We often see merchants or smallholder farmers carrying a basket with a lot of chicks to sell on the roadside, near farmers' markets. In the face of the little light yellow furballs running around and making a constant "chirping" sound, I believe many people can't refuse.
But these chicks often have a common "fate" after they buy them home - no matter how carefully cared for, many of them will not live for a week or two.
Why do childhood chicks die so quickly? Today, I will answer your questions.
Where did the chicks you raised in your childhood come from?
Actually, raising chickens is really not an easy thing to do.
First of all, the chicks we buy on the market now are basically through the hatching channel of chicken farms. In particular, egg-based chicken breeds such as females, such as Luodao Red, Bailaihang, Xinhanxia and other breeds are generally used to lay eggs, and chicken farms generally do not sell female chicks at will.
And those little roosters who can't lay eggs, except for some very good individuals who are selected as breeders, most of them will be eliminated. Most of these chickens will be crushed and made into livestock and poultry feed for reuse, and a small part of the slightly better ones will be selected for rural free-range households or small chicken farms to buy and raise and sell at home.
Of course, in some counties, cities, towns and villages, the chicks raised and hatched by rural families will also be taken out for sale, but compared with the former, the number is much less. Therefore, when we were children, almost all the chicks we bought were roosters, and few vendors took out the hens to sell.
Why did the chick die for no apparent reason?
The chicks of birds can be divided into two types: one is the late-blooming chicks, like swallows and sparrows, whose chicks are born without hair, are smooth, and cannot open their eyes. It is only after a few days of oral feeding that the mother bird opens its eyes and gradually grows fluff.
There is another type of early-forming chick, such as chickens, ducks and other poultry fall into this category. It is characterized by having fluff at birth, and after birth, it can follow its mother around, and will learn to forage for food on its own. However, although the chick can run around and eat by itself, for a newborn chick, its ability to resist the adverse environment and conditions of the outside world is still quite fragile.
In addition, newborn chicks have immature digestive systems and need to eat some foods that are easy to digest.
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And the chicks also have some small requirements for the growth environment after birth:
1. The temperature is not up to standard
Newborn chicks have high requirements for temperature, and the temperature of the chicks hatched by incubation equipment needs to reach more than 30 °C, and the ambient temperature is best to reach 33 °C ~ 34 °C, which is relatively safe. If it is below this temperature, the chicks are likely to die due to hypothermia.
The body temperature of domestic chickens hatching chicks with their own body temperature is generally around 40°C, while the newborn chicks are young, and the chickens' own heat is easy to lose with the change of external temperature after leaving the mother, thereby reducing the resistance to the external environment.
This is one of the reasons why we often see newborn chicks always like to gather under the wings of hens and seek pampering. If the chicks are deprived of the hen's care, the chicks huddle together in search of a way to maintain their body temperature.
Chicks have different requirements for temperature at different stages of growth and development.
1~3 日龄可以适应 40°C~35°C;
4~5 日龄可以适应 34°C~33°C;
6~8 日龄可以适应 33°C~32°C;
9~12 日龄可以适应 32°C~30°C;
13~20 日龄可以适应 30°C~28°C;
After 20 days of age, the chicks can live at room temperature normally.
However, most of the chicks we buy in the market are randomly covered by the vendors with a towel or cloth sheet, and then brought to the market for sale. Especially in the morning and evening, the temperature changes greatly, and it is difficult for the chicks to adapt to such temperature conditions, although they are very happy and jumping when they buy, but the unsuitable temperature environment has caused their young bodies to suffer a great blow.
Therefore, when we buy back the chicks without using heating equipment, this cold and hot environmental change will inevitably make the chicks unable to adapt to the temperature change, and they will die after a few days.
2. Feed a single feed for a long time
When I was a child, the adults in my family thought that the chickens should eat millet soaked in water, and would not feed anything else.
Truly! Free-range chickens are omnivorous birds, and plant seeds are a great food for them. However, feeding a single feed for a long time will inevitably lead to malnutrition during the growth and development of chicks.
And after the blistered food, if the chick is not finished, it is very likely to deteriorate if it is placed in the trough basin for a long time, and the digestive system of the chick at this time is very fragile, and after eating this spoiled and rotten food, it is easy to cause illness, diarrhea, and even death.
3. Not drinking enough
Many people will neglect to give the chicks to drink water, thinking that the chicks can't drink water, and they will die of diarrhea if they drink water. In fact, this idea is completely wrong, because the chicks must be replenished with sufficient water in the growth and development stage, and the chicks bought back should not only be placed in the breeding box with a suitable temperature, but also provide sufficient drinking water at all times.
When you first start raising chicks, you must ensure that they drink water before feeding them after about an hour, and the water that the chicks drink must be clean and clean water. Because the metabolism rate of newborn chicks is very fast, the demand for water is very high, and the ambient temperature required is relatively strict, real-time water replenishment is a must.
