see a baby chick with poop on their butt, even if it is not blocking their vent yet, remove that chick and use a paper towel with warm (not hot) water to soften and remove the poop until their backside is clean. Do not pull on the poop as this will pull out any feathers that have and hurt them. Just hold the warm wet paper towel in it for a little while until it rehydrates and it will wipe off. Try to avoid giving them a bath unless you absolutely have to soak their bottom some more, and even then, just soak their rear. Dry them as well as you can by patting them dry, and put them back in their enclosure near the heat lamp so they can warm up and dry faster.
Sickness
Sickness in baby chicks can happen through no fault of your own or the hatchery. If you think a baby chick is sick, move it to another enclosure with heat, and keep an eye on it for a few hours. If it seems better, you can probably put it back without risk. If not, you may need to keep it separate from the others until it gets better, or it dies.
Death
Death is unfortunately a part of like, and it is natural. Not everything that we love can live and be happy. Sometimes, through no fault of your own or the hatchery, a chicken will die. I have tried on numerous occasions to nurse a baby chick or chicken back to health, only to see them get worse and die. When this happens, unless you are willing to spend the money for a vet, they best thing you can do is try to keep them fed and hydrated and separate from the rest of the flock until the either improve, or pass. If more than a day goes by with a sick chick, it most likely will not make it. If more than a week goes by with a sick adult chicken, or if they normally red comb and wattle go pale, they most likely will die.
When this happens with the adults, rather than let them suffer, I will keep a close eye on them, and when they will no longer take water, I say a prayer over them, cull them, and give the body back to nature so they don’t suffer needlessly. If you have children, instead of hiding the death from them, you could take the opportunity to explain that all things eventually die, and that death is part of life. Explain that the animal is no longer in pain, and it appreciated all the love they gave it while it was here. Remind them to keep the happy memories in their hearts, and continue to love the ones that are left. If you plan to eat the chickens you raise, this is also a good time to explain that these chickens are there for a purpose, and they will each fulfill that purpose one day. They don’t have to be sad when that day comes, but rather be grateful and respectful of that chicken’s purpose. Explain that there will be other chickens later for them to love and raise.
This is of course a very personal matter for you to decide how to handle if/when the time comes.