Farming Information
Activity & Teacher
Resources
Red Oak Farm
3040 Big Buck Road
Trezevant, TN 38258
owners@redoakfarm.com
Copyright © 1998 -2008
All Rights Reserved
Red Oak Farm
Revised: almost weekly
Chick Do's and Don'ts
Do
- Keep it clean. The incubator, hatcher, brooder, pens, and especially the feed and water dishes.
- Temperature choices. Have more than one heat source available in case one sources fails and to give chicks a choice in temperature.
- Encourage chicks to exercise in sunlight whenever possible.
- Keep a med kit on hand and the vet's emergency phone number.
- Monitor chicks daily for health problems, injuries, etc. Legs and backs should be straight. Watch them run, are the legs crossing? Knock kneed? Are the chicks clear eyed and perky?
Don't
- Allow slick surfaces in the brooder, hatcher or runs where a chick could slip and wind up with splayed legs.
- Use a deep watering pan. Chicks can drown easily.
- Allow spaces where a chick could become trapped or catch it's head or foot.
- Put more than 10 chicks in a pen until they are moved to grow out pens. They tend to huddle together and will smother each other.
- Let the chicks become imprinted on you instead of each other. Don't raise a chick alone, raise it with a clutch. The last thing you need in a breeder is for the bird to think it's human and refuse to mate with another emu.
Close this pop up window to return to Facilities