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By the way, we can occasionally see a "squirrel chicken" on the market that is smaller than a chick, which is the chick of the quail. Small quails will have higher temperature requirements, and the ambient temperature needs to reach 38°C~40°C to stay alive. If you don't pay attention to this, it's almost impossible to feed and raise squirrel chickens.
4. Ravaged
There is also the hand of the bear child, most of the children who have bought the chick will love it after seeing the cute chick, grabbing it with their hands and stroking it.
In fact, children are not malicious, most of the time just because they like it. However, when people's energy and curiosity are too strong, they only want to play with the chicks, and they don't think about the chicks' ability to bear them at all. These chicks have just been born, and the organs of each part are still very fragile, so it is easy to be injured, and the chicks after the injury are rarely treated, and death is inevitable.
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5. The chicken coop does not pay attention to hygiene
In addition, when raising this kind of chicks, many people do not pay attention to the hygiene of the chicken nest and cannot clean it frequently. As birds, the chicks have a relatively short digestive system and will excrete food quickly after eating, so the chickens' nests often see a lot of feces and urine filth if they don't clean up for a day.
If not cleaned up in time, the chicks are easy to be polluted by dirt, especially when the chicks are defecating, they will occasionally stick the feces to the fluff near the anus, if they are not cleaned up in time, they will accumulate more and more, and finally the entire anus will be pasted, resulting in the chicks being unable to defecate and dying.
If this happens, the best thing to do is to use a kitchen towel or cotton swab, stick a little warm water, slowly soften the feces near the anus, and wipe it clean.
How to raise chicks correctly?
Having said all that, what can we do to properly raise chicks?
1. Choose a chick that is lively and loud
First of all, when buying chicks, you should choose chicks that are energetic, flexible, shiny, and loud and vigorous. When we gently grasp the chick, we can clearly feel that its struggle is powerful, and we can also turn the chick over and put it on the ground to see if it can quickly turn over, which is also an easy and primitive method of selection.
2. Choose the right feeding container
If possible, a wooden terrarium can be chosen. The advantage of a wooden terrarium is that it is easy to keep warm, it is breathable, and of course a terrarium with a temperature control device is the best. If you don't plan to prepare either, you can also find a sturdy large cardboard box with a heating pad in it to warm the chicks, while also paying attention to the humidity inside the box.
Under normal circumstances, the humidity is required to be controlled at 50%~75%, which is a more suitable environmental condition for the humidity requirements of chicks.
When the chicks are raised for a month and a half to about two months, the chicks' fluff will gradually fade and grow new feathers, at this time there is no need to warm and humidify, and the chicks can grow and develop under normal environmental conditions.
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The chick's nest can be padded with a layer of chaff, walnut sand, and corn cob as bedding, which can make the chick's excreted feces ferment and be less smelly. It can be bought on major shopping platforms, or you can also use kitchen paper towels as bedding materials, which can be replaced once every 2~3 days to ensure the healthy growth of chicks and the hygiene of people's rooms.
3. Special chick feed can be used for feeding
When feeding, consider buying chicken feed directly. Now chicken feed can be bought on major shopping platforms at different growth periods, and there are many special chick feeds to choose from. This kind of feed is reasonably proportioned according to the nutritional needs of chicks, and it is more convenient to feed.
If you are preparing your own feed, you can feed some soaked rice, millet or corn residue at the beginning; After two weeks of rearing, the chicks can be gradually fed directly with cereals; Every few days, you can feed some chopped vegetables, carrots or cucumbers and cut them into cubes for the chicks to peck at themselves; For protein, you can also feed some dried bread worms.
In addition, since the chicks have no teeth, they need to swallow something like pebbles or grit to help grind and digest the food in the pouch. It can also be coarse river sand, washed and dried, mixed in food for chickens.
4. Keep the drinker clean
The issue of drinking water has already been mentioned, so I won't talk about it here. However, it is worth emphasizing that for the requirements of the drinking fountain, a professional drinking fountain must be used. The drinking fountain should be cleaned regularly, and the water in the drinking fountain should be changed frequently to keep it clean.
5. Do a good job in epidemic prevention and control
Chicks are very susceptible to disease. If conditions permit, you can inject some epidemic prevention vaccines into the chicks to reduce the probability of the chicks getting sick.
When I was a child, I had an uncle-in-law who worked on the railroad, and one year he brought me two little black chickens, which are said to be transported by the freight section when a batch of chickens from a farm was overturned during the loading process, and the chickens all ran away. When he was off work, he stumbled upon the sound of chickens in the corner, and went away, and found these two chicks nesting there tremblingly, and my brother-in-law took them home and gave them to me to raise.
The chickens were vaccinated and the only two I raised when I was a child, but unfortunately they were later taken away by weasels......
Planning and production
Author丨Erzhu is a popular science creator
Audit丨Jinhua, Xinjiang Animal Husbandry Station, Agricultural Technology Extension Researcher
Planning丨Wang Mengru
Editor-in-charge丨Wang Mengru
Reviewer丨Xu Lai Linlin
Source丨Popular Science China