(5/2020) The Covid-19 epidemic this spring has had lots of unexpected consequences on people's day-to-day lives. Toilet paper shortages are certainly not something that I expected to see. In Maryland, before there were runs on toilet paper and bread, much to my surprise, there were runs on baby chicks. Every spring, the local farm supply stores carry baby chicks for people to purchase for egg or meat production. I've owned chickens for years and every couple of years I buy a few more to replenish my flock. I look forward to buying baby chicks.

Not only do I enjoy raising chicks, but I also enjoy adding new breeds to my flock. Most years, every time I walk into a farm supply store there are troughs full of baby chicks available for purchase. This year, when I went to buy chicks in early March they were sold out. I called several local stores and they were sold out out of pullets. A couple of the stores still had some ducks or turkeys but even those were running low. One of the stores advised me that if I wanted to be able to select the breed of chick that I wanted, I would need to get to the store immediately when they opened on the day that the chicks arrived.

I discussed this chick shortage with a few clients and they confirmed that this shortage was also their experience. One client told me a similar story of going to the chick store only an hour after they opened and finding them sold out. Another client had to order a large order of chicks directly from the supplier and had them mailed to her house. Another client was able to have a farm store reserve some chicks for her so that she could pick them up a few hours after they arrived.

I checked with all the local farm stores to see who was expecting which breeds of chick to be delivered when. Luckily I found a store that was located only a few minutes away from one of my clients. She needed an appointment for her horses to get vaccinated so I figured I'd pick up chicks on my way to her house. I got to the store 10 minutes before they opened and there was already a line. I was number 18. The store clerk told me that most likely there would still be chicks left when they called my number. As I was waiting I was talking to other people (while standing 6 feet away from them) and several of the people buying had never owned chicks before. They didn't know anything about what breeds they should be getting (meat vs egg layer), what type of food chicks eat, or anything about basic brooder set-up. While I answered some people's questions, the store clerk was also answering questions for people too.

This prompted me to contemplate what should be included in a beginners guide to baby chicks. A basic how to get through the first week without killing your chicks manual could be written. We were getting calls at the clinic from first time chick owners who were having chicks die and who knew nothing about basic care, so I thought I should review some basic chicken decisions. The first step is selecting a breed. Know what your goals are and if you want eggs then make sure you are looking at breeds designed to regularly produce large eggs. After that then just pick what colors you find pretty in a chicken. This year, I personally wanted polka dotted chickens and ones that produce dark brown eggs. Therefore, I purchased Speckled Sussex and Cuckoo Marans.

The next thing to know when you are purchasing is if you are buying chickens that have been vaccinated and if so which vaccines. Mareks and Coccidia are the most common vaccines. If the chicks have received a Coccidia vaccine then you do not want to give medicated feed. However, if they have not received a Coccidia vaccine, then you do want medicated chick feed. Your chicks should have access to water and a clean pen. Next, you must think about a heat source to keep your chicks warm. Heat lamps are the most common. I prefer a heating plate as the infrared heat source, as it is less of a fire hazard than heat lamps.

After you have food, water, and heat set up you have to decide where to raise the chicks. Lots of people keep them in the house until they are old enough to go outside. The plus to keeping them inside is it reduces the chances of loss from predation. Young chicks are subject to attack by the same predators as adults but also are more vulnerable to snake and rat attacks. If you have children, you must decide if you will be able to prevent the children from unsupervised access to indoor chicks. Children can unintentionally injure chicks. Conversely, chicks can carry illnesses to children. If you have children, you should do some reading about hand washing and other steps to minimize the chances of children becoming sick from handling chickens.

As the chicks get older you can slowly wean them off the heat lamp and move them to a well secured coop. Do not skimp on coop reinforcements. Predators will try all sorts of things to get into your coop. I have a concrete floor to prevent predators from digging in to the coop. The sides of the coop are lined with strong metal wire so nothing can chew through the wood. I also have an automatic coop door that closes at dark so that the birds are safely locked inside if I'm late getting home from work.

While the majority of predators attack at night, predators are active during the day too. Electric fences are nice in that you can quickly enclose a large area and fairly effectively keep your birds safe from coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and other ground predators. However a fully enclosed structure with a roof is needed to prevent attacks by hawks. I have found that another fairly effective way to keep hawks away is to feed the local crows. I give the crows a cup of dog food and table scraps (hard boiled eggs, peanuts, etc) every morning. I have seen the crows chase away the hawks multiple times and haven't lost a chicken to a hawk in years.

Some of the Maryland Facebook groups will frequently have people commenting to shoot the predators. It does not work. Yes you may kill that predator but another will take it's place. Usually you won't know you "need" to shoot the predator until after it has already killed some of your chickens. Instead a better approach is to thoroughly secure your coop and run so that the birds can be safely inside.

Chickens are fun and rewarding pets. Not only are they cute and fluffy but they are also sweet and full of personality. You can teach chickens tricks just like a dog. Chickens also have the added benefit of producing food. So even if you just bought your chickens in preparation for the worst case scenario with the pandemic, with the proper set-up you can successfully keep chickens for years.