Every year there are tens of thousands of people who are poultry beginners. Each year there are millions of preventable day old poultry fatalities due to minor errors. a very short list of do's & don'ts.
1) a heat lamp is always needed to provide about 95 degree temp inside a brooder box. None of us heat our homes to 95 degrees .... right?
2) a brooder box should have a towel flooring (not paper) .... no wood shavings either (injested wood shavings kill). Baby poultry will slip and slide on hard surfaces and often develop splayed legs if hard slippery surfaces are used vs a cloth towel. Mother nature didn't give them a plastic floor to walk on .... re: grass and dirt.
3) water present in the standard upside down bottle watering system with a small circular trough. NO pans or bowls of water that resemble ponds ... just think of a child drowning. We all need water to live just not too much .... even ducklings should not be IN water.
4) keep an eye of the babies .... the heat lamp can be too close or too far. If you have cats or children .... a brooder cover of screen or fencing keeps them out.
from someone who has seen and heard it a lot ... hoping to spare newbies & their babies from torment and loss.
Enjoy the new year and the chicks, ducklings, poults & keets; etc. with caring. Kelly
CAUTION w/ day-old to month old poultry
